In recent years, more and more companies are waking up to the power of content marketing and the need to develop more strategic and customer-centric approaches. Previously, content marketing was largely limited to landing pages and the promotion of one’s own products and services. But now, more refined and targeted content marketing strategies have entered the arena.
Why should you invest in content marketing?
No advertising campaign will be better than a real demonstration of the value you can offer people and their businesses — aimed carefully at their actual needs, not just what you think you want to promote! Old formats, endlessly broadcasting “We are the best on the market” are hackneyed, ineffective and ego-, rather than customer-, centric! We need new strategies for a new, more discerning era.
So, how does content marketing actually work, and why should you invest in creating a more sophisticated content marketing strategy?
Here are a few simplified points to get you on the right track:
Step one. Find your target audience — those that you can realistically reach out to and offer your services.
Step two. Create useful content for them — to put on your website and social networks, optimize content with SEO, and in parallel, design your SMM strategy.
Step three. Potential customers must find your blog in a simple search. Every time they click on your blog, its popularity increases — they then continue on to your “services” pages. There, they will find clear, direct, concise answers to their questions.
Profit!
Sounds too broad? Let's take a look at a few examples of strong content marketing strategies in the B2B IT sector.
Five examples of the best B2B content marketing strategies
It is not enough to simply report a problem to your customer. The best thing you can do — for both the buyer and your company — is to offer them a way out of a difficult situation.
That’s just what Microsoft and Spirion did. Their collaboration emphasized the importance of deep research in data security.
By producing an engaging, easy-to-understand, detailed whitepaper, the company communicated clearly with the customers about their engagements in data security, and how data processing works and can work.
Microsoft and Spirion pointed to real issues relevant to the type of stakeholders they needed to engage. As one example, most security tools are simply outdated — this came as an awakening for many — then the paper drilled down deeper into how they might approach this issue.
But the whitepaper, despite its informative nature, was simply not enough. There needed to be that bit more. So, Microsoft and Spirion launched new service packages with advanced data security protocols, offering these expanded services to their customers — going some way to solve the problems highlighted by the paper.
How does the client benefit?
Information from a reliable, well-researched source, which is not always easy to find in the public domain, tied to the provision of real, actionable solutions.
How does the company benefit?
An influx of customers requesting data storage improvement implementations. According to published data, the initiative generated about $3.4 million in the sales funnel.
Content marketing strategy
Publication of research that reflects the inefficiency of current business decisions, in conjunction with the sale of services to address these deficiencies.
Unbounce
Another way to give the audience what they want is to create a free tool. Unbounce, the Canadian developer of landing websites, shows how it works and presents its B2B content marketing strategy.
Their Landing Page Analyzer not only provides you with very detailed information about the status of the site and its errors, but also offers basic recommendations for page optimization. Not every business has a developer on staff or the tools to handle most issues, so Unbounce comes in handy with their ability to design and create landing websites.
How does the client benefit?
The service has enabled clients to obtain accurate information about the status of sites — quickly and free of charge.
How does the company benefit?
By May 2021, Unbounce had already received 980 backlinks and increased brand awareness, helping promote their landing page creation service.
Content marketing strategy
Creating free tools that provide information and help, whilst at the same time leading to the sale of the company's services.
Exadel
We point you in the right direction and advise you on things we have direct first-hand experience and expertise in.
A number of Exadel’s latest developments to improve business-strategic implementation are:
Agile Delivery Newsletter. Our insights, recommendations, instructions, and other useful information on the subject of Agile development are sent to all subscribers.
Data Science Webinar. For those who would like to know how data science workflows function in real-world cases, how to convert data into consumable information and insight, and why your data science & business intelligence initiatives are failing to yield the expected results.
Bug/task tracking tools comparison checklist. A special development from our QA specialists, which helps screen for bugs and allows you to create a fully-fledged workflow to fix them.
Perhaps one of the best ways to learn and practice is through play — especially when you can receive prizes for participation. Our The Internet of Think Information Technology Quiz Show was created for exactly this!
LeadPages
The trend towards novel ways of learning and educating continues to gain momentum. For content marketing in B2B, it is especially important to demonstrate your expertise and convey basic information in the simplest way possible.
LeadPages has continued the impressive run of companies that have managed to implement a learning blog. In addition to easy-to-read and useful articles about their activity, the developers have worked hard to expand the available sources of information. They found that case study pages and publications of free books, webinars, and podcasts are able to go viral. Though the last form is relatively young, it is growing in popularity.
How does the client benefit?
The site's readers have access to a hub with useful information provided in different formats: from classic text to multimedia.
How does the company benefit?
Clay Collins, CEO of the company, has provided information to show that in the 3 years since the start of innovations, the company's customer pool has grown by 35,000.
Content marketing strategy
Work in all directions using new learning formats, from podcasts, webinars, to publishing case studies, and more.
A quick note: content marketing and creative writing are not as similar as they may seem! It is not enough to produce good articles with eye-catching language and beautiful prose — you should do real marketing. Be wary of vagueness or ambiguity — make your message and information clear and targeted!
HubSpot
Hubspot is well-known for its introduction of inbound marketing. But what does that really mean?
Hubspot's content marketing team set a new standard in B2B blogging. And as always, the best ideas are often the simplest! After analyzing the interests and hobbies of their clients, the creators released a huge amount of text materials and courses that can help businesses get started. No complicated intricate case descriptions — instead clear advice, examples, and real workbooks for everyone. Plus, the materials are completely free — so Hubspot built a perfect win-win product.
How does the client benefit?
An array of simple and informative courses and articles that describe building a marketing department literally from scratch.
How does the company benefit?
Hubspot became a top, high-trust marketing company in just 10 years.
Content marketing strategy
Database of the target audience’s interests in the area that the company's resources can cover, and materials (articles, courses, webinars) based on this information.
Asana
Content marketing strategy has always been and will always be about telling good stories. These are real experiences and faces that sell your products best, not impersonal content.
That is where Asana excels, so much so that one of their best B2B content marketing strategies was called "We love humans." It consisted entirely of customer stories: what businesses they run, how they use Asana for this, and how it helped them achieve better results in their work. For this campaign, the company's team talked to not only official business representatives, but also ordinary workers in order to be more people-oriented. The whole strategy appeared in the format of collages with employees and text stories on top.
How does the client benefit?
A simple, easily-digested and beautifully-executed explanation of how exactly Asana helps different businesses and their employees.
How does the company benefit?
Asana improved the performance of their landing pages with services and email marketing.
Content marketing strategy
If possible, arrange a short interview with your clients and talk about how the developments specifically help them, rather than just providing generic reviews on your website.
A tip from Exadel: If you're not sure which content marketing strategy is right for your business, you don't have to go all-in on one strategy.
As an established content marketing service provider, we can give a few examples for you to gain insights from.
Examples of great content marketing: Learn from B2C
B2B content marketing strategies are great to learn, but you shouldn't ignore the value of the B2C sector. Let's take a look at some outstanding examples from the B2C sector.
Spotify’s Wrapped
We all know this digital music provider! Here’s a remarkable way that they increased their popularity even more!
Spotify used basic user account analytics. No special, fresh tools were needed: the mechanisms used were the same as those for reports on what was listened to at the end of the year. Based on the artists/lists/genres to which users listened, the marketing team and developers came up with Wrapped! They made a cute infographic about users’ favorite music that can be shared on social networks.
How does the company benefit?
The numbers are truly staggering: +21% downloads by 2020 (after the introduction of Wrapped in 2017).
Content marketing strategy
Honing in on people’s personal tastes, how they reflect their personality and the fun they have, along with everyone’s desire to share their passions across social networks!
Byrdie
Byrdie has gone down one of the most proven, straightforward paths. And yet, their innovations allowed the website to emerge on the very pedestals of SEO indicators!
The company launched an evergreen beauty blog with articles for each audience target group (e.g., age, skin color, face shape, etc.). The marketing team crafts articles in the style of training materials, which they continually update and supplement with experience of emerging trends.
Byrdie has a simple, but unique way of updating their articles — with a keen eye on the latest changes — adding and removing content according to its relevance — constantly keeping them fresh and with the times.
How does the company benefit?
Byrdie impressively rose to pole position in organic search within the beauty market, successfully ousting giants like Sephora and Allure.
Content marketing strategy
Creating carefully crafted materials targeted to narrower groups within a wide audience, whilst constantly updating their posts according to their relevance.
Quick Summary on B2B Content Marketing Strategies
Though the field of content marketing is in constant flux, with continually emerging new strategies, the trend itself, especially for educational and informative materials, isn’t going away any time soon. It has proved to be effective using a simple logic: give your customers something useful, for free, and you’ve already proved yourself helpful to them!
Use the most effective B2B content marketing methods in your portfolio:
- Conduct research and release it to the public to prove your expertise and attract attention to your products and services.
- Create free tools and developments that can pinpoint customer’s problems in simple and understandable ways.
- Collect information about the concerns and needs of your customers and produce educational materials to address those needs. Remember: your audience does not know how to do what you do; otherwise, they would not be looking for your services. Your blogs, articles, and webinars should be clear, appealing, and easy to understand.
- Showcase your cases and customer reviews in an eye-pleasing way. Show real people and real numbers, not just dry facts or tedious narrative.
- Use existing company developments to create continuous, fresh, relevant content.
- Check the relevance of the information in your blog and on the website regularly.
Stay safe and stay fresh — tell your company's best stories with carefully and sincerely crafted content marketing strategies.
Top comments (1)
Great article, thank you for sharing these examples, will save them for the future!