If you’re in the B2B world, then you may be wondering how you should market your content in such a way that will appeal to potential customers.
The biggest obstacle business owners and B2B content marketers face is they need to find a way to make their content stand out to the key decision-makers at other companies. This includes executives, the board of directors, managers, or even business owners. In this regard, B2B distinguishes itself from B2C where you’re actively addressing the customers directly.
So how do you come up with great ideas for B2B content marketing?
The great news is that despite a more demanding and business-like audience, much of the content marketing still remains the same. Here are some of the best B2B content marketing ideas to make your business stand out among the crowd.
1. Write Helpful, Informational Blog Content
There are way too many business owners and B2B content marketers who still neglect blog posts. However, pushing purely informative and helpful blog posts on a consistent basis can greatly benefit your business, even in the B2B industry.
Why is informational blog content important?
- If you do it right, you’ll get more results from organic search, which can potentially increase your leads by up to 67% per month. Yes, it’s a long-term game, but consistency is key.
- You establish trust and credibility without being too pushy. The content doesn’t have to be too “salesy” and doesn’t always have to be about your product or service.
- You can provide more information about your product or service through blog posts, which can make your customers’ decisions easier.
Blogging is one of the best B2B content marketing ideas out there. It makes you credible without overly pushing your product or service and it can generate leads through organic search traffic.
2. Master the Art of Storytelling
There’s a cliche going around that B2B content marketing has to be formal and focus on the features of your product or service. That’s true, but only to an extent.
As a B2B provider, your target audience likely consists of executives and decision-makers at other companies.
You’re selling your product and service to them, and one key aspect many content marketers fail to recognize is they are people, not robots, and they will still make most decisions with their emotions. In fact, a staggering 50% of B2B buyers are more likely to buy if they connect to your brand emotionally.
Content marketing for B2B companies doesn’t have to be boring, dry, and repetitive. Engaging storytelling is one of the best B2B content marketing tactics you can master.
Think about what problems your product or service solves. Then, create a story revolving around this problem and how you can solve it. Strengthen the story with proof about your product like statistics or metrics, too. This tactic is applicable anywhere – on your sales copy, emails, and web pages.
3. Create Infographics
Creating useful and clear infographics can be one of the most effective B2B content marketing tactics out there.
An infographic can clearly display the benefits of your product or service, convey the most important statistics, and make you a more credible source.
It also adds another layer of variety to your content. Content marketing is not simply about blogging and content writing. It’s about distributing your content through various resources and platforms.
Human beings are visual creatures. Not everyone likes to read through hundreds or thousands of words of content.
4. Offer a Free Product
The word “free” might be one of the most hated ones for content marketers and business owners. But in some cases, you need to think about the long-term implications of offering something for free and ignore the short-term gains or losses.
You can offer a valuable product to your clients on your website and in exchange, you get their email address, which you can use for marketing.
What you offer them for free is up to you. It can be a simple digital product such as a template, or it can be a longer piece of content such as an article, eBook, or even a case study.
Again, this will make you more credible and the customers will thank you for providing them with value upfront. It can be an effective way to build trust and get more sales.
5. Diversify Your Content
We’ve already talked about blog posts and effective types of written content but you can’t forget about the many other types of content out there such as:
- Videos
- Emails
- High-quality images
- Case studies
- Social media posts
- Product comparisons
Seeing a page without images is boring and makes it look like a stale printed novel. On the other hand, seeing too many images is also off-putting, as customers aren’t getting enough information from images alone. You need to find a good balance of all types of content.
Let’s face it: not everyone likes to read. They may like to watch videos instead or even take a look at images like infographics. But remember there will always be avid readers who appreciate high-quality, written content as well.
6. Answer All Potential Customer Questions
Leave absolutely no doubt that your product or service is the right one for your target audience. Sure, you know your product or service inside and out, but potential customers might have certain questions or face uncertainty in some areas.
You can answer questions in several ways. Create a separate FAQ section on your website. Or if you like video content, you can either film yourself, your colleague, or pay someone to film an informational video that answers questions your customers might have.
Again, one of the most helpful B2B content marketing ideas is to be as helpful and informational as possible without being too pushy with your product or service.
7. Host Webinars
Host free webinars to educate your customers and users about your product or business. A few years ago, webinars were too expensive for small businesses to afford. But today, they are so accessible everyone can get a piece of the action and use these revolutionary tools.
The great thing about webinars is you can use the video even after the live session by recording them and sharing them on other platforms. In fact, some webinars can hold up and be used for years to come as evergreen content.
But you can also copy the transcript of the webinar and post it as a separate blog post. It’s a win-win situation and one of the best ideas for B2B content marketing.
8. Guest Posting
Some business owners or content marketers are skeptical about guest posting. They’re worried a competitor might try to steal their idea, or they’re sharing secrets with others.
Guest posting can be an effective tactic for boosting your reputation. You increase exposure to you and your business, and you invite new potential customers from other sites.
Similarly, you can have other people guest posting on your site. This can improve your relationship with another business, you’ll get additional content on your site, and you show your business is generous and friendly.
9. Use Paid Ads to Promote Content
This is something of a controversial topic: some content marketers will say using paid ads is throwing money away, while others argue it can do wonders for your bottom line.
It certainly can be effective, but only if done right.
Since you’re in the B2B industry, you’re probably already thinking about Google ads. And you’re right, that is certainly one platform where you should share your content.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok should also be considered for this.
LinkedIn ads are great as well with some companies getting as much as 59% of their leads from sponsored posts.
10. Analyze Trends
You should always stay on top of the latest trends as a content marketer or business owner. And a good way to do that is to analyze those trends and put numbers next to them. Show people you’re an authority in this field and you’ve got things under control.
As a crucial B2B content marketing tactic, this can be done with blog posts, infographics, charts, tables, or other pieces of content.
Which of These B2B Content Marketing Ideas Will You Use First?
By using new and trendy ideas for content marketing as a B2B company, you can establish trust and gain credibility to get more leads. Diversifying your content as much as possible works well and you should always stay helpful and on point.
With these fantastic B2B content marketing ideas, you can up your content marketing game to the next level and make your business even more valuable.
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