Before we start, understanding the differences between how to approach B2B content marketing and B2C content marketing is essential to understanding how to be effective in both.
B2B content marketing, or business-to-business content marketing, focuses its marketing efforts on a small, target market. This type of marketing is based on a relationship with business buyers and focuses on generating leads that are value-driven. In contrast, B2C marketing, also known as business-to-customer marketing, is different in that it targets a much larger audience and focuses more on the product than building relationships. Despite the differences in these types of marketing, many of the principles of creating content remain the same.
In this guide, we’ll provide you with some notable tips and tricks when it comes to tackling content marketing in a B2B Market. This overview will provide you with an understanding of why these tactics matter, how and why they’re effective, and important steps you can take to implement these strategies into your marketing efforts.
Address the Problem your Audience is Facing
This step begins with an understanding of the situation at hand. In this scenario, a prospect is experiencing and expressing that they are facing a problem or opportunity. At this point, this prospect could be researching or trying to gain more information about the problem they’re facing. When the buyer is just beginning to understand their problem, this is where a business can come in and address the specific problems or concerns that their audience is facing.
Answer the Question or Provide a Valuable Piece of Information
Once you’ve addressed the problem your audience is facing, creating content that answers their questions is the next logical step. Provide direct answers to their problems or questions or provide valuable information which they can use to overcome their challenge or problem. Be a guide for them. After determining how you’d like to reach the audience, seek to answer their important questions in a way that is designed to specifically target them. Remember, B2B marketing is a very specific and targeted type of marketing that should be quite specific to a certain group of people or individuals.
Demonstrate your Value for Another BusinessÂ
As previously mentioned, B2B marketing is all about creating relationships with business owners and decision-makers. As such, attracting these buyers means you must demonstrate your value for another business. Above all else, when creating value, remember that you are more than the product or service you are selling. It is important to remember not to pay too much attention to the product and neglect other things that demonstrate value. For example, other things demonstrate your value as a business, such as awards and achievements, customer focus groups, and so much more that highlight the quality of your product and your business. Other facets of value building, of course, are response, time, quality, and price.
Creating multi-layered content creates engaging content to set your B2B content apart from others. Multi-layered content can include both text, images, and video content. Try not to utilize too much text, and use images and videos to level up your content and make your information stand out from the rest. Infographics are a great way to create unique content for this purpose.
Be Mindful of the Buyers Pain PointsÂ
Pain points are the specific problems that your buyers are experiencing. These come in many forms, including financial pain points, productivity pain points, support pain points, and process pain points. All of these are important to keep in mind when creating B2B marketing strategies.Â
You can seek to identify how you can help your buyers solve these pain points. In general, some commonly heard pain points are that buyers cannot find the information they’re looking for and that buyers need to create content and offers that will make them stand out from the competition. Conducting research and surveys can be a great way to help you identify those pain points.
Building a Long-Term Relationship with your Audience
An important part of effective B2B marketing is building a long-term relationship with your audience. Long-term interactions are common when it comes to B2B since this type of marketing targets a smaller audience, yet more important audience. There are many approaches when it comes to building these long-term relationships, but many have the same important principles. These include engaging long-term customers in a meaningful way. For example, help them connect with your business and provide personalized interactions which make them feel like they have a relationship with the brand. Building trust is important because you establish your expertise in your field and continue to attract repeat customers.
Types of B2B Content Marketing
B2B marketing approaches come in various forms. One commonly used B2B strategy is done via email marketing. A shocking statistic: 93% of B2B marketers are using email marketing. Tips for email B2B marketing include:
- Using Attractive and Eye-Catching Subject Lines- the subject line of an email can make or break whether it is worth opening for many. This is your chance to catch the attention of buyers. Therefore, this important step should be carefully thought out and not rushed. It is just as important as the text body as your email.
- Limit Call to Actions- A rule of thumb is to only use one CTA, or call to action, per email. This allows readers to digest your written content without too many tasks being thrown at them.
Another type of B2B content marketing strategy that is commonly used is digital marketing tools. These are things like paid ads, search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, your website, and much more. Paid ads, such as Facebook Ads, can lead to the potential for more conversions and work to attract a bigger community.
However, if you want to build a long-term, value-based content machine, you need a process in place to help you create ongoing social, blog, SEO-friendly content, pages, and long-form resources.
We can help you do just that! Learn more about how we can help you build a content machine that will provide ongoing content to continue to build relationships with other businesses, establish your company as a thought leader, increase your brand awareness, and much more!
