You have probably heard the phrase, “content is king,” for many years now, but its message remains the same; the critical necessity of B2B content marketing. 73% of B2B organizations are using content marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy and while this is significant, if organizations are not creating and developing relevant content, assets and other content pieces might not be reaching their full potential. Developing content that speaks to the target audience, encouraging them to engage with the content and nurturing buyers throughout the buyer’s journey are some of the top goals of content marketing. Creating enough content to support the buyer’s journey is no easy task and requires a robust content marketing system with many different assets that can be utilized over time. To successfully develop engaging B2B content marketing assets, keep these five things in mind.
Produce a Variety of B2B Content Marketing Assets for Different Situations
A complete content marketing system is composed of a variety of B2B assets, each with a specific purpose. These can include whitepapers, case studies, guides and more. When determining the types of content to produce, keep in mind what these assets will be used for. Here are a few instances where various types of content can be used:
- eBooks, Whitepapers and Guides: These gated content pieces can be used on your website as part of the lead generation process. eBooks, whitepapers and guides are great visual content pieces that are easy to read and creatively portray important information.
- Infographics: Infographics can also be used on your website but can also be a great print asset. Often infographics take a complex topic and break it down into easy, step-by-step components for easy understanding in a visual format. As an ungated asset, it is a great way to generate brand awareness.
- Brochures: Along with infographics, brochures are versatile assets that can be added to a website or used in print to hand out at a trade show or conference.
- Videos: With video consumption and popularity on the rise, videos are a perfect B2B content asset to create and show on websites and share on social media and video platforms.
- Case Studies: Case studies are important for the sales process and buyer’s journey. Creating case studies that showcase your product or service implementation in a real-life instance can be insightful for those considering a purchase.
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Keep Your Target Audience in Mind
When thinking about B2B assets to create, think about your target audience. Content without a specific audience does not generate results. One way to go about thinking of what content to create is to carefully consider the buyer’s journey and create content that matches each stage. Consider these stages and content to create for each:
- Awareness Stage: Using content that is ungated is the most effective at this stage. Blogs, articles, social media posts and press releases are a few of the content pieces that are essential to building awareness.
- Consideration Stage: Gated content is key in the consideration stage. White papers, eBooks and guides are gated content that helps to generate leads.
- Decision Stage: As a prospect reaches the decision stage, it is important to show content such as product demos or videos, decision checklists and even presentations.
Be Consistent with Branding Elements
With the many different types and mediums of B2B content marketing assets, it is important to maintain a cohesive look so that all the pieces work together. This means following all branding elements, from font styles and colors to headers and footers and imagery styles. Being consistent across all content assets shows continuity and is easy for your target audience to recognize as they come across more and more content. Ensure voice and tone for all written pieces to reflect your company as well, and include key messaging points as appropriate.
Use All Resources Available
Producing many content marketing assets can be time-consuming, especially for smaller B2B organizations, so leveraging available resources helps make this process more efficient. Internal teams can be valuable resources for producing content, including the sales team, product development, marketing and more. This is especially true of client-facing employees, such as your sales team, who interact regularly with prospects and understand their interests and needs and have a good idea of what kind of content they need. Additionally, leveraging your executive team for thought leadership content is a great avenue to building credibility and brand recognition.
Don’t Be Afraid to Repurpose
With limited resources at times, it is a great idea to repurpose content across multiple formats. Oftentimes information in certain content can be easily reworked and reproduced in other formats while maintaining its importance and relevance to target audiences. For example, a whitepaper could be shortened into a blog post or used as the basis for a webinar. This way, you are using the time and effort spent to produce content pieces as efficiently as possible.
Need help with content development or building out your content strategy? Contact Launch or request a free marketing consultation!
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