B2B Content Marketing Best Practices

B2B Content Marketing Best Practices from Bartlett Interactive

As search engines continue to release updates and changes in algorithims, content marketing is growing increasingly important for companies that need to build an online strategy. Google now rewards websites that produce great content with higher rankings in search results pages and better lead opportunities. Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing yet generates 3 times as many leads. (Source) The phrase "Content is King"  is heard over and over again, yet many businesses still don't understand what content marketing is.

Content marketing is a marketing technique that involves creating engaging and relevant content used to attract and convert a specific audience. Buyers today have tuned out the annoying advertising messages online and are tuning in to exceptional and helpful content geared towards their questions and problems. It is important for businesses to provide the answers and solutions that visitors are seeking, which can be accomplished through the creation of useful content and valuable resources.

Content marketing is now required to make a company really stand out amongst its competitors online. We know how frustrating it can be for a B2B company to produce content that is remarkable and engaging, so below are a few best practices to get started.

Create a Goal: Have a clear and well-defined goal in mind. What is it that you want people to do when they are done consuming your content? There should be a goal for the content, whether it be that your visitors download a whitepaper, visit your contact page or apply for a job at your company. Focusing on one specific task that you would like to achieve will help to tailor your efforts and reach those goals.

Create a Content Calendar: The best way to create outstanding and well-thought out content is by creating a content calendar. The calendar can be flexible enough to add inspiration, but still provide a solid content marketing plan to follow. A helpful content calendar should include lines for title, type of post, author, date written, date of publication, related items, and ensuing social actions.

Create Unique Content: Generic content is easy to create but does nothing to help your business stand out. Try to think outside of the box, even if it requires a little more thought and attention. Not every single piece of content will be original, but content that makes your readers want to share it with others will put you leaps ahead of your competition.

Don’t be Self-Serving: While it may be difficult to get accustomed to, it is best to avoid talking about your own organization over and over again. Rather than listing why your organization is simply the best, it’s better to establish your company as a thought-leader in your field. This goal can be achieved by generating solid content that others would find useful, interesting and shareable.

Have a Team: Content marketing is best as a group activity. Identify employees that can help build your content strategy and recruit them to start creating. All content marketers wold agree that a business with a team of content creators will thrive.

Be Versatile: Content doesn't have to just be whitepapers and ebooks. Your business can create an endless well of content in different formats and styles.

For example:

• Cheat Sheets
• FAQs
• Charts
• Infographics
• Graphs
• Interviews
• Polls
• Blog posts
• Price Sheets
• Case Studies
• Brochures
• Webinars

…. the list goes on.

Don't let content marketing seem like a daunting task. If you approach it with the right research and point of view, your organization's content marketing program will thrive.
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