Have you tried content marketing as a way to attract new customers for your business? If so, you’re in good company. Since this strategy is more popular than ever, finding fresh ideas is key to standing out. Today we’re rounding up the best ideas to improve your B2B content marketing plans.
1. Target to decision-makers
First things first: a main rule of content marketing suggests tailoring the message to your ideal audience. In other words, you should design your content around the needs and expectations of the people you want to discover it. In practice, this means choosing subjects, formats and keywords that will appeal to your target audience.
But are you focusing B2B content around the actual decision-makers who approve purchasing your product? To start addressing this essential audience, use B2B buyer personas to find out what information decision-makers want. Or keep things simple and ask your sales team for insight on decision-makers.
2. Broaden your reach
On the other hand, you may also want to consider making a wider range of content! Studies show that for B2B products and services, the decision to buy involves 6-10 people on average. All of them will do their own research throughout the buying process. And chances are, not all of them will be in the specific decision-maker roles you’ve identified.
As a result, it makes sense to create content that reaches more people and boosts your business’s profile. For example, some resources should be relevant to people in your industry, while others could speak to IT professionals in particular. When several stakeholders engage with your B2B content marketing, it can improve the path to purchase.
3. Give your company a voice
For too long, B2B content had a reputation as old-fashioned. Compared to the B2C world, the audiences were smaller, more specialized and less interested in change. However, both business audiences and business content have shifted toward big trends in recent years. One huge trend in this space that’s easy to join is the B2B audio boom.
Audio has strong advantages for content marketers looking to shake things up. Most importantly, it’s a surefire way to add a personal touch to your communications. Next, there are lots of ways to use audio to connect with your audience. From Clubhouse to podcasts, jumping on the audio trend is a low-cost option for creating enriched media.
4. Create multilanguage content
Not sure how to grow your B2B content marketing audience beyond current followers? The best place to start is by checking out your own analytics. Especially if you tend to focus on target personas, content analytics often reveal global reach that may be underserved. Without re-working your entire sales and marketing plan, multilanguage content can help activate new audiences.
Because making multilanguage content is complex, try starting small. Choose a language that’s already represented in your audience and translate a popular publication. Or do some keyword research to support a brand-new article in another language. Either way, be sure to adjust your content’s SEO to reflect the needs of multilanguage buyers.
5. Collaborate with others
B2B content doesn’t have to be 100% centered on the benefits of your business. In fact, a very simple way to maximize your reach is to share the spotlight with another company. Teaming up to create collaborative content brings new audiences along to discover your brand: your followers, plus your partner creator’s followers.
Although independent influencers are powerful in B2B social media, you don’t need to dive into the world of influencer marketing to find collaborators. For instance, you can turn toward your own customers to find content opportunities! Highlight their use of your solutions in a case study or work together on producing an industry-specific resource.
6. Try a new format
Sometimes even the best B2B content marketing gets stuck in a routine. In particular, paying close attention to what works can lead to a kind of content “comfort zone.” Or to put it another way, your audience responds so well to white papers that you build a whole strategy around your library of white papers.
But even the most successful content plans can be improved with a fresh twist. Why not take some of your existing content and re-use it in a new format? You could make a poll about one of your white paper topics, make a GIF from a tutorial or even start your own magazine. Mix it up with different formats to catch your followers’ attention and perhaps reach new ones.
7. Highlight your values
Last but not least, consider shifting your perspective for better B2B content marketing. Similarly to changes seen elsewhere, B2B buyers are showing continued interest in the values and purpose of their partner companies. In addition to product and industry content, business audiences want to know more about what brands stand for and why they do what they do.
Of course, the answers to these questions are unique to every business. And while they don’t have to become a main feature of your content, it can be worth introducing your company values when relevant and appropriate. As long as you keep things authentic, highlighting your purpose and principles helps attract audiences ready to engage beyond the bottom line.
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