What is B2B Content Marketing and Why is it Important for Your Brand
To stay relevant and achieve growth in an increasingly digitized world, YOUR BRAND AND BUSINESS MUST embrace a digital strategy.
WHY?
Digitization is upon us and unlike the past, the buyer is now the one who calls the shots and defines the buyer-seller relationship.
And they use all available information deciding which brands and businesses to give their money and loyalty to.
Research shows in B2B buying environments that buyers are 2/3 of the way through the decision process before talking to vendors. The internet and access to information allows buyers to “pre-decide” who to work with.
Content marketing can help you enter into this digital research phase, whereas traditional marketing cannot.
IF YOU HAVE A GOOD CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY…
You are equipped to respond to the new buyer-driven marketplace.
You can increase your visibility, influence people and ultimately increase sales by providing educational content during their research phase.
By leveraging content marketing for business to business marketplaces, you can build and nurture trust with a prospective client long before the conventional sales cycle begins.
Content Marketing at Its Core
So what exactly is content marketing?
According to Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is “a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
Great examples of content that you can use include:
- Social media
- eNewsletters and emails
- Website content
- Blogs
- Case studies
- Videos
- Informative graphics
- White papers
- Online presentations
- Webinars
- Webcasts
- Microsites
You can and should be a valuable resource to your customers in navigating their buying options.
Content marketing for businesses operates on the basic principle that when you provide valuable information to your target audience in a consistent manner, they learn to trust you and eventually buy from you.
While your customer is an expert in their specialty, you likely know far more about your market as it relates to their business than they can even imagine.
Customers want valuable content from #B2B to help them in their buying decisions.
Let’s look at an example.
If you sell widgets, instead of teaching them about the features and benefits of your widgets (which they don’t really care about), it would be better to take a step back and teach them how to make a great decision about buying widgets in general.
At best, content marketing positions you as a thought leader in your industry.
When you help solve a buyer’s dilemma by providing helpful information and answers, you are already walking with your prospects from awareness to research, consideration, and finally, to decision.
Why Content Marketing for YOUR Business?
In a saturated business world, keeping your sales funnel full can be quite a challenge.
At the top of the funnel, you struggle with having enough leads, making sure those leads are qualified, and nurturing them through an extensive sales cycle. And as they get closer to the bottom of the funnel, your competitive challenges heighten and cost becomes a focal point.
You can support your field sales team by providing online content for each stage of the buyer’s journey.
Your prospects will move back and forth between their in-person relationship with a sales rep and the information they can gather online, so you need to be sure you can provide the answers they are looking for in the places they are looking.
Content marketing can also contribute to your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and improve your business’ search engine visibility and page rank.
No wonder most companies have increased their digital marketing spend.
Content is the Present and Future of Marketing
People are continually looking for ways to solve problems, and most problems revolve around not having enough money, time, resources or results.
If you can develop a content marketing strategy that helps your audience to be better at their job, you are no longer competing on the same level as your competitors.
You are already developing a relationship based on shared values and interests.
AND THAT is what truly builds trust and differentiates you from your competition in the eyes of your prospects.
Ready to GET SERIOUS RESULTS from your content marketing efforts?
Get a free consultation that includes a customized-for-your-business marketing review with an actionable checklist from our top Blender strategist. You’ll get specific improvements and ideas for how to grow your revenue.
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