What B2B Businesses Need to Improve Content Marketing

Stories are powerful. I keep beating that drum because it’s true, and also because I hope the skeptical will see the light. Good storytelling is important at every stage in the game, from awareness and interest to consideration and decision. To be good at B2B storytelling, you need to have a fundamental understanding of content marketing. And whether you’re trying to launch, grow, or improve content marketing, there are a lot of things to consider. 

The sales and marketing landscape for B2B is not the same as it once was. Buyers are doing their own research and prefer to gather information on their own before talking to a sales rep.

The new way of B2B marketing is paved with compelling stories that help audiences:

• Find answers to their most complex questions
• Discover problems they don’t even know they have
• Generate awareness around how to solve pain points and options available in the industry
• Consider the pros and cons of the options available for their deepest, darkest business problems
• Look to your business for guidance, answers, and ultimately, solutions for the problems they face

It goes deeper than those bullets, but you understand what I’m getting at. Your ability to help your audience depends on your content marketing effectiveness. Content marketing is new to some and old hat to others, but one thing is clear – there is always room to improve content marketing and scale. 

So what should you look for to grow and improve content marketing? Consider these items:

Guidance on developing your best content marketing strategy, including how to:

• Define success and establish metrics that matter
• Define your target audience and develop personas to maximize effectiveness of content
• Answer the “what”, “where”, and “when” of content development so you get in front of the right eyes with the right message at the right time [includes a content calendar template!]
• Determine ownership, roles, and responsibilities for streamlined internal processes

Information on building a Content creation roadmap that outlines:

• Content types and ideas to put your best ideas in the right format (including auditory and visual storytelling ideas)
• Coordination tips to manage internal and external resources
• MORE content ideas to ensure you never run out of blockbuster content

Content promotion, amplification, and distribution guidance, including:

• Different types of exposure/outreach and which is best for you
• Ideas for getting your great content in front of your target audience every time
• Tracking tips so you can replicate results on best-performing channels

Instructions on how to analyze, measure, tweak, and repeat so you can optimize your content marketing and get extra mileage out of your content

Information on Marketing Automation so you can streamline your efforts and be more intelligent about content marketing

If that seems like a lot of information, it’s because it is. The bad news? You’ll need to dedicate some time to research all of those elements.

The good news? We’ve done the research for you and compiled the most relevant, useful information into our new Definitive Guide to B2B Content Marketing. A first name and an email address get you access to a complete, end-to-end B2B content marketing guide that includes every single bullet listed above. We even threw in nine checklists to make the journey a little smoother.

Smart marketers now have a better opportunity than ever to engage with – and successfully sell to – buyers who do their own research. Be a smart marketer. Get the guide.