The Ultimate Guide to B2B Content Marketing

Content Marketing Reimagined the  Sales Pitch

In marketing’s dinosaur era, companies used physical ads, cold callers, and door-to-door salespeople to drive business.

Now the web and information age gave way to businesses and consumers alike who want to find all the information they need to make purchases via the web.

Content marketing is a new wave of marketing and sales methods reimagined for the web and dominates when it comes to turning prospective buyers into paying customers.

Why You Need Content Marketing

Content marketing is a way to pull in your prospects with information instead of pushing it in their face. The goal is to create content about your product or service on the web that your prospects will find, grow to trust, learn from your expertise, and finally make a transaction with your salespeople. 

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Hendrik-Jan's Take
I believe that the internet has fundamentally changed the sales process. We want more free information, less sales interaction. Marketing helps gives people the information they seek and paves the way for the salesperson.

Marketing Strategy

Your strategy will keep your marketing endeavors on course with your business goals and will ensure your time and budget are only spent on smart moves. Look at your marketing “map” and define where you are at point A, set your goals up at point B, and then plan the steps that close the gap.

Plan your strategy around the big picture

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Insider Tip: Don't Go In Alone
Involve your marketing team, sales team, executive team, and even a few ideal clients. Building your marketing plan isn't a one person job.

Buyer Personas

Buyer personas are fictional representations of your target customers. Perform in-depth customer research needed to understand your target customers, then build the personas around the facts. You’ll understand what content your prospects’ want and how to speak their language.  

Walk in your prospect’s shoes with buyer personas

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Organize Content

Save yourself time and energy: don’t publish a bunch of content without thinking. Brainstorm many topics built for the persona so you can deliver messages that resonate, then log the topics in an editorial calendar. The topic queue and calendar organize your content and keep it timely, active, and aligned with your strategy.

Map out content like a storyboard

Consider different types of content

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Insider Tip: Look at Your Analytics
Check analytics - Google and Social - to see what content is the most popular and the most shared. Also ask the sales team what their favorite piece of content is to share.

Rank in Search Engines

No one will find your content if you don’t rank high in search results. Research topic-related keywords people search a lot. If you have a chance at ranking for them, use them and variations in your content. Higher search rankings will increase your web traffic, which means higher chances of drawing in more prospects.

Write content that search engines will reward

Design the User Experience

Each piece of content (whether a web page, call-to-action, email, etc.) should guide your prospects from A to B without having to think, with a design that “looks the part” or sends the right message. You also need to ensure users can consume content from any device with a responsive mobile design. A well-designed user experience increases your chances for high open rates, click-throughs, and conversions.

Engage more visitors with a user-friendly experience

Keep visitors interested by “looking the part”

Promote on Social Media

Social media is another channel you should use to nurture prospects and leads with content. Second to your website, It’s an effective medium for projecting your brand’s values. But of all things, social media’s most valuable function is sharing and the potential to spread content on a viral scale.

Post social promos people actually want to share

Convert Prospects into Leads

You want your content to push your prospects through the sales funnel. That means they need to engage with offers you place in your content. An offer gives them extra information they can take home. Offers also tell you where that prospect is in the buyer’s journey and collects their contact information for future lead nurturing.

Stack up leads with conversion-magnet offers

Convert blog visitors to leads

Content offers & conversions

Nurture Leads with More Content

Email is still the preferred communication channel of the web. When written with a captivating subject line, personalized text, and rich copy: emails lead to more conversions. They allow you to nurture your leads with linked content offers and build trust and credibility with your audience.

Keep leads interested with email marketing

Align Sales & Marketing

The two departments mainly responsible for customer acquisition and retention have a long history of bumping heads. Align your marketing and sales teams. When they’re on the same page, they can divvy up their separate responsibilities and joint responsibilities for each stage of the buyer’s journey. By working in tandem, they will turn leads into customers with ease and efficiency.

Stir your sales funnel into a cyclone with one Sales-Marketing team

Outsourcing

Outsourced marketing teams bring niche expertise to the table. Figure out your team’s core competencies and apply them to your in-house efforts. Then outsource the lackluster marketing endeavors to the experts so that all of your marketing tactics make high-quality contributions.

Outsource your marketing weak points