Strategy Why Content Marketing is Important for B2B Elizabeth Holloway Strategy 7 mins read Nov 18, 2024 Why Content Marketing is Important for B2B - Elizabeth Holloway Have you been struggling to come up with new ways to communicate your value proposition to your customers? In the B2B space, it can be a struggle to create compelling marketing material for your offerings. That’s where content marketing comes in. By creating longer form content, like blog articles and whitepapers, you have the opportunity to tell your brand story in an engaging way that provides added value for your customers and sets you apart from your competitors. Adding content marketing to your larger marketing strategy has a lot of benefits that extend beyond informing and educating your consumer base. We’re going to go over the many ways content marketing can support your marketing machine, as well as your business growth and development goals. What is content marketing? Content marketing is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content with the aim of attracting and retaining a clearly defined audience. Unlike traditional advertising that pitches products directly, content marketing provides useful information that helps your clients solve problems and improve their own business. Types of media commonly used in content marketing include: Blog posts and articles Whitepapers Newsletters Case studies Social media posts Emails Video The important distinction is that this content will cover subjects and topics relating to your industry and the products or services you offer, rather than being a direct sales pitch. Why content marketing is critical for B2B It might seem like a distraction to devote resources to creating content that doesn’t deal directly with your products or services, but it’s actually a very reliable way of driving sales and conversions. 67% of B2B marketers report that their content marketing efforts increase engagement and the number of leads they generate. The benefits of content marketing are more than just hitting your sales targets. You’ll increase brand trust and loyalty, boost your SEO rankings, as well as increase lead generation. Demonstrate your authority and expertise in your industry Content marketing is how you demonstrate that you know your stuff—that you’re a thought leader in your industry. That knowledgeability of the ins and out of your field lends credibility to your offerings. It’s the foundation upon which you build your reputation and forge lasting relationships with your customers. Being an authority on not just your products or service, but also on their broader milieu will signal to prospective clients that yours is a brand they can rely on. Build trust with your clients Establishing trust with your clients is essential to your business’s success. Consistent content marketing demonstrates your dedication, as well as attention to detail and reliability. It not only allows you to communicate your company values, but reinforces how your brand lives up to them. This is the first stepping stone to building lasting relationships with your clients. Lead generation and nurturing Lead generation is the holy grail of marketing. Strategic content marketing efforts will guide your clients along the buyer’s journey, from awareness to consideration, to closing. By creating content for each stage of the buyer’s journey, you craft a compelling case for why prospective clients should choose your products or services over your competitors. This in turn, supports the generation and nurturing of qualified leads. SEO and visibility Whether it’s on search engine results pages (SERPs) or on social media, maximizing your presence and visibility is a must for every business. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the method for optimizing your content to gain greater reach. The more content you have on your website and on your social media feeds, the more opportunities you have to improve your search rankings through SEO. That’s why, if your KPIs include driving more traffic to your website, content marketing is the way to go. Provides long-term value Building up a solid library of content will continue to benefit your marketing efforts long after you hit that publish button. Content that performs well will continue to drive traffic to your website, as well as build up SEO authority that you can leverage for future content and product launches. You’ll see sustained growth in organic traffic, as well. Something else to consider is that every piece of content you create can be repurposed for different channels. This allows you to maximize the ROI for all of your content. According to Forbes, the average content marketing return on investment (ROI) is $2.77 for every $1 spent, which equates to 177% profit. Content marketing best practices Before you dive into content creation, you’ll want to have a strategy in place to ensure you aren’t wasting effort and resources on content that isn’t relevant or valuable to your audience. Below, we’ve put together some best practices to keep in mind when developing your content strategy. Do your market research When it comes to market research, there are two things you want to focus on. First, define and understand who your target audience is and what their pain points are. Second, research topics related to your offerings and audience interests. These two things will give you solid footing for creating content that resonates with your audience. Invest in keyword research Identifying the keywords you should be targeting with your content is a major part of any SEO strategy. Your keyword research will inform the topics you cover, as well as identify opportunities with good search volumes and lower competition for ranking well on SERPs. We recommend using tools like Semrush or HubSpot’sSEO features to conduct thorough keyword research. Establish a consistent publishing cadence Always be posting. Getting content out regularly will help you build momentum behind your marketing engine. Even if it doesn’t make sense for your audience, budget or business model to be posting new content every day, consistency is key to successful content marketing. Establishing a regular cadence with your posting schedule will grow your audience as users come to rely on seeing new content from you at specific intervals. Use SEO best practices SEO best practices extend beyond the static copy on your website. For all of your blog posts, whitepapers and social posts, be sure that you are doing the following: Use relevant keywords naturally throughout content Optimize meta titles, descriptions, headers, etc. Include internal links to related content Ensure fast page load speeds and mobile-friendliness Focus on quality and value For the best results, avoid overextending yourself. Content that prioritizes providing in-depth, high-quality information is going to perform better than fast and superficial content. Including personal anecdotes and stories in your content will give your brand the kind of authentic relatability that resonates with audiences of all strips. This may feel counterintuitive in today’s attention economy, but longer, more comprehensive content tends to perform better in search and engages readers more effectively. While it might be tempting to use AI tools like chatGPT to flood your feed with new content, make sure you vet the information you’re putting out before publishing. Too many errors will damage your credibility and reputation. Incorporate visual elements Visual elements make your content more engaging by breaking up long text and adding variety to how information is presented. Consider creating infographics to emphasize key information in a way that is easy to absorb. As a bonus, you can repurpose your infographics for other channels, which will extend their lifespan and relevancy. What’s the takeaway? Content marketing is your avenue for opening up meaningful dialogue with your audience. Your content serves a greater purpose than simply marketing your brand and offerings. It signals to your audience that you see them, you understand their pain points and, most importantly, that you can help. When approached strategically, your content provides added value for your audience that will go a long way to foster trust and loyalty. Content creation has an impressive ROI, as well as a long lifespan. Whether your goal is to drive traffic to your website, improve lead generation, or increase your sales, content marketing can help you do it all. 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