Tips to Create and Implement an Effective B2B Content Strategy

Content strategies that may work for a B2C or Business to Consumer market may not work for a B2B or Business to Business market where you may be selling products or services to other businesses. Sales funnels for a B2B model are usually longer and quite complicated as compared to B2C funnels.

Your content needs to be based on the B2B sales cycle as well as develop leads along the sales funnel so as to get the most out of your campaign. You need to firstly lay down an effective B2B content strategy that involves identifying your goals, ways to reach them such as through blogs, articles, newsletters, case studies, etc., and assigning the work to specific teams for content creation, implementation, and distribution.

Your strategy also needs to consider the needs of your business customers and the form of content best preferred by them. In case you can use various forms of content to solve business or industry issues then use them to gain importance and respect in your industry. You can then plan a specific sales funnel that can propel your prospects towards a sale.

You can develop several forms of content to attract your target businesses and a few key ones are explained in detail here. You can begin with lead generation that can activate and enhance your online presence while encouraging potential buyers to contact you in a bid to make purchases.

Blogging is an excellent way to get noticed online, provide interesting and unique content to your business market, and achieve improved rankings from an SEO perspective as well. A blog can help you promote your business, showcase your team members to your market, comment on specific topics or on developments in your industry, and even answer questions. You can develop a bond of trust in an informal way while subtly promoting your business at the same time.

Guest blogging has proved to be an excellent tactic in enhancing respectability and authority, and you should use it to your advantage. You need to find out problems affecting your industry and offer solutions as well as provide your own unique tips to improve existing products or services. You must remember to avoid engaging in aggressive selling, but instead must use tact to promote your business and its products or services in a natural and submissive manner.

If you can put out White Papers that can solve specific issues then this tactic can yield excellent results. You can get leads by asking details of users that want further details of your White Papers. You can send white papers to your prospects, display them on landing pages, and also send them to white paper directories. White papers offer specialized content in great detail and also have a longer lifespan as compared to other forms of content.

Once you have generated leads through the above tips then you need to nurture them and lead your prospects towards a sale. You need to offer more content that is now specifically tailored to your leads as well as your business products and services. You can offer videos, product reports, or other forms of content to build upon that trust factor and take it to the next level.

You can also offer newsletters to interested prospects so that they can learn more about your business and products. You must ensure that you deliver e-newsletters on a weekly or fortnightly basis and not on a daily basis and should link them with your blogs or guest blogs to extract more out of your efforts.

Case studies also make for excellent content as well as prove to potential customers that you have handled complex situations in the past with success. You will be able to prove how you were able to understand problems faced by your customers and solve them in an innovative way. Case studies can certainly lead a prospect through the funnel towards making a positive decision.

Since B2B buying decisions are usually made by a team or committee, you need to create content with summaries that can be read and distributed to the team with ease. A one-page sheet that highlights your business and products or services can end up convincing the committee and end up with a confirmed sale.

In addition to textual content, you also need to pursue video content since it can supplement your efforts in an eye and attention-catching manner. Videos can provide a lot of content within a very short time and can also be created, promoted, and shared with relative ease.

Even if you have managed to get regular business with a wide range of loyal clients, you can still use your content strategy to extract more for your business. You can engage in upselling as well as turn loyal clients into informal brand ambassadors that help promote your business to their associates.

For instance, you can use specialized newsletters sent to existing clients to encourage them to try out products and services of higher value and more features. Retargeting is another tactic that can help contact potential buyers that may be hesitant to take that final step towards a purchase. You can offer them special discounts or include freebies based on your business model in order to complete a stalled sale.

The above tips can help you create and put out content in different ways so as to turn your B2B endeavor into a success. Your B2B content strategy should use the above options and fine-tune them at regular intervals to develop long-lasting relationships and get new businesses from existing and potential clients.