Many business-to-business (B2B) leaders still don’t appreciate the potential of content marketing to attract new customers.
While many people think of content marketing as a consumer strategy to drive social media followers on Facebook or Twitter, the same strategy with targeted content can attract business customers. The key is to develop the right kind of content for publication over the right media channels.
Targeted content drives B2B marketing
The old cliche heard among online marketers is that “content is king” because it’s content that drives marketing. When you have great content, you can use it for blogs, bylines, social media posts, infographics, and other outreach media. You start with an interesting blog post or idea, use that content to drive an online conversation, and you keep the conversation going until you become a trusted expert. Then the conversation can turn into conversion – your online followers have come to know you and trust your insight so they now come ready to buy.
With great content, you still have to create a marketing strategy. Follow these steps to create a content marketing program that you can use again and again for lead generation:
Set your objectives and define a target
Define what you expect to achieve through a content marketing program. Are you trying to increase sales leads? Build brand awareness? Launch a new product? Define your goals before you start and establish a metric to measure success, such as the number of leads added to the sales pipeline or new followers on your social sites.
Define who you are trying to reach. It is important to have a picture of your ideal customer in mind so you know who you are developing content for. Creating a marketing strategy that defines your ideal customer is a good way to help choose the right topics and content to appeal to your target market.
Engage with your followers
Once you have defined your target audience, you can use different strategies to get and keep their attention, such as social media posts, infographics, blogs, and online articles. The idea is to deliver content that is interesting and relates to your brand proposition. Give your followers a reason to continue to follow.
Measure
Measure the results of your campaign; identify which channels work best and what types of messages carry the right appeal. Measure the performance of your tools against your goals. Do your social media platforms perform better than your website or vice versa? Know where your followers are most likely to find your content and engage.
Refine the Process
Using the information gained from the initial outreach program you can refine the process to improve results. Any B2B marketing campaign is fluid and should be revised based on what works and what doesn’t. Nobody wants to throw money at a sinking ship. Be prepared to measure everything and revise your strategy based on what delivers the desired results.
Keep in mind that it takes an average of 7 to 13 marketing touches to convert a prospect into a sales lead. For B2B customers, the use of creative content marketing will provide plenty of new information that will help you stand out and. Sharing great content with your prospects will make them more likely to stay with you until they are ready to buy.
Contact us and let’s together work on the best content strategy for your company!