One of our first B2B (Business to Business) clients typified some of the key challenges B2B marketers face. As they told us, “We don’t need loads of visitors to our website, we just need the right ones – the decision makers.” In their case, that meant HR leaders.
They went on to explain that their target customers didn’t know they existed. Not only that, but they didn’t even realize they had a problem that needed solving. This lack of awareness is a common struggle for B2B companies. So how do you get your offering in front of the right people and educate them on why you’re the best solution?
How We Helped a B2B Company Grow from Startup to Successful Exit in 5 Years
Well, in this client’s case, we helped them work through that challenge. We assisted them in growing from a startup to a scaled up business. We positioned them as thought leaders in their industry niche. In fact, we even helped them coin a new term for their sector, putting them in a market of one. And in just 5 years, they achieved a lucrative cash acquisition exit.
We were able to accomplish all of this through content marketing. Now I realize that’s a broad term, so what does it actually entail? For me, effective content marketing means extracting the knowledge, expertise and experience from the minds of your team. You then distribute that insight across the internet in a way that captures your potential customers’ attention. It makes them fall in love with your brand.
Why Content Marketing Works for B2B Firms
So why is content marketing so well suited to B2B? B2B customers have very specific pain points and requirements. With B2B marketing, demonstrating real expertise around those precise needs is crucial for building trust. When potential customers see you genuinely understand the problems they face, it establishes your credibility.
Giving target customers even small amounts of helpful advice in your content starts to build that vital trust. It convinces them that if you can assist them a little through an article, you can help them in a big way as a paying client.
And content marketing provides exceptional leverage. Some of the content marketing tactics I’ll outline shortly can generate leads indefinitely with minimal ongoing input.
Elevate Your Team as Thought Leaders
Thought leadership is one particular content marketing approach that can work brilliantly. With this strategy, you promote an individual inside your company as a trusted industry expert. You then leverage this positioning to secure media coverage and speaking opportunities to expand their authority and influence.
Let me give an example from that B2B business I mentioned earlier that achieved a highly successful exit. From the very start, we worked to establish their CEO and founder, Stuart Hearn, as a thought leader in the HR software space.
We pitched Stuart to both industry-specific HR publications and more general business media outlets. Our goal was to secure coverage and provide a platform for him to share his perspective.
The Benefits of Thought Leadership for B2B Brands
This tactic was so effective because it conveyed immense credibility. Exposure in these publications introduced Stuart to relevant audiences and let him communicate his vision. It enabled him to highlight the principles and thinking behind their software solution.
From an SEO perspective, it also gave us loads of domain authority websites to reference and link back to, boosting rankings.
One of the keys to effective thought leadership is developing a clear position around your offering. This serves as a platform to consistently present what makes your product or service unique.
Once you have this positioning, it’s about identifying writers and editors focused on your field across different industry publications. You can then pitch article ideas and concepts tailored to what their readers will find valuable.
Convert Customers with Compelling Case Studies
Broadly speaking, there are two types of case studies. You have interesting case studies built around specific client stories and tangible results. Then you have boring case studies mired in technical details about the customer and their challenges. Generally, these specific scenarios don’t resonate more widely.
If your solution is solving a common problem for your target customer base, publishing insightful case studies can be extremely persuasive.
Guide Customers with Educational Content
Education content represents another powerful B2B digital marketing tactic. This covers an extensive range of content types – webinars, eBooks, guides, blog posts, courses etc.
The reason it can work so well for B2B is that you’re able to start fixing a reader’s problem within the content itself. Check out this hybrid work policy guide we created for an office management software client during the pandemic.
With the shift to flexible and remote work, companies were grappling with creating hybrid work strategies for the first time. So we recognized leaders researching how to build hybrid policies would align perfectly with this tool.
By clearly outlining the steps to create a robust hybrid model, people landing on this content could see exactly how to solve this new challenge. And with references to our client’s software woven throughout, it provided a seamless solution for organizations needing technology to support a hybrid approach.
In this way, a single piece of educational content can take a prospective customer on a complete journey. They start with a problem they need to fix, consume expert advice solving it, and end ready to invest in your solution.
Captivate Customers with Interactive Content
Interactive content represents another potential opportunity – calculators, tools, software demos, etc. Take this example from The Accountancy Partnership showcasing their suite of accounting calculators.
They’ve developed specific calculators tailored to each of their core customer groups. There’s tools for employees, holiday entitlement calculators for businesses, a sole trader limited company calculator, and more.
The thinking here is brilliant. They’ve identified their different target users and built handy utilities precisely matching their needs.
Of course, the goal isn’t simply to produce tools and assume visitors will spontaneously become customers. You need to guide them towards conversion. Make sure any calculator or interactive content includes clear calls-to-action to drive inquiries.
You might even consider gates that require contacting details before accessing results, allowing you to initiate communications.
Go Big on B2B Content Marketing Like HubSpot
If you want to see B2B content marketing amplified to the extreme, HubSpot sets the standard. They pour astonishing amounts of resources into content across every format imaginable.
Their website houses blogs, eBooks, guides, certifications, free courses, a methodology, case studies, software tools, an agency directory, and more. This epic content ecosystem drives around 84% of their total website traffic, worth over $100 million in value annually.
The vast majority of pages driving organic visitors aren’t focused on HubSpot’s actual products. Instead, it’s this expansive content hub – blog posts, tools like their email signature generator, and educational materials.
We have a full breakdown of HubSpot’s strategy in another post and video. But their phenomenal success spotlights the immense opportunity B2B content marketing presents.
If you’d like the Exposure Ninja team to assess your website and digital marketing efforts, feel free to request a free review. We’re happy to provide an analysis of your site, competitors, and tailored recommendations to supercharge growth.
Personalize Your Messaging Through Audience Segmentation
If your total addressable market is relatively niche, personalization becomes even more critical. What does that entail? The easiest way to put this into practice is segmenting your audience.
Let’s walk through an example. Say you’re a cybersecurity provider like Redscan. Even a quick review reveals at least three core groups – those reacting to a current attack, organizations interested in advisory, and companies seeking managed detection/response.
These are very different audiences with distinct needs. When crafting email campaigns, does it make sense to send identical messaging to each segment?
Imagine you’re mid-incident with attackers demanding ransom for your data. What content would you be most receptive to? Most likely anything demonstrating capacity to resolve the emergency rapidly.
But once the immediate threat passes, case studies on insulating against future breaches may resonate more.
Alternatively, if you’re exploring advisory services you might engage more with thought leadership forecasting emerging threats.
Sending appropriately tailored messages based on audience intent and scenario will almost always outperform blanket generic emails. Remarketing and retargeting through segmented lists can further personalize advertising.
Sometimes prospects shift between categories. They could be handling an attack one month and seeking preventative services the next. Ensure your automation platforms allow contacts to move between lists by interacting with specific pages or content.
Spotlight Benefits in B2B Video Marketing
Think B2B marketing can’t effectively leverage video? Think again! While production value matters, the key is avoiding boredom.
Yes, your technical experts may know the topics best. But an enthusiastic host sharing key takeaways can still connect, even if they’re just reciting a script.
With video, whether publishing on YouTube or running webinars, clearly conveying benefits is critical. For example, while Gartner touches on relevant trends their messaging could better highlight tangible outcomes.
Rather than “Optimize the Hybrid Work Experience” think “Boost Employee Retention and Productivity with Our Hybrid Model” or similar. Specific, viewer-centered positioning stands out.
Focus Account-Based Marketing on Dream Clients
Account-based marketing allows concentrating resources around ideal target accounts. One of my favorite ABM examples involves B2B tech company GumGum seeking to land T-Mobile as a client.
After extensive research revealing T-Mobile’s CEO was a huge Batman fan, they created a custom Batman comic book for distribution internally. No this isn’t a joke – it was a full length publication made specifically to capture the executive team’s attention.
While unconventional, creativity and total focus on a single VIP prospect opportunity scored them the client. When it comes to a dream client, leaving no stone unturned trying to earn their business can pay off tremendously.
Master B2B SEO for Long-Term Success
Despite the limited air time in this post, B2B SEO represents one of the highest potential marketing channels. My top tips for conquering B2B search:
Don’t overindex on keyword volume data. Targeting phrases with strong intent signals can bring tremendous value even at lower volumes.
Understanding searcher intent is mandatory. As an example, I may want pages about my solution to rank for “best CRM software.” However, peeking at top results shows they are all comparison articles. So that is the content I need to produce to compete there.
Aggressive link building to reputable sites amplifies domain authority and rankings immensely. Content like the thought leadership example outlined earlier can generate high-quality backlinks.
And the final critical element – persistency. One cautionary tale is a B2B company we helped vault to the top for sought after keywords. But they stopped focusing on B2B SEO, and competitors caught up displacing them. If a strategy delivers results, keep up the effort.
Leverage Influencers to Reach B2B Audiences
You read that right – B2B influencer marketing can make a major impact even in business to business !
We’ve seen many B2B software brands recently take an almost direct-to-consumer style influencer approach with fantastic outcomes. Let’s analyze an extreme example from design platform Figma.
Checking their social channels reveals most content seems to be user generated. But upon closer inspection, it’s actually the same people appearing repeatedly. Further investigation uncovers Figma maintains a group of “Designer Advocates” creating content under contract.
Rather than contracting creators with huge followings, they engage talented designers to produce Figma videos and tutorials to share on their profiles and company pages. The outcomes speak for themselves – this advocate generated, but brand-managed content generates huge engagement.
For B2B brands, micro-influencers with targeted, engaged audiences in your sector can actually make more sense than broad lifestyle influencers with inflated vanity metrics. Reach out to respected niche publishers and personalities your customers follow and explore partnership opportunities.
