What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the principal form of inbound marketing – digital marketing techniques focused on attracting prospects at the moment they express interest in what you offer. Content marketing emphasizes publishing helpful, informative blog posts, videos, and other media.
This allows you to:
- Draw traffic to your website by raising your visibility in searches relevant to your business
- Position your brand as a thought leader with valuable research and effective best practices
- Guide leads through the buyer journey and convert them, despite the long B2B sales cycle
Why it’s Different in the B2B Space
B2B content differs from B2C content in key ways:
1.B2B Content is Generally Longer and More Detailed
B2B content reflects your brand’s expertise, so it must demonstrate professionalism. There are many types of B2B content that are rare in the B2C world, such as white papers, spec sheets, and case studies. Some deeply researched B2B content is so substantial, it is released only once a year.
2.B2B Content Must be Carefully Aligned with Buyer Journey
While blog posts do most of the job in the B2C world, B2B content must link to the buyer journey. Your blog serves as “top of the funnel” content and generates traffic, bringing leads to your door. Then, your content educates leads and establishes buying criteria before finally focusing on your own offerings.
The Steps to Attracting B2B Buyers with Content
1.Determine Your Buyer Personas and Use Cases
All content is written for someone, so understanding the audience is the key. B2B enterprises need detailed, accurate buyer personas that reflect the pain points and aspirations of their distinctive target audiences.
2.Define Your Content Marketing Objectives
The core objective of most content marketing is lead generation. That said, different campaigns and channels can have different uses or contribute in different ways. Clear goals enable you to collect and act on the right data.
3.Clearly Articulate Your Unique Value
Content must be relevant, informative, and useful. Decision-makers should get value right away so they can better understand the promised experience they are signing up for should they go forward with a purchase.
AIMG’s B2B content marketing ensures you have something to say at every step of the buyer journey. To learn more, contact us.