Isn’t it frustrating when you put all your efforts into a B2B content marketing strategy, but it doesn’t reap any results? Creating relevant and compelling content is one of the top challenges such businesses face.
You might be in the same boat, so your efforts may be unsuccessful. Don’t worry; with the right B2B content marketing framework, you can tweak your existing strategy and fill in the gaps.
So, if you are ready to take your B2B content marketing to the next level, you have come to the right place.
Here is your complete guide to B2B content marketing trends, strategy, framework, examples, and more.
What is B2B Content Marketing?
B2B content marketing is the practice of producing and distributing content to fulfill overall marketing goals. These goals can include the following:
- Generating more traffic
- Getting high-quality leads
- Increasing brand awareness
- Boosting sales
Everything from creating to marketing content is included in B2B content marketing.
Some common B2B content marketing types include blogs, podcasts, infographics, and white papers. The secret to a successful B2B content marketing strategy is addressing the business needs and goals.
B2B vs. B2C Content Marketing: What Are the Differences?
While the general gist of B2B and B2C content marketing may be the same, there are many other differences that come with it.
Let’s explore each difference in detail:
1. The Formats
Content marketing requires businesses to create and market content of different types and formats. Typically, B2B companies and B2C companies rely on different formats.
B2B companies rely on formats such as white papers, case studies, webinars, blog content, and email newsletters. The aim is to ensure that the content is practical and educational.
On the other hand, B2C content marketing relies on a wide variety of formats. These can be fun and emotional as the goal is to connect with the customer.
2. Target Audience
B2C companies have a broad audience because anyone can buy your product. On the other hand, B2B companies have a much narrower target audience, which means the content needs to be focused on the businesses buying your products.
The aim is to create content that will target decision-makers who work in the businesses you want to serve. For example, if you are a company creating data management tools, then you may need to focus on creating and marketing informational content.
These can include whitepapers, case studies, infographics, and other informative content. Such content will allow you to provide important information to your clients, and they can decide whether your tools will benefit their business.
3. Distribution Channels
Finally, the channels where you distribute your content will also differ between B2B and B2C companies. For example, Pinterest might not be the best place to distribute your content regarding data management tools.
Social media is not the best platform for many companies to distribute B2B content. Research conducted by FocusVision concluded that around 70% of B2B customers consume content directly from the vendor’s website.
So, you must conduct extensive research and decide how to distribute content for your company. Once you do, your content will reach the target audience without issues.
Why is Content Marketing Important for B2B?
Content marketing is important for B2B companies because it has a high return on investment (ROI). The reason for this high ROI is that the channels used to distribute such content have a low cost.
However, there are a few costs that B2B companies will still have to keep in mind. These include the cost of labour and any content creation tools you want to invest in.
Here are some other reasons why B2B content marketing is important for businesses:
- Content has a long lifespan
- Building trust with customers and prospects
- Helps drive traffic to your website that has the potential to convert
- Educates potential customers about your brand and the solutions you offer
- Helps B2B companies gain an advantage over the competition
- Ensures you can establish your brand as an authority in the industry
So, if you are a B2B company, then it is crucial you conduct content marketing. It will enable you to maximize your marketing budget while reaping the benefits mentioned above.
B2B Content Marketing Types
Now that you are familiar with some basics regarding B2B content marketing, it is important to understand the B2B content marketing types.
These are content formats you can utilize to distribute the content you create. Here are some of the most common B2B content marketing types you can add to your strategy:
- Whitepapers: Over 20% of business leaders favour whitepapers in their B2B content marketing strategy
- Blog posts: Marketers who opt for blogging can expect to see 13 times more positive ROI than those who don’t
- Infographics: These are great for providing useful information that is easy to digest
- Case studies: Buyers use case studies to determine some reassurance about the product
- Webinars: These are low-cost alternatives to physical events and can generate quality leads
- Podcasts: Podcasts are a popular tool for generating leads. The idea is to ensure thought leadership for the business or product
- Email newsletters: These are a great way to boost engagement regarding the product or business
- LinkedIn: It is a great platform that generates over 50% of all traffic to B2B blogs and websites
- eBooks: These are crucial to provide in-depth information and cover an important topic in detail
You can choose from any of these B2B content marketing types, depending on what your goals are and what you want to achieve. Having a direction in mind with your content marketing strategy will allow you to choose the right types.
B2B Content Marketing Strategy: A 10-Step Framework
Now that you have a solid base regarding B2B content marketing, it is time to follow the right practices to have an incredible strategy at your disposal.
Fortunately, we have created a B2B content marketing strategy framework to help you benefit from the right strategies in detail.
Here is a complete guide to help your business with the best B2B content marketing strategy:
Step 1. Understand the Journey of Your Target Audience
While this is not a direct B2B content marketing strategy, it is the foundation that will determine your framework. B2B products usually have a higher price point, which is why understanding the sales cycle and customer journey is crucial.
You have to nurture your audience to drive them towards a purchasing decision for your business. Let’s review the three stages of the buyer’s journey for a B2B company:
- Awareness Stage: This is the stage where the prospect has become aware of a problem, and they will start educating themselves on the solution required
- Consideration Stage: The prospect is actively researching solutions during this stage
- Decision Stage: This is the stage where the prospect will decide whether they want to purchase a solution
We recommend you create a detailed customer journey map for your business. Doing this will help you get into the minds of your customers and understand their journeys much better.
Once you have this information regarding your prospects, you can determine which B2B content marketing strategy will suit your business in the best way.
Step 2. Create a Buyer Persona of Your Target Audience
The next step in the B2B content marketing framework is to create a buyer person for your target audience. Usually, the target audience for B2B companies are businesses that might buy your products or services.
On the other hand, the relevant decision-makers at those businesses will also be involved in this process. Demographic data is crucial to this process as it will help you understand your prospects better.
Such data includes the following information about your target audience:
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Income bracket
- Job title
- Behaviours
- Pain points
- Education level
- Interests
- Beliefs
- Core values
You can leverage this information to create a detailed buyer persona of your prospects. Once you do, you will better understand how your prospects make a purchasing decision.
For example, if you are targeting senior-level management, then providing information through whitepapers or your website will work better than social media.
Step 3. Analyze your Existing Content
Before you move on to a new B2B content marketing strategy, it is crucial for you to analyze your existing content to fill gaps and identify opportunities.
Here are a few reasons why we recommend you conduct a comprehensive analysis of your existing content:
- Existing poor-quality content will harm your brand’s reputation
- There might be existing content on your website with potential that has gone untapped
- You might need to update your existing content to enhance its quality
- If there is a high amount of unhelpful content on your website, it can harm your rankings
There are various tools you can use to analyze the existing content on your site. One that many marketers use is Google Analytics.
It has various key metrics that will provide you with a glimpse into your content performance. These include engagement, conversions, retention, and much more.
Use these analytics tools to figure out the places you can improve your content. Then, you can fill the gaps with better content.
Step 4. Research What Your Competitors Are Doing
Now that you have some data regarding your target audience and existing content, it is time to take a deep dive into your competitors and analyze what they are doing.
See what they are offering to your customers, and determine what you can offer that can set you apart from your competition. After all, you will require a unique selling point to attract prospects to your business.
Here are some tips you can follow to conduct proper research into what your competitors are doing:
- Identify a list of your top competitors in your industry
- Conduct a SWOT analysis or simply determine the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors
- Determine your unique selling point around the strengths your business has
It is also crucial to check what the competitors are not doing. Be sure to also check the short tail or long tail keywords they are using for their marketing strategy.
For example, if your competitors are not using social media content pillars for B2B content marketing, then it might not be the right channel for you to conduct content marketing.
Step 5. Determine the Strategy for ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu Content
Yes, these words might be fun to say, but they refer to the stages of the content marketing funnel. You have customers on top of the funnel (ToFu), middle of the funnel (MoFu), and bottom of the funnel (BoFu).
You have to create content for each stage to ensure that your prospects don’t drop out of the funnel at any given point.
In the table below, we have helped you understand how you can determine the strategy for each stage in the funnel:
| Funnel Stage | Goals | Content Examples |
| ToFu | Generating brand awareness and attracting more visitors to the website | Guides, blogs, or tutorials to help people gain more awareness regarding your product or service |
| MoFu | Educating and guiding prospects through the decision-making process | Creating product-focused and helpful content |
| BoFu | Propelling conversions | Success stories, customer testimonials, product overviews, and case studies will work best at this stage |
Step 6. Decide the Content Types you Will Use at Each Stage
Once you have determined the prospects at your funnel stages, you must decide the B2B content marketing types you will use. Remember that this will be a process of trial and error before you figure out what works best for your customers at each stage.
Stick to some content formats that have worked for you in the past, and also introduce new formats to gain access to more distribution channels.
Each content format type will provide you access to a new channel. For example, if you want to create helpful videos, then you can tap into your target audience that exists on YouTube.
On the other hand, if you want to begin informative podcasts, then you will be open to your users on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Every content type will open your business to users on a unique platform. Be sure to select content types where you will find most of your target audience with ease.
Step 7. Work on Building Authority
After you have the B2B content marketing types figured out, it is time to work on those platforms and begin building authority.
Building authority in the industry means your website will be the go-to resource for information for people. In the long run, it will help you build trust and gain more brand awareness.
Naturally, this will also lead to higher rankings on Google. We recommend you come up with content ideas that show thought leadership.
Here are some tips that will help you come up with the right B2B content ideas:
- Find new industry insights and trends to create content around it
- Conduct keyword research to understand what queries people want answers to
- Opt for social listening forums, such as Quora, Reddit, and other relevant forums and discussion boards in your industry
- Talk to the experts that dominate your industry
- Collaborate with like-minded to gain different perspectives around your niche
All of these steps will allow you to consume the right information to help you create content people want to read.
Step 8. Figure out Content Distribution Channels
One of the most important factors in your B2B content marketing strategy is to figure out your content distribution channels. Distributing your content on an inaccurate channel means that it will not reach your target audience.
There are different types of channels you can choose from. We have explained each one in a table below to help you make an informed decision for your content marketing strategy:
| Distribution Channel | How it Helps |
| Paid channels (PPC) | If you have the budget for it, then PPC can help you generate more search traffic while you work on organic strategies. A great way to do this is through Google Ads |
| Blogs | These are ideal for generating organic traffic. Be sure to optimize your blogs for SEO |
| Social media | Sign up for professional websites, such as LinkedIn, for your B2B content marketing strategy. You can use it to share content and establish authority while tracking KPIs for social media |
| Maintain frequent contact with your leads through email marketing. Make sure to add links to your content to get the most out of it | |
| Syndication | Republish your content on other platforms and websites through syndication. You will get a link or mention through this process |
Choosing the right content distribution channel means aligning with your overarching marketing goals.
Once you begin distribution, we recommend you track the relevant metrics to guarantee you align with your objectives.
Step 9. Create a Document for the B2B Content Marketing Strategy
It is crucial to create proper documentation for your B2B content marketing strategy. The document should clearly state everything about the strategy and how you plan to attract customers through your content.
A benefit of documenting the strategy is that all relevant people in the team can have access to it. These include sales leaders, marketing managers, senior directors, and much more.
It is crucial to keep going back to this document for reference. Doing this will ensure everyone is on the same page and your marketing efforts are organized.
Step 10. Keep Reviewing the B2B Content Marketing Framework
Finally, you must keep reviewing your strategy by tracking results. Set some metrics, track results, and find areas where you can improve.
A B2B content marketing strategy is always a work in progress. We recommend reviewing it monthly or quarterly.
This will give you a better idea of where you stand regarding your content. Document everything, and with the right framework, you will soon have content that will provide you with high returns.
B2B Content Marketing Trends
Any business that wants to stay relevant in the industry must keep up with the trends. A successful B2B content marketing strategy takes into account these trends to stay relevant.
In 2024, there will be many trends you might have to incorporate in your strategy. Our marketing experts have rounded some of the top trends you can follow:
Trend 1: Video Content
There is so much text on the internet that people are always looking for other ways to consume content. The average person watches seventeen hours of video content online each week.
On the other hand, 70% of B2B buyers have reported that they watch videos throughout their journey. This trend is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Because of this, we recommend investing in video content for your B2B content marketing strategy.
Remember that you don’t need advanced technologies or materials to create video content. Instead, you can get the essentials and begin creating high-quality videos for your B2B content marketing strategy.
Trend 2: Leveraging the Power of AI
We already know that the future is AI, and that future is already taking place. B2B marketers will incorporate AI-powered content into their marketing strategies.
According to research by the Content Marketing Institute, these AI-powered technologies can easily:
- Brainstorm new topic ideas
- Research keywords, headlines, and more
- Outline content
- Write drafts
- Proofread content
- Generate images and graphics
- And much more
Ultimately, this will lead to more efficiency in the content marketing processes. So, if you want to stay ahead of the curve, then be sure to use AI as your trusted assistant in your B2B content marketing strategy.
Trend 3: Enhancing Thought Leadership in the Industry
While many people think this is the era of information, it is also the era of misinformation. Because of the advent of the internet, it has become incredibly easy to spread misinformation.
According to a Connecting the Dots Global Report in 2023, there has been a drop of 11% in consumers saying they trust online reviews since 2020.
The data points to the fact that people have become more critical of the information they find online. So, if you want to build strong connections with your B2B buyers, then you must offer some thought leadership.
Focus on industry insights, trends, and expertise to provide valuable information to your buyers. Be sure to add this content type to your strategy often for the best results.
Trend 4: User-Generated Content (UGC)
UGC has gained a lot of popularity in recent times, and it has become a staple for people operating in the B2C market. However, this trend is slowly starting to show up in B2B industries, too.
The reason for this is that people trust other users, and buyers will view the content as authentic and reliable. B2B marketers are already taking advantage of user-generated content, and so should you.
According to a report by Nosto, 79% of people say that UGC has an impact on their buying decisions.
Such B2B content types include testimonials, case studies, product use videos, and much more. You can set up how you want to incorporate this into your B2B content marketing strategy.
Trend 5: Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has been on the rise for a while, and it is here to stay. Close to 30% of marketers are already using this strategy, and so can you.
The reason for this is that it has a high ROI, which makes marketers want to invest in this type of marketing. One of the top benefits of influencer marketing is that it creates a genuine connection between buyers and brands.
B2B marketers are already taking note of this strategy and will include it in their B2B content marketing strategy. Add this to your strategy, too, and stay ahead of your competitors.
B2B Content Marketing Examples
Looking at other B2B businesses in the market will give you a better idea of how you can steer your B2B content marketing strategy.
Let’s review some top businesses that are crushing strategy for your inspiration:
Example 1: Page Fights – Creating Videos
Page Fights is a microsite for a software company known as Unbounce. While the microsite project closed down, what they did while it was running was incredibly successful.
Unbounce already had a successful blog, but they decided to diversify their content type with this project. The company began producing video content to engage and retain the attention of its audience.
Marketers that incorporate video in their content strategies see close to 50% faster revenue growth than those that don’t.
So, looking at the same trend and example, be sure to find a place for video in your B2B content marketing strategy.
Example 2: MeetEdgar – Podcast Interviews
MeetEdgar is an automation tool for social media, and one of the cornerstones of its success is appearing on podcasts. Laura Roeder is the founder of this tool, and she has appeared on almost a hundred podcasts.
Utilizing this strategy helped the company to reach more than a million website visitors and email subscribers. So, you can also take this example and add podcast interviews to your B2B content marketing strategy.
Example 3: Next View Ventures – Create Content Off-Site
Next View Ventures is doing an excellent job of creating off-site content that attracts visitors. It has created a publication on Medium, known as Better Everyday, to focus on resources and analysis that will help founders redesign the future they want to live in.
You might wonder why Next View Ventures didn’t use its own website for this purpose. Well, off-site content is a great way to ensure more discoverability and variety in the content.
If you want to be more discoverable, then we recommend you also focus on your off-site efforts as a B2B business. It will allow your audience to engage with you on various platforms.
FAQs
What is a B2B marketing strategy?
A B2B marketing strategy is a content marketing strategy targeted toward another organization or business. These businesses sell services or products to other businesses looking for solutions.
What are the four pillars of B2B marketing?
The four pillars of B2B marketing are insight, strategy, creation, and metrics. Every pillar is crucial in supporting the B2B content marketing strategy campaign in the long run.
What content appeals in B2B marketing?
The essence of B2B marketing content is to offer solutions to business problems. Content that appeals to this intent includes white papers, leadership articles, informative blog posts, research reports, and more.
What are the four types of B2B marketing?
B2B marketing has four buyer categories. These include producers, resellers, governments, and institutions.
Final Thoughts
That was your complete guide to following the right B2B content marketing strategy for your business. You can implement these methods to have a successful strategy at your disposal.
However, if you want professionals to take charge of your B2B content marketing strategy, then feel free to get in touch with The Dreams Agency. Our professionals will be more than happy to help you with all your content marketing efforts.