Selling products and services to other businesses requires a special brand of marketing finesse. Here’s what you need to know about solid B2B content marketing strategy to stand out in 2024 and beyond.
Although there are similarities between B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-customer) marketing, it’s critical to understand the differences if you’re serious about smashing your goals.
Business representatives make purchasing decisions differently from individual consumers. They also have different pain points, goals, and concerns to consider. Your B2B content marketing strategy needs to adapt to address how B2B consumers buy if you’re serious about standing out in all the right ways.
Here’s what you need to know about successfully marketing your B2B brand, products, and services in 2024 and beyond.
Demystifying the Challenges of B2B Content Marketing Success
Content marketing is an important part of any digital marketing strategy, but it can be especially powerful in the B2B market.
To begin with, the average B2B content marketing ROI (return on investment) is relatively high.
Overhead costs are low, especially if you have the right resources in your corner. Plus, the B2B content that provides the best results in B2B marketing has a lot of value and a long life span. The right type of content can help your brand build authority, win customer trust, and outperform the competition.
But for your content to resonate, you need to overcome unique B2B marketing challenges like the following:
- B2B buying decisions typically involve an entire group of individuals rather than one person.
- B2B purchases typically take longer to complete from start to finish due to factors like decision complexity and the number of decision-makers involved.
- B2C buying decisions are often fueled by emotion, but B2B decisions are based on data, logic, and rationality.
- B2B buyers are more concerned with product features like customer service, production capacity, post-sale services, etc. than with factors like status.
Navigating B2B Purchases: The Team Behind Decision-Making
Knowing your customer inside out is the key to success in any B2B marketing strategy. That means understanding who receives your content.
B2C decision-makers tend to be individuals or family heads making decisions for their households. However, B2B decision-makers are usually department heads, C-level executives, or similar individuals responsible for deciding on behalf of a company or enterprise.
They’re also usually part of a larger decision-making group of up to ten people. Each of those people will likely have done a lot of research on their own before coming together with the group to consider whether to place the order. Successful marketing content always takes that into account.
Crafting Content for Complicated B2B Products: A Winning Guide
Ready to dig into what sets a successful B2B content marketing strategy apart from all the rest? Here are some tips and best practices to keep in mind.
Do plenty of market research
Market research is just as important in B2B marketing as it is in B2C. Before you can put together winning content that appeals to your ideal customer, you need to understand them. Who are they, and what companies do they represent? What pain points are they looking to address, and how can your product solve their problems?
Cover your entire sales funnel
An incredible 86 percent of B2B marketing content is awareness-focused content aimed at buyers at the top of the marketing funnel (TOFU). However, while TOFU content is important, it’s also important not to neglect your middle-of-funnel (MOFU) and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) audiences.
Weave consistent content experiences
These days, it’s standard for people to access marketing content across multiple devices, platforms, and channels at various points along their buyer’s journey. B2B buyers tend to be especially demanding, so creating a cohesive omnichannel content experience is crucial.
Include a mix of different content types to round out your content catalog. Yes, classic written blogs, ebooks, and whitepapers are important, but so are options like videos, podcasts, infographics, short-form video clips, and more.
Focus on high-value content
Thin, shallow content that doesn’t say anything isn’t going to cut it with B2B audiences. It won’t help your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, either. Focus on creating helpful, meaty content that truly helps buyers make smarter, better decisions.
Reference facts, marketing statistics, and case studies that support your claims. Keep high-performing and high-value content updated to ensure you serve timely, compelling, and relevant facts. Consider adding gated content to your strategy to entice buyers through your sales funnel.
Adding professional writers to your team who are well-versed in B2B marketing can greatly help.
Leverage the power of storytelling
Marketing storytelling isn’t just useful in B2C marketing. B2B buyers also respond well to a good story, but it’s important to customize your efforts with their unique needs and standards in mind.
Use stories to illustrate instances where your product or service could make a huge difference to their company. Leverage tools like testimonials from satisfied clients and case studies to put important facts and figures in front of possible buyers.
Nurturing Success: Effective B2B Lead Nurturing Strategies
Once you’ve successfully encouraged potential buyers to check out your offerings via your marketing content, you need a strategy for successfully nurturing qualified leads. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Invest in your email marketing strategy and related content. Email remains a highly reliable way to nurture leads through a completed purchase and beyond.
- Segment your audience and carefully craft high-value, personalized content for each lead group.
- Keep track of lead behavior, carefully noting how they behave, what kind of content yields the most engagement, etc. Adjust your approach as needed.
- Embrace automation to help take the guesswork out of tasks like sending trigger emails, re-engagement messages, etc.
- Personalize, personalize, personalize. Personalized messages and targeted content relevant to the buyer are significantly more effective.
- Assemble a team of content experts to help you develop, research, and create material that resonates with your audience.
Securing a cost-effective, efficient way to scale your B2B content marketing efforts is just as important as the content itself, so having the right resources in your corner is vital.WriterAccess by Rock Content is home to some of the industry’s most experienced, efficient content writers and strategists. Connect with some of the best and brightest, and assemble your dream team today when you sign up for your free 14-day WriterAccess trial!
