First Step to Build an Effective B2B Content Marketing Plan

As a digital marketer, how can you incorporate B2B Content marketing to get the attention of your potential customer? By creating a B2B Content marketing plan.

The days when one could attract a customer with savvy advertising copy are long gone. Today most decisions are driven by research, word of mouth or customer loyalty. We live in a world of democratized content where potential customers trust search engines to filter and make available the best content on the first page. This means anyone with a great blog and savvy SEO can rank ahead of traditional media sites and magazines.

Small wonder then that content is at the heart of digital marketing efforts. 

Some of us may have the luxury of having a talented team or a retainer with a very capable B2B content marketing agency. On the other hand, the majority of the marketing teams have problems with budgets, resources, talent and timelines. However, even the best-equipped team may find themselves in a crunch situation that could leave them with a sleepless night or two.

So, as a B2B marketer how can you build an enviable content pipeline without having to depend on an agency or a large team of content writers? Before we jump right in, here are a few key pointers on creating good posts. 3 hacks for irresistible content – inspired by brain science talks about how to make content appealing to different personas and keeping the audience engaged without doubt or friction. It is also a good practice to apply the methodology of GTD (Getting Things Done) to help you create order in your content marketing.

Get Your Customer-Facing (AKA Sales Team) In on the Act

Did you know that FAQs make for great blog posts? A few examples of frequently asked questions would be what are the benefits of the product, why use your product over your competitor’s, how can they migrate from another service to yours, and what happens if they choose to move to another service or use another product among others.

Today, it is most likely that your sales team are equipped to take potential customers through a multitude of options to arrive at the right product solution. Your sales team are in fact knowledgeable consultants who answer these questions every day and should be your first point of reference when looking blog topics which revolve around customer pain points. A quick chat and you have the dope for your blog post.

Apart from helping you with frequently asked questions, the sales team can also give you nuggets of information about the new trends in the industry, some data on customer preferences and the pros and cons of your product vis-à-vis those of your competitor’s so that you can do a comparison where you focus on your positives and their negatives (if you want to.)

Start from the Top

The most important reasons for B2B content marketing is to establish thought leadership and improve your brand visibility. When it comes to adding authority to your blogs, it is advisable to take a top-down approach. Your organization’s key executives have a wealth of experience, industry know-how and credibility. They are probably sharing content from other sites on their social profiles and creating a fan following already. Check if you can tap into this knowledge fountain and voila, you have some great ideas for your content marketing posts. It is a good idea to schedule an appointment, interview them and have them review the final post before publishing it.

The key is to make the content so compelling and valuable that the reader knows within 15 seconds (the typical average time a visitor spends on a web page) that they are dealing with an expert and continue to stay longer and navigate to other sections of the website.

Whether you take a top-down or a bottom-up approach, you have to be considerate of their time and availability, and may also have to show them the benefits of helping you, apart from you know, gaining Karma points. Which takes us to the final part of this post – What is it in for them?

Give Them a Reason to Help You

Whether it is the sales executive or the CEO helping you with your B2B content marketing efforts, it would be great if you can give something in return. The bare minimum would be to give them full credit for the article, and make them want to contribute even more. If you can, take it upon yourself to build a personal brand for your best contributors so that the next time they Google themselves, it is an authored post that they land on.

However, the biggest benefit may be how you end up aligning the sales team with the marketing department. According to a report by DemandGen, 75% of buyers want marketers to curb the sales-speak in their content. B2B content marketing efforts play a crucial role in gaining a customer’s trust using thought provoking and educational content instead of being sold. What’s more, you can convert a collection of these blog posts into an e-book and your sales team will thank you with even more topics to add to your B2B Content marketing Plan.

Creating engaging content consistently requires plenty of time and resources. While this post talks about how you can find the topics and the experts to produce original content and kickstart your B2B Content marketing plan, stay tuned to find out how you can save time, add engaging visuals to improve your B2B content marketing efforts.

Read more: Content marketing solutions from GetIT Comms.