Posted on July 29, 2013 Tags: B2B Content Marketing
Content marketing may be a new term but the concept behind it isn’t: to educate and inform those we want to reach in the hopes of motivating them to do business with us. Today there’s no lack of ways to make this happen including blogs, newsletters, websites, social media to name a few. In terms of both cost and reach, these tools offer significant advantages over traditional channels like advertising, public relations and direct mail.(Editor's note: Are you constantly posting to LinkedIn Groups as a part of your B2B social media lead generation? Check out Oktopost, claimed to be the number one platform for posting to LinkedIn!)
However, content marketing does have its own shortcomings. For example, writing a blog post does not usually directly end with a sale. It can also be quite difficult to measure results. The ideal marketing program uses a combination of channels so messages are being delivered through multiple sources, with content marketing being one. These best practices below provide guidance to consider for how content marketing can work for your business:
Avoid Pitching
Customers will quickly tune you out if all you talk about is how great your product is. Content marketing works best when you are using it to offer insights and information that people actually want. By showing customers that you are trying to solve their problems or help them avoid those problems in the first place, you are creating goodwill and trust that can’t be achieved in any other way.
Use Q&A for Inspiration
Most customers will begin their search for information on your website. Make sure the content you’re providing is useful and thorough, and easily addresses their key questions. An interactive section where visitors can post questions and get a response might be suitable for your business. Either way the questions they ask are a great source of insight into what type of content your customers might find most beneficial.
Solve Pain Points
Whether you are creating original content or re-purposing existing content from company white papers, presentations, etc. keep in mind what kind of problems your customers are looking to solve. For example, if you are in the home improvement business your customers might appreciate detailed information for DIY projects. When customers see you as a source for reliable information they are more likely to do business with you when the time comes.
Blog for SEO
After your website is full of rich, useful content, start a blog and host it on your site for search engine optimization (SEO). Hosting a blog on your site gives your company the SEO benefit, for every hit or “like” your content receives. New content should be added every 7- 10 days to give people a reason to come back to your blog. Lastly, be sure to use social media sites and networks that work well with your business to announce and get maximum exposure for every new blog post.
Use Social Media to Promote Content
There are lots of ways you can leverage social media to distribute content. This includes posting short bits of it on Twitter, Facebook, etc. with links to the full post; publishing interesting product shots; or even simply curating interesting content that complements your existing messages.
Consider Video
Videos are a great way to push content to your target audience. Use them as teasers for white papers, to show customers how to use your products, or just to express a point of view. Whether you post them on your site, YouTube, etc. try to make your videos as short and sweet as possible.
Optimize Your Titles for SEO
Optimizing your content for SEO helps ensure people find it. Titles are important because they are what turn up in the search engine listing and are therefore the first piece of content people will see. As the blogger Chris Irby puts it, “a good title is relevant for the benefit of the search engines, yet compelling enough to grab the attention of your human readers.” In this sense, think about how your title can incorporate the keywords people use when they search for information and be intriguing enough they will want to click on it to learn more.
Have you already starting using content marketing in your B2B marketing mix? If so please tell us what best practices you’ve established for optimizing content for your business.
