Half of B2B buyers now use content to inform their decision-making about purchases according to a recent report, but many enterprises still struggle to serve the needs of these audiences due to a dearth of achievable goals and best practices. How can your business improve?
Consistency is key
Creating a high-quality piece of content once or twice is not enough in today’s competitive business world. Just a third of B2B marketers say that their content creation pipeline is either “very good” or “excellent”. These blockages hamstring campaigns even before they go live, so look at ways of overhauling your infrastructure to support consistent output. You could work with a third-party agency, or document a strategy. The important thing is to take action to improve so that you can meet B2B buyers’ needs and address their pain points.
Thought leadership
B2B buyers want informative content backed up by facts and sources. You need to be able to identify a topic or subject matter that enables you to highlight your expertise in the industry. Try to support writers by calling on the expertise of in-house employees such as tech professionals and engineers to provide relevant snippets of information. First-party research and case studies and inventive formats such as infographics and white papers are perfect for pushing expertise.
Data analytics
Now you are up and running and ready to publish. However, merely posting content without taking the time to analyse messaging and how it resonates can make it difficult to serve the needs of B2B audiences. Using Google Analytics or HubSpot will allow you to track important metrics such as average time reading and bounce rates. Content marketing is an evolving practice, so always be ready to make changes to improve your output.
Distribute and amplify
Amplifying the reach of your content will give it a better of chance of being put in front of the eyes of important buyers in your industry. You could establish a partnership with a relevant influencer or blogger within your niche or reach out to key opinion leaders on Twitter or LinkedIn. Also, remember to use multi-platform strategies to reach the widest audience.
