How Does Content Marketing Work for B2B?
Content marketing is a powerful way to drive traffic and generate leads for your business. It can be used by both B2B and B2C companies, but what does content marketing mean for B2B marketers?
In this blog post, we will answer the question “does content marketing work for B2B?” and explore how it can help reach new customers, build your brand reputation, and so much more!
What Is Content Marketing?
According to content marketing agency Neural Edge, content marketing involves creating a range of high-value content and distributing it across your website and other channels to attract and convert customers. This can be through blog posts, videos, webinars, eBooks, infographics and more.
The outcome of great content marketing is that it generates millions of impressions, clicks and sales for your business. You’ll build trust, authority, and long-term relationships by nurturing your customers across the whole buying journey.
This doesn’t need to be expensive and the best way to keep costs low and results high is by learning to delegate tasks effectively; you can read more here to find out more about how to go about this.
Examples Of B2B Content Marketing
So, what does content marketing mean for B2B marketers? Let’s take a look at two examples of businesses that are doing it well.
Inbound Marketing Software Company HubSpot
HubSpot is one of the most popular platforms to help companies with their inbound marketing strategy. However, they also have an incredibly valuable blog used to educate customers and attract new leads for their business.
If you look at the blog, you’ll see that they do content marketing exceedingly well. They provide useful SEO advice, blogging best practices and how-to guides on using important tools in your digital strategy, such as social media management tools.
The company serves as an example to other businesses on how inbound marketing can work and provides practical advice for their own customers. This means they are able to build trust with current users, expand the number of people signing up for HubSpot’s services and ultimately sell more products.
Lead Generation Company Salesforce
Another popular platform is Salesforce, which has a very informative blog to educate customers on how their tools work. They are also great at creating multiple types of content to educate their visitors, like videos and graphics.
For example, take a look at their guides and resources. Salesforce has over 75 downloadable guides that potential customers can access to learn more about the software and how it can be used to improve your existing sales process.
B2B Content Marketing Formats
Content marketing goes way beyond blog posts and articles. To meet the needs of your audience, you need to connect with them in different mediums, with different messages on different platforms.
Some of the most popular B2B content marketing types are blog posts, videos, ebooks, and downloadable content. This is because they are quick to create, easy for customers to consume, and can reach a broad audience.
Although these can take time to create, they are well worth the value they bring. They can be used to provide information around certain topics, share case studies and success stories from other customers or just a more in-depth look at your product.
Video Marketing In B2B
Video is one of the best ways to attract attention and keep it. It’s incredibly engaging and can help you develop a very strong relationship with your customers.
As we mentioned earlier, Salesforce uses video as part of its content marketing strategy. They produce regular videos that they share on social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook to expand reach beyond their user base.
Video marketing works particularly well because marketers are able to connect with their customers through real-life experiences rather than just words on a page. It’s also much more personal and helps marketers connect with their audience authentically, which resonates well.
Blog Posts In B2B
Writing blog posts is one of the most common forms of content marketing. HubSpot is an excellent example of this as they have a huge archive of blog posts that are regularly updated to meet customer needs and answer their questions.
HubSpot is able to attract a large number of leads through their blog because they focus on providing value for customers rather than just selling them the next product or service upsell.
The company provides practical advice, guides and resources that allow potential prospects to learn more about how inbound marketing works before contacting HubSpot.
B2B eBooks & Downloads
Another popular type of content for businesses to produce is the eBook, which can be used as part of your overall strategy or by itself, depending on your objectives.
This type of content helps businesses build trust with their audience through information they wouldn’t otherwise know about your company or industry. It also showcases the expertise and knowledge base that you have available, further demonstrating the value of your services.
B2B Content Marketing & Other Channels
B2B content marketing can complement other channels and even provide content for use on other channels. For example, a blog post infographic could be shared on social media, or a blog post could be made into a video.
Producing content in this way increases the chances of your audience viewing it and provides an opportunity to cross-promote. This tactic also reduces some of the time involved with producing more types of content.
This comes back to providing value for customers instead of pushing products on people who are ‘window shopping’. By showing them how they can get the most out of the tools you provide, they are more likely to take action.
Conclusion: B2B Content Marketing Works
B2B content marketing is a powerful tactic that many businesses use to attract leads, nurture prospects and boost their brand awareness.
When done correctly, it can be a highly effective way of providing value for customers through the content you provide while also achieving your business goals.
