B2B content marketing is not easy to manage. You always need to keep a fine balance between an interesting approach, a professional tone of voice and the quality of the content. B2B buyers have a different lead nurturing cycle than individual consumers. And their time and attention are even more limited than that of private individuals.
What Kind of B2B Content Marketing Strategies Work Right Now?
We can safely say that the only things that B2B and B2C marketing have in common is the total reign of mobiles as internet browsing devices, and visual content. There are few other certainties, but these two will continue to prevail for a long time.
Thus, the first thing you must do when planning your B2B content marketing strategy is to adapt it for mobile phones. The clients of your plastic fabrication company are more likely to read your blogs and watch your videos on their smartphone than on their business laptop.
With these two main aspects clear in mind, we will move on to specific strategies you should adopt right now to increase the conversion rate of your lead generation strategies:
1. Own Your Audience
When you share a content piece on the social media, you are not going to get much exposure unless you promote that content. This means that you are actually paying the social media network to “rent” you its users so they can interact with your content. This is not a bad thing, of course. The social media is the biggest forum, marketplace and business fair in the world.
But you need to own at least a part of your audience. How do you do that? By email marketing, by ad campaigns that aim to attract subscribers to your newsletter and your blog posts. This is the audience over which you have the biggest control. If you do things right, if you give them what they want, they will not go away.
2. Strive for Sophistication in Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy
A recent survey by the reputable Content Marketing Institute found out something troubling among B2B marketers. Only 11% of the respondents in the CMI survey agreed that their content had reached a significant degree of sophistication.
What does sophistication mean? It refers to detailed, in-depth content, such as client cases and white papers. If you have the numbers, the proof and the statistics to back up your claims, then use them. Make the most of them. Provide insight and show off your expertise. This is an untapped content niche that will not stay deserted for long.
3. Understand the Benefits of Cross-Pollinating Your Content
We are not talking about flowers and fruit trees here, but ways to get more exposure for your content. There are things you are already doing; you share your blog posts on the social media and in newsletters.
But there is much more you should be doing. For instance, did you consider getting in touch with a specialised magazine or business forum in your niche to contribute a guest post every now and then? Or did you reach a bartering agreement with a non-competing but complementary business to share each other’s content? These are smart ways to reach new audiences without working harder to create new content.
4. Prioritise Information over Sales Pitches
B2B buyers never make impulse purchases. They have other stakeholders to consult with, and managers to approve their choice. Thus, your content and CTAs must be focused more on solving their need for clear information in order to build a solid case in favour of working with you, not on pushing a sale.
When you reach the point of communicating with a lead on a one-to-one basis, you get to make your sales speech and offer. Until then, offer them clear, unbiased and helpful information and promote your company’s experience and know-how in dealing with clients of their category.
5. Be Enthusiast, But Keep Your Eye on the Metrics
A B2B content marketing strategy is not a one-size-fits-all product. You may learn what works, in general, but you have to try and experiment with different things for your particular business and audience.
However, make sure that you always measure your marketing efforts and make changes according to the key metrics for content marketing. Otherwise, you will be wasting time, money and even good content with ineffective strategies.