Content marketing in B2B: strate­gies, op­por­tu­ni­ties, and chal­lenges

One of inbound marketing’s most important measures for winning new customers over is the sub dis­ci­pline of content marketing. Meanwhile, content strate­gies are no longer limited to only the B2C sector: content marketing has also found its way into B2B. Target group-specific and high-quality content can also generate B2B leads. However, this is easier said than done. What are the chal­lenges and how do the methods differ from those used in the B2C sector? Our guide gives you the answers and in­tro­duces the best practices from B2B content marketing.

Def­i­nite­ly! In the past few years, it’s become in­creas­ing­ly difficult in the B2B sector to attract the target group’s attention and get them in­ter­est­ed in products or services. This is why in­for­ma­tive content has become more important in the B2B sector – this is easily proven by looking at figures: A study conducted by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), shows that 81% of buyers inform them­selves thor­ough­ly about the product they are in­ter­est­ed in before con­tact­ing the seller. For content marketing in B2B, it’s important to note that the majority of par­tic­i­pants didn’t care where they got their in­for­ma­tion from, as long as the source was reliable. 24% stated that they even prefer first-hand in­for­ma­tion from the seller. Those who succeed in offering reliable in­for­ma­tion with real added value on their website have a decisive advantage over the com­pe­ti­tion. If a B2B company can provide expert knowledge, it re­in­forces its rep­u­ta­tion as a spe­cial­ist in a specific area and therefore creates trust even before potential customers have been contacted. However, not just any old content will do: if it’s barely relevant to your target group or com­mu­ni­cat­ed using the wrong channels, you can provide as much content as you like, but it won’t be well received. A well developed and doc­u­ment­ed content marketing strategy is ab­solute­ly essential in the B2B sector. Es­pe­cial­ly since the method­ol­o­gy of content marketing in B2B differs con­sid­er­ably from that of B2C – and you shouldn’t simply use measures from that area without thinking it through first.

First of all, in order to develop a B2B content marketing strategy, you need to be aware that pro­fes­sion­al buyers make different pur­chas­ing decisions than private customers. While the latter are more likely to make emotional decisions, pro­fes­sion­al buyers in companies select products almost ex­clu­sive­ly based on facts and concrete benefits. En­ter­tain­ing, emotion-evoking content is therefore useless in this sector.

In addition, you can assume that not only the intention to buy, but also back­ground knowledge and re­quire­ments differ sig­nif­i­cant­ly from those of B2C customers.

First of all, these are the questions your B2B content team should think very carefully about: Who is your target group? What is the position of your customers? What expertise do you have? And last, but not least: Which in­for­ma­tion is really relevant and which isn’t?

A precise target group analysis should be carried out in order to be able to answer these questions.  You should create a buyer persona, which helps you un­der­stand target groups better and be able to focus on them in your marketing measures. In this way, content can be created in a targeted manner at every stage of the pur­chas­ing process and tailored to those making the decisions as well as your situation.

But an analysis of the target group alone is not enough: content marketing in B2B works most ef­fec­tive­ly as an engine for lead gen­er­a­tion, as long as the efforts are data-based. This means: if you use data from previous projects and existing customer bases, and take note of any feedback given, you can tailor your own B2B content marketing strategy even more precisely to the needs of the target group. For a sus­tain­able strategy, you should document all available data as well as the personas created based on them. This enables you to be able to determine and create concrete content types for the different phases of the pur­chas­ing process.

If the target group has been re­strict­ed and personas have been created based on data, you still have to find the right content types and channels. The procedure differs from content marketing in B2C: instead of en­ter­tain­ing content, facts and technical know-how are best used here. According to the Content Pref­er­ences Survey report from 2016, case studies, white papers, webinars, and analysis reports of relevant studies are needed when it comes to content marketing for B2B. But what’s more important than relying on trend content, however, is making sure that the content suits the target-group e.g. mul­ti­me­dia pre­sen­ta­tions, e-books, videos, etc. Classic in­fo­graph­ics can be more useful in certain sectors or for certain companies. Of the above-mentioned content types, webinars and classic seminars, in par­tic­u­lar, offer good op­por­tu­ni­ties to position yourself as a spe­cial­ist in the re­spec­tive industry and to generate leads. Since expertise is passed on first hand, it means that trust is created – pre­sum­ably more than would be achieved from third parties. At the same time, content like this has another advantage: B2B companies establish important re­la­tion­ships with customers or existing con­nec­tions.

So that content marketing bears fruit in the B2B sector, content should not only be tailored to your target group, but also to the various stages of the pur­chas­ing process. 'Ex­ter­nal' people come across your channel through keyword-optimized blog posts or via social media. In­for­ma­tive landing pages are therefore important for con­vert­ing visitors into leads. They should contain call-to-actions and/or forms. Leads, on the other hand, require spe­cial­ist in­for­ma­tion and can, for example, become customers if e-mail marketing measures are used. They may even become long-term customers if sus­tain­able customer re­la­tion­ship man­age­ment is put in place. Seminars and con­tin­u­ous­ly gen­er­at­ing high-quality content give you the op­por­tu­ni­ty to turn customers into promoters for your own company once you’ve won them over. Social networks are par­tic­u­lar­ly important for this: if you connect with potential customers on relevant platforms, such as LinkedIn, you will stay in their mind.

Social media is the first port of call for customer-oriented com­mu­ni­ca­tion. In addition, a further CMI study showed that the B2B marketers surveyed reckoned that e-mails were the most important channel for dis­trib­ut­ing content. LinkedIn came second with 71%, while Twitter and Facebook were used by 77% and 76% of the companies surveyed, but weren’t thought of as having high success rates. After YouTube and print, however, they still scored an average of 55% (Twitter) and 38% (Facebook).

It is important for companies to find channels that suit the intended target group and that customers – and potential customers – actually use them when they want to find out about products and services.

The re­la­tion­ship between quality and quantity is often wrongly pri­or­i­tized in B2B content marketing. It is true that regularly published content is necessary so that up-to-date and relevant in­for­ma­tion can be provided, but if you have a small budget, you should con­cen­trate more on quality rather than quantity. Es­pe­cial­ly in the B2B area: Since the target group consists of spe­cial­ists, the in­for­ma­tion must be correct, both gram­mat­i­cal­ly and in its content. Pro­fes­sion­als detect errors more quickly than others, because they are familiar with the topic.

✓ Create personas and collect in­for­ma­tion about your target group
✓ Use existing data and analyze it
✓ Define and document your B2B online marketing strategy
✓ Analyze which content your target group really needs and make yourself available as a spe­cial­ist in your area of expertise
✓ Create the right content for each phase of the pur­chas­ing process
✓ Find the right channels to reach your target group
✓ Keep in mind that the quality of content is more important than quantity
✓ Converse with acquired customers on social networks

This website quickly gives the im­pres­sion that it’s run by spe­cial­ists. The quantity and quality of the content is im­pres­sive, which strength­ens the brand and generates leads. The input mask for the mailing list has been dis­creet­ly placed at the bottom of the screen. Visitors that are in­ter­est­ed will certainly enjoy using this service and will therefore want to remain up-to-date. The B2B company, on the other hand, has then generated a lead thanks to the visitor entering their data – one step closer to winning over new customers.

The topics are very broad and scattered across all in­dus­tries: at the time the screen­shot was taken, the homepage contained articles about the future of work as well as 2017 Q2 Global CFO Signals™. In addition, there are direct elements at the bottom of the page that allow you to make contact easily. In­ter­est­ed visitors can ask for quo­ta­tions, sign up to the newslet­ter, and follow Deloitte’s social media channels. This sets you up for gen­er­at­ing new leads quickly with B2B content marketing.

The website doesn’t just offer in­for­ma­tive content, but also the op­por­tu­ni­ty to get in touch with personal con­sul­tants and ask questions about projects. On the blog, you can sign up for a newslet­ter or download whitepa­pers for free. The close in­ter­ac­tion and in­for­ma­tion on this website promises many new leads.