Content Marketing Strategies For B2b Businesses

By Author: Chris Brown
Total Articles: 5
Comment this article

Are your marketing campaigns drawing significant business results? Is there something more that can be leveraged into providing a better ROI?
Is your content converting your potential customers into paying customers?
Are there ways to increase prospects by effectively engaging the audience online?
If you are looking for answers to these questions, then you are beginning to understand the important role of strategic content marketing in today’s digital age. You are also a part of the growing interest in content marketing for B2B that has been expanding by leaps and bounds in recent years.
Trends of Content Marketing
To get a clearer view of how important this marketing domain has become to marketers, peruse the following statistic by the Content Marketing Institutes Report.

According to this report, 89% of B2B organization’s marketers are using content marketing to meet business results. Whereas the other 11% are strongly expected to follow suit in a year. .
With examples of startups such as Design Pickle, that achieved a clientele of 1200 solely on the basis of guest blogging ...
... and content marketing, there is no way the need of the hour can be left unattended.

The appreciation of content is also witnessed through the example of the start-up, Blue Apron. Blue Apron grew their business by 500% exclusively through content marketing. A result that bolsters the odds for the success of B2B content marketing for startups.
Where to begin with?
Marketing on the basis of content, irrespective of its popularity as a great tool, is fruitless if not strategize with accurate focus.
Content of any kind developed by your business should always be aimed at either creating leads or creating brand awareness. If this is how you have been creating content but still not getting the estimated numbers, then the following point will clear your conundrum.

This is to say, content should be developed keeping in mind who is it you want to attract to your product. Who for you classifies as an ideal customer? This is a question every business should ask before curating content that is valuable, effective and relevant.

It is a well-known adage that you can’t please everyone. And the same applies to content too. In order to influence your market, you have to first start from a small group that ticks all the characteristics of the ideal customer.



So who is this ideal customer?

This ideal customer is your target audience or in marketing terminology your – Buyer Persona
Identify Target audience and build buyer persona

Doing a thorough market research helps you identify your target audience. The audience that is chosen based on parameters which match your business objectives and values completely. This is the group that has the most value for your product and vice versa. Know how to create a buyer persona for your business through Hubspot’s Persona tool.

Hence, creating content that resonates with their buying need and process would be more influential than content that just harps on your values and work.

And this applies to the wider audience too. They would be interested in your product only if the content provided, conveys to them ways your product can help alleviate some of their pain points.

Once your niche audience is hooked, you can then start expanding the domain by researching for more such pain points that can be removed through the application of your product.

So, the first step to building your content strategy is identifying and engaging your target audience. If you build content focussed on them, they will add value and stakes in building your business.
Content Marketing Framework
After having identified your niche audience, the next steps focus on different ways to develop and market this targeted content.
Here we provide a 4 step framework to get you started on the right foot.
1. Content Development:
The various forms of content include blogs, infographics, ebooks, and newsletter.
These different elements are applied strategically to enhance customer engagement depending upon which would have the most effect and where.

Blogs: Blogs are the trendsetters of your brand. They are tools that can help you leverage your brand’s identity among the audience through sharing of new ideas, new content, and authentic material.

Blogs are also informative articles that spark online discussions among interested audiences. Whether good or bad, comments on blogs are your audience’s genuine reactions. They are important in helping you gauge what is working and what isn’t.

So when it comes to blogs the following key points are important to remember:
1. Create content that initiates conversation
2. Expand your network in your ecosystem, by spending time sharing and reading blogs
3. Be authentic when putting forth your business’s ideas and suggestions. Doing so creates an instant connect with the people you wish to form a deeper connection with.
Here is an example of content development through Blog posts from Hubspot.
Hubspot is a software that helps fuel your growth by providing free integrated CRM, effective inbound marketing, assistance with sales and marketing and better customer connect to small and medium businesses. Through their blogs, they take their expertise to the customers with well written, understandable and easily executable content. Take a look below.


Infographics: Infographics are the next popular content feature in the field. Not part of the conventional content marketing strategy, they are surging as the next big thing in the market. With the present world flooded with innumerable data and information, people’s engagement span has declined. It is this scenario that has prompted the rise of the infographic, which clubs content and design into an attractive marketing tool.
They allow you to engage your customers over a short period of time in a very influential manner.
View the following example of an infographic that talks about IP and the US economy and its various facets in a readable manner without overwhelming the reader with information.

Using the right balance between data and design you can get your point across without the least compunction.
Following are some guidelines on how to prepare quality infographics
1. Use quality data to create a quality infographic
2. They should be informative along with compelling enough to incite participation
3. Know how to market your infographic in a manner that has the most impact, such that it rises above the noise of similar content material.

Ebooks: Ebooks are informative guides on subjects fairly unknown to the reader. They allow you to make your content available on the move in a linear, skimming way. Ebooks make information accessible and easy to peruse. They make your content understandable in an open and entertaining manner. While at the same time giving you the opportunity, to allow customers to have a complete idea of what you do, how and why.
Once content like ebook is ready, the only thing left is making it reach the right people to enhance its effectiveness.
Following are some guidelines on how to use your ebook effectively to attract your audience:
1. Distribute them according to a predefined plan: Focus specifically on distributing it socially. Set in place plans to leverage their benefit more fully among your audience.
2. Be generous with Visuals: Use as many images, graphics etc as you can to remove the dreariness of a black and white text font. The more pictorial your product the better chance of it being picked up. But the above should be incorporated without denigrating the value of the text.
3. Call to actions: Have a bold call to actions that compel readers to take the action as a logical next step at the end of every ebook. Ask yourself how further you can engage the audience into going deeper into other aspects of your product.
Newsletter: Newsletters are a way of permission-based communication. They are means by which you can keep initiating engagement with your prospective and current customers at regular intervals in a recurring manner. They provide a platform for your customers to be abreast of the latest developments on your front and be part of them. You can guide them to your latest blog, article, product through a link or a write up in the newsletter.
Newsletters are a great way to make your customers feel special and earn loyalty points. Creating content that aligns with their interests, informing them of what is new and current, giving them special offers are all activities that can help you garner a loyal customer base.
Following are the key points to ensure your newsletter hits its target with the right marketing:
1. Avoid Spamming- send newsletters only after permission is received and with relevant content. Always have a link for opting out. At no time should the customer feel pressured by your persistence.
2. Relevant Content- align the content to the prospective customers interests. Find the right interests through database segmentation and pre-planned lead nurturing campaigns based on profile and behavioral data.
Following is how a weekly newsletter from TED shares its content and keeps conversation going with its subscribers.

2. Content Distribution
Anything good when shared multiplies in number. The same happens to well-made content.
If you have taken the effort to create quality content, you have to expend the same or rather more energy into promoting it through the right distribution channels. Good content needs to be heard and seen to get a chance to multiply.
See what B2B marketers have to say about factors contributing to their success.

Image Source: Content Marketing Institute
A good strategy for promotion ensures that your content receives instantaneous traffic and response.
Using already available channels of distribution gives you the advantage of an already existing audience ready to consume the content at the same time.
With more traffic, you attract more subscribers and leads, which also increases your links.
More the links, subscribers and leads, more the opportunity to network with influencers in your field.
Owing to its above-mentioned benefits, content distribution forms the second pillar of the content marketing framework.
So with quality content all ready and set to be used, following are the prime channels of distribution you can use to drive traffic to your content resources.
Twitter: This channel gives more benefit if you have created a base of influencers that would enthusiastically promote your content. Getting mentions from them on twitter is a great way to ensure more traffic and backlinks.
Most twitter traffic is generated organically. So if you have used your content development resources well, as mentioned above, everyone would be more than willing to share your content.
So create rockstar content, do the groundwork for pitching influencers and your traffic through this particular distribution channel is ensured.
Here is a glimpse of how kissmetrics leverages its content on twitter. With webinars, instructional videos, and other shareable content, kissmetrics makes sure to be a part of their customers online presence at all times.

LinkedIn: This channel has its own publishing platform, Pulse, where you can provide your audience with valuable content pertaining to their interest.
LinkedIn is a platform which further brings to fore another concept of content marketing. It teaches the concept of repurposing content to suit a platform.
For example, in the case of LinkedIn content is promoted as a shorter version of the actual text. This allows a business to attract the audience by engaging them in content which is short and contains valuable information. Such articles can then be followed by a link to the original source, hence, leading traffic to your website.
Apart from the pulse, LinkedIn has various groups pertaining to each industry. These groups are the perfect place to pitch content as they give you your targeted audience in one place.
With each new group, you attract a new set of audience.
But this strategy has a hitch, most group admins do not look favourably on promotional content being added to the group. But there is a way out here too.
The best way to leverage this resource is by starting a discussion pertaining to your content’s topic. Within the discussion, add link to your original content, as a resource the audience can look into for more information on the topic of discussion. It also validates your content as being useful and valuable.
A better way is to form your own group. It gives you a lot of power to initiate discussions and foster your own LinkedIn network.
Consider the LinkedIn profile of Kissmetrics to observe the effects of powerful content distribution.

Quora: Quora is the perfect platform to tap into communities. A question and answer platform that sees 1.3 million people from the US alone; this is one place which will help you share content with people who want to read it.
It helps you find your target audience with ease. By engaging with the right question threads you can create for yourself a wide and large audience base of interested patrons.
Following are the simple steps to be followed to tap into this resource.
1. Create a profile. Make sure to write a bio which covers your area expertise and the business name. This helps you build authority in your area and also contributes to some brand building.
2. Follow relevant topics. Each topic is like a community that has its own set of followers looking for solutions to problems in that area.
3. Find questions and contribute. When answering questions take the following approach: find questions related to your business area- provide a short version of the answer- provide a link to the original content
Infographic Submission: As mentioned above infographics are the new favourites. They convey important points of your content in a visually appealing way, in an easily shareable format. Make sure to provide social media sharing options so that readers can share the content readily into their own circles.
Ensuring high-quality images in the infographic has another additional benefit; you will be ranked higher in the image search results.
A great example over here is Blaze Sales and Service With a very limiting and boring industry of oilfield and downhole equipment supply and service, they utilized infographic submission and mastered it. Check it out here.
This is the most shareable format of content that can help drive traffic and links back to your website.
Email Marketing: Even though listed last, this is one of the most powerful channels available to the marketer. Emails are a great way of making your subscribers feel valued and special.
The important thing is to not be shy about sending regular emails. If you have top-notch content the subscriber could benefit from, then it is a given that they will want to know about it too.
If they have subscribed, it indicates their interest in what you have to convey. So it is best to convey it personally.
Most email sending practices include sending a teaser of the content followed by the link to the original content source. Which is the correct practice? But there is always something more you can do, to make your subscribers look forward to your emails.
Take for example Morgan Brown, he sends a little extra with all his emails. In every email sent by him, subscribers receive a hack or tip that can be implemented there and then, with the results visible in a short time. Something like that is sure to keep the audience’s on the hook, waiting for the next hack to growth.

So test what you can do on similar lines in your domain and deliver value right to the audience's doorstep.
3. Content Advertising
Every content resource you develop has its own function and maximum leverage value. By proper research of the target field and strategic marketing plans, one can bifurcate resources accordingly. For example, there is content specifically made to go viral through the social media channels, content that doesn’t work for advertising purposes.
So to help you give a clear picture of which content finds maximum traction in B2B advertising at what point in the audience receptivity funnel, here is a list of two resources. These are evergreen and can be used in any capacity at any point, depending on the impact analysis you get as feedback, they can be altered and adjusted, with the guarantee that will always work.
Type of Content to advertise
Case studies: They are a testimony and validation of your work and services right from the people you are trying to target. Instead of being developed as a separate entity, case studies should be worked into the content theme and advertised through paid ads on important channels like LinkedIn and Facebook.
Case studies are practically your clients advocating on your behalf. And using their testimonials to develop advertising campaigns around them is a great way to create an impact on a social network like Facebook and a professional network like LinkedIn.
Ebooks: Ebooks are a detailed guide to your services and work. When advertised on the right channels, they can garner you considerable traffic through click-through rates and linking. Ebooks advertised strategically on facebook through job targeting portals and landing pages are a great way to create awareness about your product.
The above resources when clubbed with best practices and strategies can create a successful impact for your business marketing through content.
Here are some examples of how businesses used the promotional tools of LinkedIn in unique and creative ways to script success stories of their businesses.
A B2B commercial real estate company, CBRE, used a photography competition to leverage the linkedIn advertisement space. By using the network’s precision targeting filter, CBRE was able to attract the photographic domain through eye-catching inmails.

4. Content Analytics
The last leg of the content marketing framework is Content Analytics. After having set everything in place right from stellar content to distribution channels to advertising resources, it is now time to execute and analyse.
Analytics help you understand the performance of your content, the engagement quotient of your target audience, how well they are receiving the content and which content assets are impacting the ROI.
To analyze effectively businesses use key point indicators which are more commonly known as KPIs. These are specific metrics that help B2B marketers analyse if the pre-defined goals are being accomplished. The metrics vary from domain to domain and should be finalized based on what is being tested.
Measuring these metrics gives a clear working idea on which strategies have worked and which have not helped gather the required leads or traffic.
The following metrics help in deciphering how your content is performing in the field. Using the right ones will give you the information to regroup and perform better.
1. Website Content Consumption and Interaction Metrics
2. Social Media Metrics
3. Email Metrics
4. Retention Rate Metrics
There are many ways to measure content KPIs, some of the primary ones are as follows.
For website content, KPIs are measured through
• Measure of traffic from different channels,
• Content performance measured through landing page traffic, exit rates, conversions, downloads and more. Marketers gain actionable insights into which content gives the most returns in terms of engagement and traffic.
• Bounce rates
• Conversion rates and funnels
For social media KPIs, the following metrics are employed.
• Engagement metrics for brand awareness
• Set acquisition KPIs with goal tracking in Google Analytics
• Traffic source tracking in Google analytics to drive website visitors from social media

You can also use analytics software such as Hootsuite and Sprout Social to analyse metrics from social media apart from Google Analytics
To measure email marketing KPIs use the following metrics.
• Click through rate
• List growth rate
• Bounce rate
• Email engagement
Some softwares that help you optimize your analytical capabilities are MailChimp and Active Campaign. These contain guided blog posts and ebooks to help you get started while providing dashboards that keep track of all the important metrics for email marketing.
There are many softwares available online that help you track specific content through the required metrics like:
• Sumo measures blog interactions and engagement and classifies as blog analytics.
• Leadpages helps analyse landing page metrics.
So in order for your content to stay relevant and resonate with its target audience, it is important to analyze and keep making the required improvements to attain the best results.
Conclusion:
The necessity of investing in a content marketing strategy has been well established through previous statistics and examples. The path to a successful marketing strategy has also been delineated through a 4 step process above.
So what remains is for you to start doing and executing. With the future of content marketing poised towards growth and potential enhancement, your business has the perfect opportunity to begin early and reap rich profits. With the right approach and a creative outlook you can make content your best marketing asset.

Inside Sales Manager at blazess.com