March 26, 2021

Quick! If you could marry ANY marketing tactic, which tactic would you choose? Think about it. I can wait.

For me, it’s a no-brainer. I pledge my love and life to B2B content marketing. 

I know what you’re thinking, “Lisa, you’re bananas! Content marketing, sure. But B2B? Ugh. Why?!”

I’ll tell you! B2B content is a beautiful gift that forces marketers to do two crucial things:

👉 1. Remember that businesses are made up of people.

B2B comes off like a snoozefest because we envision empathy-less lead gen forms that bark at us to fork over a work email or to get the heck out. And our mighty reward for doing so? Typically a completely-impersonal personal demo.  

That’s not B2B marketing. That’s bad marketing. 

Instead, we need to think of it as powering the people inside the business. Arming them with the solutions and research and tools they need to: 

• Get better
• Get smarter
• Be more efficient 
• Finally figure it out
• BE GREAT

Whatever the business, whatever the size, you’re helping the person behind the logo go back to their boss looking and feeling like a superhero. Content geared toward a B2B audience improves how business gets done and solves real problems. That gets me excited.   

👉 2. Be superiorly helpful.

I don’t care for things that feel overly clever. I don’t want to watch that video you found on Facebook or be part of your Clubhouse. My time is sacred. Yours is too. You should be surrounded by people, tools, and things that respect that. 

That’s B2B content marketing in a nutshell. 

The heart of B2B is creating something that has value above all else. It’s content that exists for a reason, serves a clear purpose, and knows its job is to make you better at yours. At this stage in the pandemic and my life, meaningful things are all I have time for.

Good B2B Content is like LEGOS:

Fun individually but even better when you stack ‘em. 

B2B content shines in a way B2C rarely does because it’s content you can build upon. It’s not so immediately transactional. There’s time to tell a story across a series of pieces as your prospect navigates through the buyer journey. A blog post leads to a whitepaper that goes to a demo that may encourage someone to attend your event.  As the person moves through the content series, you're creating a rapport where the lessons learned build and lead someone toward a conversion point when they are ready to accept it.

It's actually focused ON the relationship. 😲😲 

It’s the Holy Grail of content.

Crafting A B2B Story Arc Through the Funnel  

How can you pair content to where people are in the buyer journey?

👋 The Awareness Stage

Oh, heeey. This is the part of the buyer journey where your customer is unaware of what exactly their problem is, and they’re also almost-always unaware that you exist to help solve it.  

This is a great time to introduce them to content focused on education and problem identification. That means understanding how people search before they know what it is they’re really looking for, where they search, and who they trust for recommendations about products or services like yours. 

Greet them in the Awareness Stage with early-funnel content such as: 

• Blogs and checklists that inform and entertain in a snackable length.
• eBooks that formally name the issue they’re facing and begin introducing possible solutions like yours.
• Webinars that put a face (yours) to those solutions and establish your expertise and your ability to help them.

🤔 The Evaluation Stage

This is the juiciest content stage because it’s where you woo lurkers into love interests--I mean, leads. Here, someone is aware of their problem, and they’re starting to look for a tool/business/solution that looks and sounds just like you. 

To reach them, consider how they consume information--do they prefer video, words or audio? Are they researching on a laptop during the day or via their phone in bed at night? What matters to them when making decisions? What do they value? What’s most important?

Serve them content via: 

• Podcasts that allow them to break down facts and go deeper into concepts while keeping that easy-to-consume feel listeners want.   
• Self-service knowledge bases or resource libraries where prospects can self-navigate, dig deep into content themes/clusters, and answer their own questions. 
• Email nurture campaigns that deliver content timed to the moment they’re likely to be thinking about it.
• Chatbots that allow them to engage on their terms, get answers to questions, or troubleshoot issues.

🙌 The Conversion Stage

Your prospect is well-informed and at the stage where they are ready to make a decision. What content do they need to get them to act and to choose you? What trust gaps are they still dealing with, and how can you solve for them? Move them toward conversion with content like: 

• Success stories that provide confidence that choosing you is the right choice (and one they won’t regret to their boss later) by showing them how you've helped others in a similar situation.
• Free trials and demos that let them touch it, feel it, and kick the tires in a safe space.
• Consultations (live or via email) that help get someone up and running faster.
• Visualizers/Interactive tools that let them see your product in their space, your materials in their cars, your prints on their wall. Get them excited about what could be and those next steps. 

B2B Content: Forever & Always, I Do

That's my marketing tactic love story. I'm committed to B2B content marketing because it lets you woo someone through their decision process from start to finish. It doesn’t assume you’ll snack on one piece and be ready to commit. It focuses on giving you the correct information, at the right time, wherever you happen to be in the buyer cycle. 

That level of courting is simply swoon-worthy.

👉 Oh. One last thing...

Do you sleep at night? If yes, can you tell me how? I’m still seeking recommendations and sleep.