How to Create a Killer B2B Content Marketing Strategy

Creating a B2B content marketing strategy is crucial when it comes to growing your audience and increasing demand generation. Gone are the days of blogging to the void and seeing little to no increase in awareness. It’s all about creating real value for real people. 

What is a B2B Content Marketing Strategy?

A B2B content marketing strategy includes how you create, distribute, and manage content to attract and engage your company's target audience. 

A good strategy focuses on meeting the specific needs of your audience through relationship-driven approaches. This approach emphasizes long-term relationships and a deep understanding of client needs rather than the not-so-sly sales pitches in one-off pieces of content.

The Difference Between B2C and B2B Content Marketing

B2B content marketing strategies differ from B2C. It focuses on building trust and demonstrating expertise to influence multiple decision-makers over a longer sales cycle. In contrast, B2C marketing aims for immediate engagement, tapping into emotional responses to drive quicker consumer decisions. 

However, the lines are blurring: successful B2B strategies now also prioritize humanizing the brand and forging genuine connections, blending informative thought leadership with the emotional appeal of B2C tactics to create a loyal, engaged audience. After all, B2B marketing is still marketing to people. 

Why a B2B Content Marketing Strategy is Important

It’s not just about creating content; it's about creating connections. This approach means discarding the old marketing playbook to increase trust and loyalty with your audience. Through generating useful content, you create a dialogue that resonates, fostering a deeper relationship with your audience.

A well-executed content marketing strategy has the potential to significantly reduce acquisition costs and increase the lifetime value of your customers. This is achieved by nurturing a loyal customer base that is more likely to engage repeatedly, thereby increasing brand affinity and ROI.

A few of the other benefits of B2B content marketing include:

• Increased Industry Authority: Position your brand as a thought leader, earning respect and trust in your field.
• Shorter Sales Cycles: Trust and ongoing engagement lead to faster decision-making by clients, streamlining the sales process.
• Deeper Market Insights: Regular interaction with your audience provides valuable feedback, offering a clearer understanding of market needs and trends.
• Improved SEO Performance: Quality content boosts your online visibility, driving organic traffic and naturally acquired backlinks.

In B2B marketing, these benefits translate into tangible business advantages, from higher conversion rates to stronger client relationships.

Investing in the long game of thought leadership content marketing will capture the attention of your audience AND have them singing your praises to the rest of their network.

Elements of a B2B Content Marketing Strategy

• Understanding Your Audience
• Setting Goals and Identifying KPIs
• Performing Content Audits
• Selecting Content Types and Channels
• Creating Media Brands
• Planning Content Distribution
• Producing Content
• Measuring and Analyzing Results
• Optimizing and Iterating

Putting Together a Content Marketing Strategy

Let’s take a closer look at everything you will need to put together a killer content marketing strategy:

Understand Your Audience

The first step to any content marketing strategy is to understand your audience.

In defining your audience, you will want to create ideal customer profiles (ICP). Include elements like gender, income, education, location, interests, age, fear, and motivators. Dive into where they spend most of their time online and how they prefer to consume content.

Make sure you understand the little nuances for each segment as it will impact your content creation and distribution strategies.

Record what you learn and update it as you gain more insight into your audience. 

Setting Goals and Identifying KPIs 

Another element of your content marketing strategy is your goals and KPIs. What exactly are you trying to achieve through your content marketing efforts? How does this impact the bottom line? What are the KPIs and leading indicators of success you should be tracking?

The KPIs to track will vary depending on which channels you distribute your content on. 

Below we outline the KPIs to track for each medium throughout the marketing funnel:

Top of Funnel

• Blog Posts: traffic, time on page, SEO rankings, social shares.
• Infographics: shares and reposts, traffic to page, backlinks, engagement.
• Social Media: follower growth, engagement rate, brand mentions.
• Podcasts: number of downloads, listener growth rate, reviews, and ratings.
• Videos (educational, brand awareness, podcast): views, watch time, subscriber growth, engagement.

Middle of Funnel

• Email Marketing: open rate, click-through rate, list growth rate
• Webinars and Online Events: number of registrants, engagement during the event, replay views
• Case Studies: downloads, time on page, engagement with related content
• Whitepapers and e-Books: downloads, time spent on page, engagement with follow-up content
• Videos (product demos, testimonials): engagement, click-through rate to website, video completion rate

Bottom of Funnel

• Email Marketing (targeted offers): conversion rate, bounce rate, email forwarding rate
• Case Studies (specific solutions): leads generated, use in sales conversations, social shares
• Product Demos (videos, webinars): conversion rate post-event, follow-up engagement, feedback scores
• Whitepapers and e-Books (detailed guides on product/service): leads generated, engagement with follow-up content, bounce rate
• Personalized Content (targeted emails, custom presentations): conversion rate, engagement rate, follow-up queries

Conduct a Content Audit

Unless your company has never published a blog or written a LinkedIn post, there is a good chance you are sitting on content that can be spruced up and recycled (and some outdated pieces that need to be deleted). 

Take some time to review your resources to see what can be repurposed, what has yielded good (or bad) results in the past, and the quantity of content you foresee needing to be created.

Important data to consider in your inventory includes publishing dates, organic keyword rankings, traffic, and engagement.

Evaluate the quality and relevance of each piece. If the content aligns with your goals, is accurate, and relates to your target audience, keep it. Make any necessary adjustments to the older content.

Tip: Don’t just keep content on your site for the sake of it. A lot of unrelated content may harm your Google rankings, decreasing the traffic your site is seeing. 

Performing a content audit and taking inventory isn’t a one-time thing. You should conduct these audits regularly to ensure you are always improving your brand. 

Identify Content Types and Channels 

Now decide what content types will be best for you, your audience, and your goals. 

From your audience research, you should be able to figure out where your audience spends most of their time online as well as how they interact with these platforms. Wherever that is, you should be too (in their preferred mediums). 

Are they podcast consumers? Do they prefer to watch or listen to their podcasts?

Do they get industry updates by scrolling through Twitter- ahem, X? Do they like in-depth threads? Are they more likely to watch short or long-form videos?

Identify what types of content you will need to create to reach your audience in these channels and what format(s) your audience is most likely to engage with. 

When it comes to the variety of content in your marketing mix, don’t be afraid to experiment. Stick to what you know works well but also take some risks to see if an out-of-the-box idea lands with your audience. 

Create a Media Brand

Many B2B content strategies lack a crucial element: a separate media brand. 

A media brand, distinct from your company's name, produces industry-related thought leadership content. This separation allows for a more authentic, human connection in your content, rather than adhering strictly to your company's voice. This way, your content becomes more appealing to your audience and avoids feeling like a sales pitch.

Approximately 97% of your audience isn't ready to purchase yet. Focus your media brand on creating informative content for this majority to educate and build trust. This content should target awareness, such as podcasts, newsletters, and social media posts. 

Media brands are the future of B2B marketing, as they offer a more authentic approach that resonates with audiences tired of constant sales pitches.

Though setting it up may seem like work now, the payoff includes a dedicated fan base and increased engagement and leads in the long run.

In short, your media brand doesn't promote your company directly. Instead, it builds credibility to attract potential buyers when they're ready.

Content Distribution Plan

A key part of a B2B content marketing strategy is your content distribution plan. Content calendars are great ways to manage what is being posted when and where. A content calendar is a key part of a cohesive content distribution plan as it allows you to get a bird's eye view of your initiatives over time and where there may be gaps.

If you are posting a long-form piece of content such as a podcast, distributing supporting pieces of content such as shorter videos and SEO-optimized summaries of the episode can help promote it and still communicate the main ideas to members of your target audience who may not opt for a podcast. 

Calendar Creation and Evolution

Within your content calendar, write down what content you will be posting each day, where it will be posted, and when. 

As you distribute your content you may notice patterns in your audience’s behavior. Take note of when they are the most active and post at those times. You may also notice users are more receptive to certain titles or content formats. Adjust to audience preferences for optimal engagement. 

Making and sticking to a content distribution plan is not only helpful from a production standpoint but also useful to refer back to for result-tracking purposes.

Develop and Produce Content

Now we get to the fun part! Content creation. 

A strong piece of content takes two things: a valuable message and high production quality. 

You could record the most insightful podcast interview of all time but if the audio is garbage people are not going to listen. On the flip side, you could shoot the most beautiful YouTube video with a crystal clear picture but if you are saying a whole lotta nothing, people won’t stick around for long.

While the messaging of your content should be planned out in advance thanks to your content calendar, the production side of things will likely need some refining. 

Here are a few production elements to keep in mind for each content medium:

Blog Posts and Articles

• Research Thoroughly: Ensure your content is well-researched and informative. Use credible sources to back your claims.
• Engaging Headlines: Craft headlines that grab attention and accurately reflect the content.
• SEO Optimization: Use relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and tags to improve search engine visibility.
• Visual Elements: Include images, infographics, or videos to break the text and enhance reader engagement.

Social Media Posts

• Platform-Specific Content: Tailor your content to fit the style and audience of each platform (e.g., Instagram for visuals, Twitter for concise updates).
• Consistent Brand Voice: Maintain a consistent tone and style that resonates with your brand identity.
• Engagement Tactics: Ask questions, run polls, or use hashtags to encourage interaction.
• Timely Posting: Utilize analytics to determine the best times to post for maximum engagement.

Video Production

• High-Quality Visuals and Audio: Invest in good equipment or software for clear visuals and crisp audio.
• Storytelling: Focus on a compelling narrative or message to keep viewers engaged.
• Editing: Use editing to pace the content appropriately and enhance the overall quality.
• Captions and Subtitles: Include these for accessibility and to cater to viewers who watch without sound.

Podcasts

• Consistent Format: Stick to a recognizable format and length that your audience can expect.
• Engaging Hosts and Guests: Choose hosts and guests who are knowledgeable and have good on-air chemistry.
• Good Sound Quality: Prioritize clear and crisp sound to enhance listener experience. (Looking for a good podcast setup? We have you covered)
• Promotion: Leverage social media and other platforms to promote episodes.

Infographics

• Clear Data Presentation: Present data in a way that’s easy to understand and visually appealing.
• Balanced Design: Use colors, fonts, and layouts that make the information easy to follow.
• Source Credibility: Cite reliable sources for the data you are presenting.
• Shareability: Design with social sharing in mind, ensuring the format works well on different platforms.

Email Newsletters

• Personalization: Use the recipient's name and tailor content based on their interests.
• Clear Call-to-Action: Make it clear what you want the reader to do next.
• Mobile-Friendly Design: Ensure the email looks good on mobile devices.
• Regular Scheduling: Send newsletters consistently but avoid overloading subscribers’ inboxes.

e-Books and Whitepapers

• Professional Layout: Use a clean and professional design to enhance readability.
• Downloadable Format: Offer in formats like PDF for easy downloading and reading.

Measure and Analyze Results

After launching your B2B content marketing strategy, it's important to measure and analyze its effectiveness. This helps you understand what's working and guides future decisions.

Keeping Up with the KPIs

Above we outlined a variety of content mediums and the KPIs you should be tracking. Avoid “setting and forgetting” these goals and KPIs. Keep up with their progress to ensure accurate reporting. 

Using Analytics Tools

Use analytics tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, or HubSpot to track your content's performance. These tools provide insights into user behavior, traffic sources, and conversion rates, offering a clear picture of your strategy's impact.

Regular Review and Reporting

Schedule monthly or quarterly reviews to analyze your content's performance. Identify which content types and channels are most effective and pinpoint areas for improvement. Create reports that highlight both successes and shortcomings.

Understanding Audience Behavior

Look at metrics like time on page and bounce rate to understand how your audience interacts with your content. This helps in identifying content that resonates and areas where users disengage.

You should also collect information from your audience's feedback. See what they are saying (or not saying) and take action. 

Translating Data into Action

Turn your data into actionable insights. Use this information to adjust your strategy, try new ideas, and continuously improve your approach.

Long-Term Tracking

Focus on both short-term metrics and long-term trends. This helps in understanding the ongoing impact of your content and informs long-term strategy decisions.

Optimize and Iterate

Now it's time to refine and evolve your content. As you assess your results, you'll notice some content excels while others fall short. Use this insight for optimization and iteration.

For instance, if your blog attracts clicks but visitors leave quickly, evaluate why that may be. Think from the user's perspective to understand why they might be leaving, and then make necessary updates.

If a particular content piece is performing exceptionally well, use it as a model. Analyze what makes it successful and apply those elements – not the exact content, but its structure or approach – to enhance other pieces. This way, you're replicating success across your strategy.

You can also use A/B testing to optimize your strategy. Experiment with different content styles, headlines, and channels to find what works best.

Gaining an understanding of what formats and messaging resonate with your audience most can help your team craft a strong framework for your content marketing strategy. 

B2B Content Marketing Strategies We Love

Need some inspo? Here are a couple of B2B content marketing strategies we love:

HubSpot

HubSpot's content marketing strategy excels due to its focus on high-quality, relevant blogs and its innovative certification courses. 

Their consistent blogging keeps the audience engaged and improves SEO, while their online courses offer practical value, ending with a proficiency certificate. This approach not only educates but also builds a community around the brand. 

The key to their success lies in creating trustworthy and engaging content that turns their audience into loyal advocates.

Lavender

Lavender, leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance sales email effectiveness, showcases a unique content marketing strategy through its media brand, Lavenderland. This platform combines humor and practical advice, making complex topics in email marketing and sales strategies both engaging and accessible. Lavenderland's content, characterized by its playful tone and actionable insights, not only entertains but also educates its audience, enhancing Lavender’s credibility as an expert in effective communication.

The distinct brand identity of Lavenderland, separate from Lavender's core offerings, allows creative freedom in content production, enriching the brand's appeal and reaching a diverse audience. This approach exemplifies a strong and unique content marketing strategy, demonstrating Lavender's expertise in crafting impactful communication and optimizing sales emails.

Conclusion 

Creating a strong B2B content marketing strategy is no small feat. It demands a ton of content, strategic planning, media brand creation, and a deep understanding of your audience. 

Overwhelmed by the endless amount of content you feel like you’ll need for this strategy to be successful? Don’t be.

Sweet Fish Media is all about doing the heavy lifting for you. We know that building a content strategy that resonates with your audience takes more than just writing articles or making posts. It's about crafting a narrative that speaks directly to the needs and interests of your market. From detailed planning to consistent content creation, we handle it all, ensuring your strategy is not just present, but relatable and persuasive.

By creating and managing your business’s media brand, we will take your content marketing strategy from robotic blogs with a few views to an engaging thought leadership powerhouse. 

Learn more about media brands and why they are the future of B2B content marketing.

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