Content marketing is an important part of any integrated marketing plan. Creating relevant, interesting content to educate, inspire and inform your readers attracts your target buyers. Content marketing doesn’t grow a brand overnight. It’s part of the foundation of an inbound marketing philosophy. It’s how you get users to trust and respect your brand as a thought leader, authority and solution. Yet, many B2B brands either don’t have a content marketing plan or are just winging it. That’s not going to work. So, we put together this list of B2B content marketing tips for you.
Tip One: Develop buyer personas
To write great B2B content, you need to know who your audience is. This allows you to target and tailor your content to their needs. A fully developed buyer persona will also inform you as to where your user is. Then, you know what channels to use when publishing the content.
Tip Two: Use a consistent voice
Does your brand have a defined voice? This is something often overlooked by B2B brands. Your voice should have at least three attributes, like authentic, inspirational and friendly. Within your defined voice, you may need to have different tones. The tone can change based on the channel or audience. In a B2B content marketing plan, voice is an important element. So, don’t ignore it or dismiss it. Create a voice and tone guide, and stick with it.
Tip Three: Define strategies for each channel
Once you create content, you’ll need to publish it and share it with the world. But this shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all. You should define the strategy of each channel. Channels may include social media platforms, email and web. Understand the possibilities of each channel and how it can work to push your content to your ideal buyers.
Tip Four: Repurpose your content
With each channel that you share your content, you should consider repurposing content. For example, if you write a long-form blog that’s 1,000 words, this might not work well on Twitter; yet, it could be the perfect post on LinkedIn. Take that 1,000-word blog, and repurpose it into a short video or infographic. These may get more traction on other platforms. Basically, any topic you write about can be translated into new content.
Tip Five: Create content that answers questions or solves challenges
This is really the heart of B2B content marketing. You should write about topics your target buyer has. Then lead them through an explanation of how the issue can be solved. At the end, present readers with a relevant CTA that ties the solution to your product or service. In this type of content, you’re not pushing your product. You’re presenting a solution that you just so happen to provide.
Tip Six: Design with purpose
There are so many different formats for content: blogs, ebooks, infographics, videos, etc. Each of these elements requires web or graphic design. If your design is dated or unprofessional, don’t think your content will save you. It won’t. Combining great content and great design assures you’ll get the most out of your content marketing. Everything should also have a consistent look, including colors, font and layout. Your website needs to look modern and have plenty of interesting imagery if you want readers to stick around.
With these six tips, you can be on your way to creating a successful content marketing plan. Don’t be afraid to test different types of content to better understand what works best. B2B content marketing strategies should be adaptable, as many things can affect them. If you’d like to learn more about content marketing, read our Content Marketing 101 blog.
