It is a misconception that a specific content could satisfy both B2B and B2C business models. The required information, focusing metrics, and others vary for both the content. So, why is it essential to create B2B content?
Difference between B2C and B2B content The first and primary difference is the purchase decision criteria. Most of the B2C purchases revolve around emotions and social status. Every B2B transaction is ROI-dependent. A B2B content requires in-depth market research with an authoritative tone. The information should include statistics, real-time examples, comparison factors, and any insight about the benchmarks of that particular industry in relevance to the content.
Why is B2B content essential?
A company has to invest time and resources to create quality B2B content. Does this task have a quantifiable ROI? It is not easy to create B2B content. The content should be specific to the genre and industry, contain relevant and recent data, comparison factor, statistics, and more.
On average, an experienced writer takes around 4 hours (3 hours and 55 minutes) to complete a B2B post. If you wish to show consistency, you should post at least one original content every week. It could be in any format like video, webinar, podcast, blog, interview, white paper, and more. So, why should a business spend a copious amount of time and resources on it?
Source: https://www.brafton.com/blog/strategy/11-exciting-b2b-marketing-trends-you-need-to-know-for-2018/
Here is why B2B content is a valid element throughout your sales funnel.
Qualified leads
When a B2B buyer searches for a product or service, he is rarely window-shopping. The buyer will have a specific requirement in mind. If your B2B content matches his needs and your information showcases the authority you have in the genre, the chances of the potential buyer turning into a loyal client are higher.
Better reach
Due to the advancement in e-commerce technologies, even a start-up or a small-scale business could take up B2B model and reach many customers beyond geographical borders. Thus, the competition in this niche is growing. An SEO-effective B2B content would improve the page rank, thereby increasing your online visibility. Moreover, brands prefer partnering with businesses with a better reputation. A good search engine ranking and high-quality content would help you create that reputation.
Market relevancy
If you could generate trending, detail-oriented, targeted content in accordance with the advancements in your industry, you are promoting your culture as a progressive and adaptive one. In short, your blog would turn into your brand ambassador. Only a business with technical expertise and adequate resources can stay relevant and current. And, B2B buyers prefer partnering with such brands to avoid obsolete services or products. 47% of B2B buyers makeapurchasedecision after going through three to five different pieces of contents. Thus, it is vital to have consistency in posting B2B content.
Cost-effective method of marketing
An effective content marketing will generate three times more leads than traditional marketing methods and yet costs 62% less. Many buyers consider the vendor’s blog to be a presales verification element. Thus, good B2B content would help to close business deals, thereby increasing revenue. According to Kapost, a medium or large company can hire a content marketing team at 31-41% lower cost when compared to the expenses incurred by a paid search campaign.
Another major reason to embrace high-quality B2B content management is customer acquisition. B2B marketers can reduce the overall cost of acquiring new customers. Among the top strategies to reduce CAC (customer acquisition cost) in B2B businesses, the important ones are thought leadership-based SEO (content marketing), LinkedIn advertisement, webinar, and email marketing.
Improve communication
B2B buyers consider commercials, email marketing, and direct mails as interruption marketing. Thus, when a business uses such unsolicited methods, the buyer usually will not be open to analyzing the pros and cons of your product. However, a curated B2B content is similar to offering face-to-face communication.Good content will drive engagement, and the buyer is more likely to follow up on the product.
Source: https://www.circlesstudio.com/blog/latest-b2b-content-marketing-trends-statistics-insights/
Conversion success
The main reasons why a majority of B2B business brands are focusing more on content generation is the conversion success. 52% of B2B buyers are more likely to become customers if the content satisfies them. Many brands consider content to be an effective method during the initial stages of the sales funnel.
Tips for creating sales-building B2B content
All the above benefits are possible only if you could generate high-quality B2B content. Do you know that even a small typo in numbers or irrelevant information in the blog could break the buyer’s interest? So, how to create a sales-building B2B content?
- Corporate storytelling is an important method for attracting customers. It is a method of showcasing an antagonist (problem) and describing how your protagonist (your product) can solve the problem.
- B2B content is a broad phrase as you should create content specific for different business sizes, industries, platform, and more. For instance, the format and style of a LinkedIn B2B content are not the same as your B2B blog post. Try to create tailored-content for different requirements.
- According to thePrenzi Survey, 90% of B2B buyers prefer narrative style content, and 80% prefer content with visuals. A large page with 2000 words or more does not do the magic. So, add graphs, infographics, short videos, and more to impress many.
Image: Preferred format of B2B content
Source: https://copywritertoronto.com/how-to-create-killer-b2b-content-in-2017/
- It is essential to measure the success of your content. It is important to appraise and alter the strategy to create a better portfolio of B2B content. The most common metric used for calculating the success of the content is web traffic, followed by sales lead quality and social media sharing.
74% of B2B buyers researchonline before making any decision. By avoiding B2B content, you are making your business invisible to 74% of your potential customer base.Not every business has the resource and time to create high-quality content. Name-sake content would lead to the downfall of your brand. Thus, either allocate enough resource and time for B2B content management or outsource the task to third-party service providers.
