Content Marketing Strategy for B2B
Marketing a B2B company is hard.
From social media, advertising and television to print marketing, billboards and networking, founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders are faced with multiple potential marketing channels for their businesses. The challenge, however, is determining the best channel(s) for reaching their target customers, while also working with the company’s (sometimes constrained) marketing budget.
Some B2B companies dabble in multiple different marketing channels. This can definitely work. However, without a clear strategy for each channel, along with an integrated approach to ensure your messaging is consistent, diluting your marketing efforts across multiple channels can sometimes fall flat. This not only results in fewer leads for the company, but also a waste of marketing money.
There is, however, a marketing channel that most B2B companies can benefit from - and it doesn’t cost too much to utilize. In fact, most B2B companies can start using it today for free, as long as they have a website and a bit of a flair for writing. That marketing outlet, my B2B friends, is content marketing.
Content marketing is exactly what it sounds like: developing engaging content for your target audience so that they discover your products and / or services and eventually purchase them. Now, before you start creating TikTok videos and Instagram Reels, our content marketing strategy for B2B companies is a little different. In fact, it doesn’t really focus on creating content for your social media channels at all; it’s focused on creating content for your own website. Why? Because social media channels are always at the mercy of ever changing algorithms. You also don’t own the profiles that you create; the social media companies do. You do, however, own your own website, so it only makes sense to utilize it as the main information and content hub for your business.
So, how do you turn your website into a content marketing machine that drives potential customers towards your business? Here’s our content marketing strategy for B2B companies to help get you started:
Determine the Why Behind Your Business
Customers don’t purchase your products and / or services; they purchase the why behind your business. That’s why it’s important to determine your why before you start building out your content marketing strategy for B2B.
When building content marketing strategies, many companies focus on selling their how or, rather, their service offerings. To really succeed with content marketing, however, you need to focus on why you offer those services to begin with and, most importantly, who those services are meant to serve.
For instance, if you’re a plumber, your how may be installing new pipes and unclogging drains, but your why could be ensuring local residents have access to water at all times. From this perspective, your content marketing strategy could focus on value-driven pieces that help your potential customers maintain their plumbing systems and fix them as needed. It may seem counterintuitive to write content that helps clients fix their plumbing systems themselves when your business offers plumbing services, but, by providing expert guidance for free, you position yourself as an industry leader in the plumbing world. So, if the customer can’t fix the plumbing issue themselves, they’ll likely think about calling you first since they’ve already built up some level of trust with you through your articles. That’s the power of using your company’s why.
This works for not only B2B companies, but also B2C companies as well. So, before you dive into building your content marketing strategy for B2B, spend a bit of time determining your why. It’ll make the actual content marketing process a lot easier.
Build a Content Marketing Strategy for B2B
Once you’ve determined the why behind your business, it’s time to build a content marketing strategy that helps guide your customers through the sales journey stages: awareness stage, interest & research stage, and decision & purchase stage.
At Boxy, we recommend creating thought leadership articles and case studies when building a content marketing strategy for B2B companies. Why? Because thought leadership articles and case studies can be posted directly on your website, improving your site’s SEO and guiding clients directly to your key information hub on the web.
Think about it. A client has a problem they’re trying to solve. You write an SEO, value-driven article about how to solve it on your website. The client Googles how to solve the problem and they land on your article. Just like that, you have a warm lead who could use your services to solve their problem right on your website.
In contrast, if your content marketing strategy focuses primarily on posting on social media, your potential clients could stumble across your posts, but most potential clients turn to Google over Instagram when trying to solve their problems. So, most people who see your posts on social media aren’t actively searching for a solution to their problems, making them cold leads. And, even if a potential client does come across your post and finds it interesting, they would still need to read your post, check out your profile and then decide whether or not to click on the link in your bio just to get to your website. Sounds like a lot of steps to get to your information hub!
You can use other forms of content to help bolster your content marketing strategy, and social media can certainly be a part of that, but, to start, we think focusing on value-driven articles that lead right to your website is the way to go.
So, how do you create a content marketing strategy for B2B companies? Here’s a breakdown of the thought leadership articles and case studies you should create at each stage of the sales funnel:
Awareness Stage
During the awareness stage, you’re simply trying to make your company more widely known to potential customers. Articles and content at this stage should be less focused on selling your services, and more about providing value to your potential customers.
The thought leadership articles that work the best at this stage are how-to guides or articles that help solve your clients problems. When a potential customer starts to have a problem that needs solving, one of the first things they tend to do is Google a solution. At this point in their sales journey, they aren’t necessarily aware that they need to hire an external service provider to help them, so they’re simply just trying to understand more about their situation and see if there’s anything they can do to solve the problem themselves.
The goal here is to develop thought leadership articles that, again, help solve your client’s problems, but also introduce them to your brand. If your potential clients are searching for answers to their problems, and your articles keep popping up with solutions, your potential clients will start to recognize you as the go-to resource for solving that particular problem.
Here are a few examples of thought leadership articles that different industries could write for the awareness stage:
A plumber writes a DIY how-to guide for unclogging a kitchen sink.
A photographer writes a step-by-step guide for taking headshot photos with an iPhone.
A marketing agency writes an article providing a few different ways for local businesses to acquire more leads.
Interest & Research Stage
During the interest & research stage, your potential clients are further into the sales funnel, so their content needs have changed. At this point, potential clients have typically determined that they need to outsource the services you provide. However, they are trying to acquire as much information as possible so that they can make an informed decision before purchasing.
So, how can you help your potential clients as they consider their options? Write thought leadership articles that are focused on the benefits of using the services you offer, as well as articles outlining what to expect when working with a service provider. Again, you don’t want the articles to come off as salesy; the focus needs to remain on helping the client solve their problems. However, the articles should provide enough information to ensure the client is able to make the best decision for them.
Here are a few examples of thought leadership articles that different industries could write during the interest & research stage:
A plumber writes an article outlining the benefits of working with a local plumber.
A photographer writes an article outlining what to expect during a professional headshot session.
A marketing agency writes an article outlining the average costs of various marketing services.
Decision & Purchase Stage
At this point in the sales journey, the potential customer has already become aware of your business through your problem-solving articles, and has determined that you would be a good potential candidate for providing the services they need during the interest & research stage. The next part of the content marketing strategy for B2B companies shifts slightly from the thought leadership articles in the first two stages to actually proving that your company is capable of solving their problems. The best way to do this is through case studies.
Case studies should be written as a story, starting with the client’s problem, and then providing the solution for how you solved it. Your case studies should also include the results. If possible, try and show the results using numbers and statistics, as this can create more validity to your claims and give potential customers an understanding of the results they could receive if they work with you.
Here are a few examples of case studies that different industries could write for the decision & purchase stage:
A plumber writes a case study about a time they helped quickly and cost-effectively fix a customer’s drain.
A photographer writes a case study showcasing the professional headshots they snapped for a local business.
A marketing agency writes a case study that outlines how they improved a local business’s customer leads and acquisitions through influencer marketing.
Write the Content
Before you start writing the content, we’d recommend listing 3-5 articles that you can write for each sales stage. That way, you’ll be able to easily start executing your content marketing strategy for B2B, and produce a steady stream of content for a few months (assuming you post 1-2 articles a week).
As you start writing your articles, try to keep building your future article lists for each stage of the sales journey. Google and other search engines are always looking for fresh, up-to-date articles, so it’s important that you keep posting on your website relatively consistently. The more articles you can write the better. However, quantity isn’t better than quality here. If you can write one really good SEO-optimized article per week, stick with that cadence. You can always increase your output as you develop your article writing process and / or hire more staff members.
The only other tip we’d offer when writing thought leadership articles and case studies is to use storytelling. Stories help build trust with your customers, draw your audience into your article, and help create validity in your writing. We can dive into storytelling for B2B companies in another article, but, in general, try and start your articles by outlining a problem you faced, the challenges you went through, and ultimately the solution that helped you. In a thought leadership article, you can introduce the problem and some of the challenges you experienced along the way in the intro paragraph, and then your body paragraphs can dive into the solutions. Finally, your conclusion can highlight some of the results.
Acquire High Quality Visual Assets
To help bolster the storytelling within your thought leadership articles and case studies, try and incorporate high quality imagery throughout. The imagery can be high quality photos from a job you worked on, a video that compliments a how-to guide you’re putting together, or even stock imagery. The key is to use images that help tell the story and make it easier for your potential clients to visualize what you’re saying.
For instance, if you’re a plumber writing a guide on how to unclog a kitchen sink, you could include images throughout the article showcasing each step of the process. In combination, your writing and photos will make solving the problem very simple for your potential client.
And you don’t need to spend a large amount of money on professional photos either. Sure, professional photos will make your articles look more polished, but, to start, you can simply snap some photos on your iPhone and plug them into the article.
Either way, be sure to include at least one image in your article to help your readers visualize what you’re discussing.
Share Your Story with the World
Once you’ve written your articles and edited them, it’s time to share them with the world. Start by publishing them directly on your website. If the article is written following the best SEO practises for B2B companies, then Google should start to index them, allowing potential customers to find them as they search for solutions to their problems. Please keep in mind that it can take time for your articles to be indexed by Google, and even more time for your articles to start ranking higher in the search results. Once your articles do start to appear in searches, however, your content can provide solid leads for years to come. And, while you’re waiting for your articles to get indexed, continue writing more articles for your site!
If you want people to read your articles right away, you can also try sharing links to them on social media. Again, try to create a bit of a story in your social media captions to draw your audience in, and ensure they know the value you’re providing within the article. Depending on your business, you will need to determine the social media channels your target audience uses. Typically for B2B companies, LinkedIn is best.
As you continue to write more articles and build out your library, you can also create an email newsletter, asking your readers to opt-in on your website. Then, you can email your subscriber list every time you post a new article, leading to even more article views.
Refine Your Strategy
As you start to gain more and more views on your blog, use Google Analytics or your built-in website analytics (depending on which web provider you use) to determine the most popular content on your blog. As you start to get a better sense of your most read articles, you will also get a better sense of the specific problems your target customers are trying to solve. With this information, you can start to craft even more articles focused on helping them solve that specific problem. By doubling down on your best read articles and creating complimentary articles for them, you will also start to increase your page views over time.
You can also use Google Analytics to check out the search queries that led to your site. Sometimes, you can find search queries that led to your site that aren’t specifically addressed in any of your articles. When you notice these search queries, try writing an article that addresses them. If people already found your site using a specific search query, but didn’t find the solution they were looking for because your article wasn’t specifically about that query, chances are more people will Google that query in the future. So, make sure you have an article written for those people and queries once you discover them.
Conclusion
Determining the best marketing channel for your B2B company can be challenging and expensive. With content marketing, you can drive potential customers directly to your website and develop the content for a reasonable price - or even do it yourself. To start, determine the why behind your business, developing an understanding of the problems your clients are trying to solve and how your business can help them do that. Next, develop value-driven articles for each stage of your customers sales journey, utilizing high quality images and videos to help you get your points across. Finally, use SEO best practises, social media and an email newsletter to share your articles with the world, and then refine your content marketing for B2B strategy using your website analytics. Before you know it, your company will be the go-to resource in your industry - and you’ll start to see more organic leads coming through your website, too.