Building a successful content marketing strategy in the B2B world is tough. We have to overcome our inclination to talk about ourselves. We need to develop new metrics to track success. And we need to think about developing a content inventory.
Following are 7 core ideas for developing and delivering powerful content that will attract readers’ attention.
Here goes!
1. It’s all about helping your reader. Rather than write about what you want to say, figure out what your target universe wants to learn about. What matters to them and why? And it can go beyond your “product expertise.” You can talk about regulatory changes, new trends in technology, key factors affecting next gen solutions, anything that makes sense and impacts your industry. In content marketing, it’s about education and advice. No “salesmanship” allowed! By writing helpful, authoritative pieces relating to your field overall, you establish yourself as an “expert resource.” Over time, people will indeed learn what you do and turn to you when they’re searching for a solution like yours. It also makes them more open to responding if you deploy a direct sales lead generation program.
2. Target your subject to your reader. Your target universe may have a variety of decision influencers. Their responsibilities and interests will vary. Develop a ‘persona’ for each reader-type you’re trying to reach. It will help you understand what matters to them. Then vary your content to appeal to each persona. That’s how you’ll influence the most people.
3. Learn where your audience turns for information and work to place your knowledge there.
4. Create an editorial calendar for at least 3 months (6 months is better). This should include the article topic, who will write it, how long it will be, where you’ll place it, and when. It’s critical to be ready to publish according to an ongoing content outreach plan. And those that skip the editorial planning process can find themselves scrambling in month 3 for “something to say!”
5. Make sure the content style fits the forum. Use shorter answers when you participate in online discussions and longer formats when you’re publishing an article. And if it’s your blog, don’t be afraid to show some personality!
6. Take baby steps. Start with 2 or 3 content channels. And publish at a pace (frequency) you can maintain. It’s a definite setback to launch a content plan and then not be able to maintain it. You can lose all the awareness and goodwill you’ve built up.
7. Track response to your pieces. Each piece needs its own tracking identity. You’ll also need to decide what constitutes success for each piece. Is it the number of click-throughs to your landing page or the number of re-tweets or the number of comments you inspire to an online forum post? Yes, this will need to be individualized. But it’s the only way to learn what people are responding to so you can replicate success.
BONUS IDEA —Besides what you write yourself, don’t be afraid to borrow other people’s content, too (it’s called ‘content curation’). Just make sure it’s helpful to the reader and that you properly cite your source.
Good Luck!