Content marketing in the B2B space can seem difficult. After all, your company’s products and services are a little more niche and a lot less sexy than most consumer goods. Despite all that, it is possible to create great content for your B2B that generates leads and enhances your brand reputation. Not only is it possible, but it’s necessary as more and more industrial sourcing is done online. So how do you develop successful content for your B2B? It just takes these 5 simple steps:
01. Identify a target
Or, as writers like to say, know your audience. You need to have an idea of who you’re writing to in order to create successful content for your B2B.
As the content creators, we really only see our half of the process—the creation—which means from time to time we fail to account for the fact that content is a conversation with other people.
So, who is your target audience? It’s the people who are buying and using your product or service.
For example, if you manufacture components for motorcycle engines, your target audience could be Sourcing Specialists or Product Engineers at a motorcycle manufacturer.
Learn as much as you can about this target audience, what challenges they face in their role, what they’re looking for in a supplier, and how your product or service offerings could make their jobs easier.
02. Say something worth saying
Once you know who your target audience is, and what they do, use that information to create content that is relevant to the challenges they face and the value your offerings could have for them and their company.
Overtly promotional content that is focused on your company/service/product is not going to engage your readers—it needs to be useful to your readers; so, instead of a post outlining all the reasons why your company is the best supplier of your product, say auto parts for example, write a post on how to select the right auto parts supplier.
That will be content that is both useful and relevant to your readers. Not only do you help them with one of their challenges—finding good suppliers for the components they need—you frame frame your company as one of those good suppliers.
03. Say it well
We know that your engineers and technical guys are smart, and that they know what they’re talking about.
But your readers might not know what they’re talking about, and the content you create needs to be accessible to your readers.
That means it needs to be well-written (good grammar is important), it needs to use the right keywords for SEO (search engine optimization), and it can't be too technical for your audience to understand—so don’t let your engineers write your content. Don’t. (Or if you do, have it edited by a writer.)
04. Promote like crazy
If good content is published on your site and no one reads it, does it still compel your target audience? No!
For your content to be successful, people need to see it, and to see it, they need to know it exists. How? Promotion.
When you publish new content, you need to let your target audience know where it is and that they should check it out. Share it on LinkedIn, include a link in your email newsletter, use all relevant platforms to get the word out, and get people interested.
05. Set a schedule
Nothing will kill your readership like sporadic publication. Once you know how to create quality content, do it on a regular basis. Quantity is almost as important as quality here, so make sure you’re posting at least once per month. This keeps your company fresh in the minds of your target audience, and ensures that what you're creating really is successful.
If you follow these guidelines, and you follow them regularly, your content is going to start to attract readers from your target audience.
So long as you keep them interested, those readers will convert to leads, eventually becoming clients!
If you have more questions about creating compelling, successful content for your B2B, or even if you're looking for a hand with your manufacturing company's inbound marketing strategy, give the experts at Evenbound a call. We can help.
