A B2B (Business to Business) content strategy is part of a company’s marketing strategy that focuses on reaching target audiences through different types of content. In doing so, it does not communicate with the end user, but with the business entity.
Most B2B marketing professionals effectively use a content strategy to achieve better brand recognition (86%), educate their audiences (79%), and build credibility (75%). It is important that B2B content is attractive, high quality and tailored to the addressee. We will list 5 ways how you can achieve this.
1. Empower your audience with the right information
Knowledge is power, says a Latin proverb. It is no surprise that 90% of the most successful B2B sellers put it first when communicating with their (potential) customers. The need for information of their target audiences is thus more important than the company’s sales or promotional message. At this point there is a shift from content to audience focus, which is the foundation of building a strong relationship and positioning the provider as an expert in its field.
Organize your expertise into an online knowledge base. Prepare guides and answers to frequently asked questions. Provide video content showing examples of good practice in using your product or service. Strive to become the first choice of customers based on quality and useful content.
2. Make sure your content reaches the right people
Quality content has been proven to generate the most organic search traffic, social media shares and is one of the most important factors in establishing a company’s credibility. In addition, more and more marketers are opting to use paid channels to distribute their content. In 2019, that was 84% of them, of which three quarters chose social networks.
The first rule for achieving the goals of online advertising is an organized system of profiles of your target audiences. Who are they? What do they want? How do they want to be addressed? Based on this information, you can design profiled advertising that achieves a 40% to 70% higher conversion rate (CTR) compared to traditional online ads, as it allows personalized display of ads based on user profile characteristics.
3. Choose the right tone and format of the message
What is your brand’s personality? Is it traditional, serious and reserved or relaxed, colorful and playful? Based on that, define the tones of communication that you will use in the preparation of your content. Tip: 67% of marketers prefer to share content with a playful tone compared to 63% who would prefer to share data and fact-rich content (both was an option).
The content should be in various forms – you will not go awry with attractive and informative infographics, educational and entertaining video content, visual guides, professional articles, answers to frequently asked questions, etc.
To make the content in your image more attractive and user-friendly, enliven it with multi-layered elements. Include message-rich graphics, videos, tables, graphs, and images in addition to text. Stick to the principle: don’t say what, show how.
4. Include predictive analytics
Predictive analytics predicts a user’s future behaviour based on the user’s past behaviour. This way you can always be one step ahead and lead your content strategy proactively. For 69% of customers, relevant content that directly addresses their company is an important factor.
It is therefore important to understand what motivates customers to choose to have a business relationship with you. This, however, requires a comprehensive insight into the online behaviour of your (potential) customers. Every online user leaves behind traces of their interests, purchasing intentions and decisions, desires and needs. You can use this valuable information to build your own database and create sophisticated profiling models.
5. Provide your customers with an above-average user experience
It is not enough that your content is focused only on solving the problems and frustrations of your customers. You also need to provide a good user experience, as this leads to brand loyalty. This is a crucial factor when choosing a specific product or service. 45% of B2B customers want an online experience that directly addresses their field or sector of operation.
To achieve this, you need to offer them the right content at the right time, which you achieve with the help of a personalized website. In addition to customizing the content, you should also focus on customizing other components of your website (selection of products or services, images and graphics, push notifications, search results …).
Check out how you can achieve up to 35% higher purchase value and up to 80% higher CTR with a personalized website.
Important: The results of the B2B content marketing survey for 2020 showed that 32% of marketing professionals in their team do not have a person who would be fully in charge of the field of content marketing.
Make sure you have an expert in your company to prepare a content strategy and manage all related activities.
