Marketing has taken a major shift over the last several years. No longer confined to traditional methods, businesses are now leveraging content marketing to engage with their audience, build trust, and drive sales.
For B2B brands, this shift is not just a trend but a necessity. When it comes to marketing for B2B companies, content marketing focuses on delivering high-quality, strategic content that resonates with potential customers, addresses their pain points, and positions your organization as a thought leader in your industry.
Unlike traditional advertising, content marketing aims to provide useful information that educates, entertains, or inspires. This content can take various forms, including blog posts, white papers, eBooks, infographics, videos, podcasts, and social media updates.
Content Marketing vs. Advertising
Content marketing and advertising are two distinct strategies that serve different purposes but that support the ultimate goal of engaging prospects.
Content marketing is used to attract, teach, and entertain your audience with valuable, relevant content. It focuses on creating and sharing information that your audience finds helpful, which builds trust and positions your brand as an industry leader. In fact, 80% of all searches are for information intent, which is where your content marketing comes into play. We are seeking to answer the questions our audience is asking.
Advertising, on the other hand, relies on paid media to deliver quick, often immediate results. It works by distracting or interrupting your audience’s activities with promotional messages designed to capture their attention and prompt action. Advertising can be highly effective for new brand establishment and driving rapid engagement.
So, which one should you be using? Both of course!
You need paid advertising to get your brand, product, or service on the market. You need content marketing to create a deeper brand image that can eventually become a valuable resource to your customers.
Creating Your Content Strategy
There are 4 key steps to creating a content strategy that will help put you ahead of your competitors.
- Create Your Content Marketing Mission Statement
Your marketing mission statement is the reason why your audience should care. The three elements of your content mission statement include: Audience X + Information Y + Benefit Z To break this down even further, your content is going to be everything you create. You are creating content for audience X on the topic of information Y, with benefit Z being the reason they should care. Only 28% of marketers have documented their content mission statement, but it is proven time and again that those who document theirs succeed more than those who do not. - Develop Original Research
Two types of content that resonate best with audiences are original research and strong opinion pieces. Original research is accessible to anyone and involves finding and answering industry-specific questions or uncovering missing statistics. What is the answer your audience is seeking? Chances are if you are searching for the answer, someone else is too. - Repurpose Your Content
Consider repurposing your content mission statement into a powerful website, social media, or email marketing CTA to drive engagement. You can also repurpose any content you create into various materials. Consider a report you spent a lot of time working on – you don’t want to just end there. The data is in your hands! Turn the report into an infographic, write a press release, draft a social post, and send it out in an email blast. - Collaborate with Other Creators
Collaborating with influencers to create content with their input naturally attracts links and authority. Pitch this content to editors, media outlets, and industry blogs, and offer to rewrite your content from different perspectives to enhance originality, such as turning “5 Tips to Keep Your School Safe This Year” into “5 Mistakes Schools Are Making When It Comes to Student Safety.” Don’t forget to link back to the original piece to boost your authority score.
Digital Content and SEO Best Practices
There are many tools available to help you get started on your content creation journey, including:
- Google: The best source to search keywords and see what’s showing up; Google Suggest/Autocomplete allows you to see what your audience is searching
- SEMRush: Its topic research tools give you ideas for subjects to write about and also include keyword research for you to apply in your content itself
- Quora: A Q&A social platform where answers can be upvoted and help provide you with the content to answer these questions
- Answer the Public: Plug in a topic, and it will give you questions that it scrapes from the internet
Creating effective headlines for your content is key to attracting visitors; a headline that fails to catch the reader’s attention will simply be ignored. Visitors conduct a quick cost-benefit analysis before deciding to click, so it’s essential to use wording that immediately demonstrates value. When optimizing for search, be sure to meet people’s expectations and stay relevant, while on social media don’t be afraid to be a bit unexpected.
When crafting the perfect headline, be sure to start with your keywords – this is known as keyword prominence – and ensure your headlines are tailored appropriately for each channel. Google search favors titles with questions, while 11-word headlines perform well on social media. However, when it comes to articles, 14+ word headlines tend to get 3x more traffic, 2x more shares, and 5x more backlinks.
Beyond headlines, formatting your content to keep visitors engaged is key. Your audience isn’t reading everything, so huge, blocky paragraphs don’t work. Break up the text to enhance readability and maintain a smooth flow down the page. Don’t forget to link to other relevant content or pages across your website, as internal links not only keep visitors exploring your site but also improve your website’s SEO.
Bringing It Into Practice
In today’s competitive landscape, content marketing continues to be a powerful tool for B2B brands. By constantly offering valuable insights and solutions, you can nurture relationships with potential and existing customers, guiding them through the buyer’s journey and ultimately influencing their purchasing decisions.
Unlike traditional advertising, content marketing builds trust and authority over time. While it may require patience and effort to create and test content, the long-term benefits of establishing a strong brand presence and fostering customer loyalty make it a worthwhile investment.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
By Andie Levine
It’s 2022 and ICYMI – social media is not just for consumer brands anymore.
If you’re reading this, you’re ready for, or at least curious about, including social media in your organization’s marketing strategy. B2B has been often left out of the conversation about social media marketing, but not anymore. Social media is a worthwhile marketing channel for your business because even though you are selling to other businesses, you’re still selling to people!
The Hootsuite & We Are Social, Digital 2022 Global Statshot Report found that 38% of B2B decision-makers say they discover new products and services relevant to their work via social media. And they aren’t just using social media for discovery – about 8 in 10 B2B decision-makers also say that social media plays an influential role in their research, putting it ahead of trade press outlets like online and print trade magazines. That’s huge.
Now that you’ve seen the potential for using social media to reach your audience, here are a few steps you can take to get started.
Identify & Find Your Audience
The data tells us that your audience is on social media – but who are they and how can you find them? Let’s start with who they are. Your audience has a unique challenge that leads them to find a solution. You should already have a good idea of who your buyer personas are through research, surveys, and customer pain points.
Once you’ve clearly identified two or three personas, determine where they“live” online. Twitter and LinkedIn are the most popular platforms for B2B audiences but don’t rule out other channels. 62% of active users aged 16-64 say that they use Instagram to research brands or products.
When it comes to social media, you shouldn’t put all of your eggs in one basket, or rely on just one channel to reach your audience. Every social media channel has advantages and drawbacks and can be used differently to reach different audiences or meet unique business goals.
Develop Content
Now that your social media channels are set up and audiences are identified, it’s time to start posting. Providing free value to your audience builds trust, reputation – and even sales. Valuable content includes, but is not limited to, white papers, case studies, on-demand webinars, e-books, factoids, graphics and even blogs – we have a great blog post about the importance of blogs for social media.
It’s also important to diversify content – each post shouldn’t be about your organization. Valuable content can also include credible and relevant industry articles. And speaking of diversifying, build a content plan to include visuals, such as infographics and videos. Video posts typically receive high engagement. Uploading videos natively can earn four times the views and two times the engagement!
User-generated content (UGC) is also great for boosting engagement. Tap into UGC by highlighting the exciting things your employees or customers are doing or achieving with your product or service. Use social media to feature the work your key leaders and innovators are producing.
To learn more about how to develop engaging content for social media, check out this blog post.
Listen, Adapt, Grow
So now you’re on social media and posting engaging content – let’s keep the momentum going!
An important way to stay connected with your B2B audience is to listen to your audience. Listening is an important skill in social media and one that’s easy to forget. What are your customers saying? What are your competitors saying? What are the media and analysts saying?
There are many free and paid tools to help keep your ear to the door: Google Alerts, Social Mention, or Hootsuite. Pick out five, or more, keywords or phrases people may use to identify themselves as potential customers and conduct searches on your top social accounts; then use what you’re hearing to help shape your content and join the conversation.
Social media can play an important role in your B2B marketing plan and is worth your time and energy. Whether you’re at the beginning of your social media journey or looking for an experienced partner to help accelerate your reach, our team can help effectively integrate social media into your existing strategy. Contact us to learn more.
The last five years have seen a marked changed in the way content is generated online. Instead of relying on a newsroom staffed with journalists, online media platforms are trading on their infinite column length of free content from outside sources. What was first a cost-cutting measure is now a potential money maker has the views generated help bolster advertising revenues at a fraction of the cost of internal writers and editors.
This change has given individuals the ability to publish their work alongside journalists with only small cues to differentiate them to the reader (e.g. Crunch Network on TechCrunch or being labeled Contributor on Forbes instead of Forbes Staff). Becoming a contributor can build personal brands for an executive, but often times the company’s presence is reduced to a line in the author bio.
In parallel, the value of the company internal blog is diminished (setting aside the SEO and long-term thought leadership benefits). There is more reach to be had in writing content for an external platform with vastly greater views and social media presence than a company blog where it can be hard to break out beyond an existing bubble.
In addition to contributing content to online publications, the rise of Medium and LinkedIn Pulse adds another channel for companies and individuals to share their story. These platforms facilitate sharing and “following,” which makes them a stronger blend of social media and publishing than other “unconnected” platforms.
In spite of these new ways to publish content and drive reach, earned media generated by public relations holds onto its value for three key reasons:
Credibility
While Americans have flagging trust in mass media, the outlets and topics relevant to B2B companies, especially in the technology space, still hold relevancy. If a journalist or blogger who is a respected subject-matter expert writes a positive piece on a company or product, it provides outside validation that cannot be matched by a self-written or self-published article.
Visibility
Visibility can be twofold when talking about media coverage. First is the impact in the search engines. According to Google, 89% of all B2B buying researchers use the internet as part of their process. Odds are, the weight assigned to a media site by Google outranks most corporate sites, so if a media article hits a powerful keyword phrase that reaches buyers, it creates a new indirect path to a company.
Second is the audience of the publication and writer in terms of daily readers and social media followers. Anecdotally, editorial pieces often receive better placement on websites and more attention on social media. This varies from site to site, but typically when time, effort and cost have been placed into a story, the media promotes it at a higher volume.
Subject Matter
Surprisingly, when comparing editorial coverage to self-generated content, companies can see more of their message come across in the pieces they don’t write. That’s because when contributing content, pieces must remain vendor-neutral, and when self-publishing on a blog or social publishing platform, it’s poor form to drop in self-serving superlatives to thought leadership content.
Yet in media coverage, when executives are interviewed for a story, their words are often printed verbatim and can be reinforced by the writer. One company’s talking points can become anchors of a trend story or industry roundup that has broader appeal than a single company profile.
Content marketing has its place in the quiver for B2B companies looking to drive leads, engage audiences and build brands. However, to truly hit the bullseye, classic PR and media relations efforts must remain a constant and core part of the communications strategy.
By: Bob Minkus
Earlier this year, we worked with Airclic to reposition the company as it transformed itself into a SaaS-based mobile logistics products provider. This included developing a new logo, product architecture, corporate and product positioning and messaging, and brand identity. We also took the opportunity to create a new website for Airclic (www.airclic.com) that reflected its updated brand.
It didn’t take long before the site started turning heads. Since the launch, traffic has increased by nearly 20 percent each month, the time spent on the site has increased by nearly 20 percent and the bounce rate has decreased by more than 5 percent. The total page views have also increased, and website visitors have a 70 percent conversion rate.
Each year, Crain’s BtoB, the industry-leading marketing publication, compiles a list of the “10 Great Websites”. This year, we’re proud to be a part of that list with Airclic.com. The site was recognized along with industry leaders Accenture, iStockphoto, SAS and Tyco for its clean design, seamless interactivity and ability to engage visitors with social media, blogs, live chat and live call functionalities.
“The execution of the design is clean and the interactivity is seamless. The site’s vast content is organized by industry to help simplify meeting the users’ needs. The site actively uses social media and technology to engage users on various levels. Not only does it offer a blog, RSS feed, site search and LinkedIn group but it also offers both live chat and live call to allow users to interact with the site on multiple levels.”
– Bill Rice, president, Web Marketing Association