Advertising legend David Ogilvy once said that the true barometer of success for marketing and advertising is “how many sales they bring in.” It’s the same with content marketing, which can generate three times as many leads as traditional marketing and advertising (e.g., TV commercials, newspaper ads, and billboards) but 62% less of the investment cost.
But what is content marketing, and is there a difference between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) content marketing? HubSpot considers B2C content marketing as “marketing that targets the needs, interests, and challenges of individual consumers who are making purchases on behalf of, or for, themselves, thus making the individual the customer.”
As for B2B content marketing, it’s defined as, “B2B content marketing is the practice of producing and distributing content to increase brand awareness, traffic, leads, and sales for business-to-business companies.” Websites, blog posts, podcast episodes, e-mail newsletters, webinars, e-books, videos, search engine optimisation, paid ads, and infographics are the usual B2B content marketing tools. These tools focus on logic, highlight expertise, and prioritise education, which are all purchase motivations of a B2B customer.
Fortunately, business owners who want to maximise the outcomes of their content marketing efforts can rely on business process outsourcing (BPO) firms for the most effective B2B content marketing strategy. A Content Marketing Institute 2020 study reveals that more than 83% of B2B companies work with BPOs for content marketing because they gain access to resources they don’t have internally. In addition, experienced BPOs know their way around B2B content marketing and have the available talent for each content marketing tool. Besides coming up with a solid B2B content marketing strategy, BPOs and their experts know how to achieve the principal goals of B2B content marketing, which are as follows.
1. To generate a sustainable source of inbound leads.
The right SEO content, from blog posts with lead magnets that require a name and e-mail address to sign-up forms, provides valuable connections. These connections are opportunities for your sales funnel (attention, interest, desire, and action) to be full of leads or prospects who initiate contact with your business.
2. To strategically distribute and produce quality content that’s relevant to your target audience.
Besides its quality and relevance, the timing of your content has to be correct. For example, content placement for the awareness stage of your B2B customer’s sales funnel is vastly different from the content required for the last sales funnel step.
3. To educate your target audience about your business.
Remember, education is one of the purchase motivations of a B2B customer. Business decision-makers go online to actively search for a solution that only your company can offer.
4. To establish brand authority and build awareness.
B2B content marketing, when done right by a team of experts, can effectively build brand authority and promote your business to other businesses. Compelling content has the power to inform your target audience that your business is a trustworthy subject-matter expert.
5. To convert leads into revenue and increase business profit.
Every content piece, especially a persuasive one, can move your audience further down the sales funnel. Whenever a lead becomes a paying customer, business revenues increase and net profits grow.
6. To engage and nurture existing leads.
An active online presence and engaging content support your target audience’s journey down the sales funnel. B2B content marketing can also influence a paying customer’s decision to re-purchase from you or not.
7. To complement and support your on-ground sales and marketing team.
All online marketing efforts should work in tandem with on-ground sales activities, from messaging to product or service offerings. You can also enhance your B2B content marketing with your sales team’s real-world customer insights, and of course, vice-versa.
8. To create a relationship of trust and stay top-of-mind.
An effective B2B content marketing ensures customer satisfaction, retention, loyalty, and business referrals.
With these goals in mind, you can design your company’s B2B content marketing and set it up for success. If the implementation is an issue, though, and you need to focus on your core business, it’s probably best to consider outsourcing and give it a go. Partnering with the right BPO firm allows you to experience a cost-effective and sustainable way to target multiple sales funnel stages with different content marketing tools. Qualified B2B content marketing specialists also know which content tool to use, why and where the specific content should go, and how to effectively promote your company’s subject-matter expertise across various digital channels.
Click here to lease an entire team from My Cloud Crew who can make your B2B content marketing goals possible.
