There’s much talk about what makes up a great digital marketing strategy. But if there’s one thing every B2B business needs to succeed online, it’s a solid content strategy. Creative content is the primary way to connect on a significant level with the audience you want to convert into customers. Your content is your voice, and it should deliver your entire brand message in an influential manner.
Effective content management is vital to every B2B content strategy.. However, there are critical focus points that can mean the difference between content success and content failure. By the end of this piece, you will better understand the elements that go into effective B2B content strategies. These nine tips explain how to reach prospects more effectively and nurture new leads into your marketing funnel.
#1 Relax a Little in Your B2B Marketing
The most successful B2B marketing strikes a balance between promotional content and delivering value to the target audience. Of course, promoting your products and services remains paramount. Even so, a more relaxed approach can create a more approachable company for prospects and often yield remarkable results when delivered well. It still addresses the reader’s pain points and interests. But it does this with a more authentic, helpful approach that fosters trust and gains credibility.
Approachable content starts with creating a less stuffy title, which might look something like this:
Navigating Supply Chain Challenges: A Stress-Free Guide for Success
Using “stress-free” in the title helps relax the reader and ensures the article won’t be filled with aggressive, hard-sell B2B marketing. The quality content that follows the headline should invite the reader to learn more about the journey to removing the stress of their challenge with informative solutions. It’s a more casual hook that captures interest by offering an alternative, welcoming tone to tackling their issues than traditional, straightlaced B2B marketing.
#2 Focus on Quality Content Creation and Build Authority
Knowing how to create content that builds authority for your website is essential for establishing brand awareness, increasing search traffic, and positioning you as an industry leader. You can accomplish this by creating quality (from the reader’s perspective) content around the key areas of industry knowledge and experience your company has to offer readers.
To be successful, the content must be first-rate and aligned with your target audience’s needs while focused on addressing their pain points. Positioning your brand as a go-to industry resource for your audience will help attract and retain a loyal brand following.
There is no single formula for publishing B2B content. Your channels and timing depend on your target audience, their preferences, and needs. Use the audience data you’ve collected from researching your customer profiles and buyer personas as your starting point. The type of quality content you use should also target your audience at different stages of their buyer’s journey.
The digital content most used to resonate with B2B audiences include the following:
- Informative blog posts; also great for increasing your search engine ranking
- Infographics and visual aids
- Social media content
- Interactive content like webapps and calculators
- Case studies
- Email campaigns
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Webinars and online events
In every content type, be mindful of your audience, consistent in your messaging, and ensure your content is always valuable to your intended audience.
Bold Entity’s Expertise in B2B Content Marketing Drives Results
Are you short of time and resources to create and run successful content strategies? Bold Entity is a trailblazer in B2B content marketing. We provide digital content strategies that fuel company growth and strengthen revenue by increasing lead quality. Our experts elevate your online presence with impactful campaigns, engaging organic content, and diligent moderation.
Discover How Bold Entity’s Content Marketing Expertise Drives Results
#3 First Impressions Matter
Even the best content can be wasted if the title doesn’t create a strong enough hook to entice readers to click the link and continue reading. Your content’s headline is your first and only chance to capture the audience’s attention.
Your content’s headline/title will be the first impression and most-read part of your content. So, spend the extra time and thought into creating a great hook for a headline because a good title is imperative to a successful B2B content strategy.
But don’t go too far and avoid clickbait headlines that result in a mismatch between the title and the content. This can upset readers and create a negative correlation with your brand.
For success, your titles must communicate the value of your content piece to attract attention and entice the readers to engage. But do it without lying or overselling your content to the audience of you will engender a negative view of your brand’s content.
#4 Be Bold | Challenge the Status Quo
One of the most significant challenges for B2B content marketers is cutting through the noise in today’s content-saturated world. To stand out and capture the audience’s attention, you must dare to be bold and challenge the status quo of what everyone else is doing. Look for an original angle that helps differentiate your brand’s content from rivals and leaves a lasting impression with your audience.
Use these five tips to get you thinking outside the digital marketing box:
- Experiment with different formats and visual elements
- Try different storytelling techniques, e.g., case studies, storytelling, before and afters
- Use compelling headlines to capture attention and interest
- Create striking visuals to catch eyeballs and keep readers engaged
- Introduce interactive elements to pique curiosity and provide value to your audience
Being bold requires a willingness for experimentation, testing, and yes, even some small failures. The more you know about the target audience, the easier it is to find an effective approach that will elevent your content strategy. Lastly, always aim to strike a balance between captivating your audience and accurately representing your brand.
#5 Have a Cohesive Tone, Message & Branding in Your Content Strategy
To have a cohesive tone means all your quality content maintains a consistent style, voice, and messaging. This is how successful firms create a recognizable, unified brand identity that fosters trust and familiarity with an audience. A common mistake made by B2B marketers is delivering content in a hurry.
Rushing content often is done by neglecting consistency in tone and messaging. Or, inconsistency in representation across digital media platforms. This inconsistency can easily happen if your social media and website blog aren’t following the same guidelinesso they produce very different styles of content.
Make sure you develop clear brand guidelines for your content marketing efforts. These must outline your brand’s voice and values and offer a blueprint for creating cohesive visual elements. This consistency creates a unified experience for your audience across media and platforms, and that, in turn, reinforces your brand’s credibility and customer’s expectations.
Let Bold Entity Unleash the Power of Your B2B Branding
Are you struggling to create an unforgettable brand look and messaging for your B2B company? Bold Entity is a well-established Dallas-based B2B agency that specializes in crafting unique and impactful brand identities. Our thorough, results-driven approach turns your organic visitors into loyal customers.
See How Bold Entity Takes B2B Company Branding to the Next Level
#6 Content Creation Doesn’t Need to Be All Business
If one thing holds true for buyers across industries, B2B and B2C, it’s that emotions drive decisions. Content that’s “all business” has its value and place in your overall content strategy. But try to limit this approach to the exception rather than the rule in your creative B2B content strategies. Creative content is not meant to be an ad read. Your audience wants to feel something when they engage with your content, and come away with something of value without a pushy sales script, so strive to make that happen.
Creative content should naturally evoke emotions in your audience. In most cases, content should adopt a more informal, conversational tone. And never be afraid to loosen your tie and allow a little humor to shine through where appropriate.
#7 You Know Your Stuff, Showcase It
How does your business outshine the competition? What is the area of expertise where you can provide exceptional value to those who engage with your brand? Your audience can access an endless stream of the same old, repetitive content churned out across the internet.
You have an opportunity here to stand out from the noise with a well-planned B2B creative content strategy. Provide your audience with unique perspectives, knowledge, and experiences to highlight your brand as an industry authority.
Here are a few content strategies to help differentiate yourself and show authority:
- Validate knowledge, credibility, and influence using thought leadership content
- Present unique and innovative solutions to reader challenges
- Publish regular updates, analyses, and commentary on industry-related news
- Offer exclusive access to premium content, proprietary tools, and resources
- Share real-world case studies and success stories
The idea is to set your B2B content apart from competitors. So, your focus is to deliver value by being unique while offering actionable insights.
#8 Give Your Old Creative Content a Makeover
Not every content strategy requires you to start from scratch, especially if you have an established voice. Your old valuable content doesn’t have to gather digital dust in the B2B marketing archives. Instead, review it for relevance and breathe new life into any material that’s still relevant with an update or remake.
Consider putting a fresh spin on old topics, replacing dated visuals, and adding new and interesting graphics to update and improve older content.
Here are six other creative ways to make good use of old or forgotten marketing content:
- Add fresh insights where appropriate
- Repackage content into different formats, e.g., infographics, videos, podcasts
- Share snippets as part of your social media marketing strategy
- Create an email content series
- Compile eBooks or helpful guides from old content
- Produce a webinar or presentation series
Repurposing your existing content is a vital cornerstone to creative content strategy success. It’s an excellent way to reduce content production costs and extends your reach to new audiences through different media and platforms. Additionally, updating your existing content is a key factor in SEO rankings for your website.
#9 Creative Content Strategy Follow Through
The point of any creative content strategy is to get you noticed and engage prospective purchasers with your B2B company. Once you have your prospects hooked with your content, the next step is to help pull them through your smarketing funnel.
Depending on the size and complexity of your business that may be by offering gated content, in which you trade high-value content in exchange for the prospect’s contact information. This exchange confirms the target’s interest in your company’s offerings.
You can then reach out directly to prospects to engage them in conversation and begin the sales process in earnest.
Responsiveness is another critical aspect of effective content. When your audience takes the time to engage with your content, by liking, commenting, or sharing, make sure you return the favor. Don’t ignore an engaged audience or you risk losing them. Likewise, never underestimate the value of initiating a chat or extending a metaphorical handshake when the opportunity presents itself.
Wrapping Up Creative Content Strategy for B2B
Creative B2B content strategies don’t need to be overwhelming. The tips in this guide will help you adjust and elevate your creative strategy to achieve remarkable content marketing results.
In essence, always seek to create content that resonates with your target audience, drives engagement, and propels your business goals forward. Prepare to experiment and refine your strategies to stay ahead of the competition. Lastly, your content creation strategy serves you best when it’s an ongoing and engaging process.
That’s not to say great content is easy. If you don’t have the in-house resources to make your content strategy a success, consider outsourcing your creative content campaigns. A professional B2B marketing agency, like Bold Entity, can make it much easier for you to create amazing content that will position your business for success online.
