It’s not a great secret that many B2B companies struggle with content marketing. They can’t quite find that sweet spot between engagement and sales. Most end up simply pushing out information, advertisements and FAQs on a boring content loop. Not surprisingly, this strategy does not engender fond feelings from their followers and certainly doesn’t encourage new potential customers to start following. So just how does a forward-thinking company successfully embrace the phenomenal power of online content marketing? Don’t despair; there is hope, let us help you by sharing our top tips. With these in place, you’ll be able to reach, engage and convert in no time!
Strategy, strategy, strategy
According to a more recent survey, only 35% of B2B marketers have a formulated content marketing strategy, which means a whopping 48% are flying blind. Your content could take either of two routes. While it could also be based around ‘cascade’ content, whereby one great piece of great content is broken down into smaller, bite-size pieces and used across multiple channels (including advertising and social media).Or it can be a one off piece of killer content in the form of a campaign, promoted exclusively through search engine marketing (SEM), advertising (such as display and retargeting) and email marketing. To help manage your email marketing, look into using the best email app, which help you save time.
Sell tangible value
Within the wider B2B marketing community, there is a common understanding that businesses aren’t going to spend money frivolously. That isn’t how the sector works. A business will only spend money on another business for one very specific reason: it’s going to save or make them money. In other words, company A is offering company B something of such great tangible value that a manager can use that to justify buying the product or service in question. With this focus on tangible value in mind, it’s easy to see how that could bleed into the way you create content. Think about telling a story, one that both resonates with customers and solves a problem.
Get on the LinkedIn train
Any B2B marketer worth their salt knows that they must engage on the largest business network in the world – LinkedIn – if they’re to succeed online. LinkedIn is by far the most prolific and popular social media platform on the web, it has cornered 94% of the business market. The platform allows for lots of different content marketing options, including Pages, blogs, Groups and targeted advertising. The community of users is very active, and this platform is a great place in which to really engage with your target audiences and learn exactly what they do and don’t want from your brand/product.
Connection matters
User or audience experience is the cornerstone of effective content marketing. More specifically, it’s the place where your marketing funnel meets your sales funnel. The content you create isn’t just important because of the educational or inspirational message you’re promoting; it’s also about moving people along the all-important sales funnel. That’s probably never going to happen if what users experience with you is bland, boring, dull or otherwise forgettable. To simply put it, you need to set yourself apart from the competition and connect with your potential customers in a meaningful way to make a lasting impression. Connection matters for the simple reason that it leads to brand loyalty, which in turn is shown to lead to not only sales but REPEAT sales.
