Creating B2B content marketing pieces is a simple process, provided that you have a clearly defined content strategy for your business. The content strategy will guide what types of content you create, where you share it, and the topics covered.
What Is the Purpose of Creating B2B Content?
When it comes to B2B content marketing, writing a blog once a month isn’t enough. There is a variety of different types of content, each with its own purpose and targeted end goal. For example, as a San Diego web design firm offering content marketing, we create content that answers questions, creates value, educates, sells, converts, and retains. Each content marketing piece we create has a specific purpose and adds value for our potential clients, our existing clients, or our own firm.
Understanding the various purposes of B2B content marketing pieces is fundamental to creating and executing a successful strategy for your business.
Answer a Question & Fill a Need
Before beginning any content marketing, we advise businesses to lock down their web design strategy. Once your website is updated with current information, it’s time to start thinking about what potential clients want to know about the services you offer. People are using the internet to find answers to their questions. By creating online content that answers their questions, you are filling a need and becoming a resource.
Tip: Create a blog, web page, or downloadable guide that answers “Frequently Asked Questions.” Get input from your sales team on what questions they hear the most.
Create Value for Potential Clients
Potential clients of our San Diego web design agency often come to us asking about responsive design. In most cases, they know they need responsive design for their website, but they don’t really understand why. We wanted to make sure that potential and existing clients understood the value of responsive design for their business. We created several content pieces including blog entries, a downloadable guide, and a printed guide to explain what responsive web design is and how it benefits the business.
Your services are wonderful and you understand why they are valuable. However, potential clients may not understand why your services are better than your competitors. Crafting content marketing pieces that show the value of your services differentiates you from your competitors and substantiates the cost of your services.
Tip: The best place to start when writing a piece that creates value for your services is by finding out why your current customers love your services. It’s a great opportunity to discover any additional points of value that you weren’t aware of or didn’t think were as important.
Educate Your Audience
Every salesperson knows that part of their pitch includes educating a potential client about the features of the service. Here is where B2B content marketing supports the sales team while furthering your firm’s authority on the topic. Just beware that this is not a sales piece. To be a truly educational piece, it must explain the what of the services and the positives and negatives of the services. For example, potential San Diego web design clients of ours can choose from responsive or mobile-optimized websites. Our B2B website buyer’s guide is an educational piece about buying a new website and objectively discusses both types of web design.
Tip: An educational piece can be branded with your logo and name, but it shouldn’t be a list of your services. Rather, it should be a resource that a potential client can read through to understand certain services.
Sells Your Services
Content that sells, or actively contributes to moving prospects down the sales funnel, has the most draw for professionals creating a content marketing strategy. I recently did an interview on B2B content marketing where I discussed the four stages of the content marketing process, but when it comes to creating content that “sells your services,” creating content for the decision phase is what I’m discussing. At this point in the sales funnel, prospects are serious buyers. These types of pieces assume they are your client and need to know your processes and what’s next. A piece of content with the purpose of selling or closing the deal can be a project schedule, list of deliverables and timelines, a service agreement, or even a what to expect sheet.
Tip: When creating content marketing pieces to sell your services, don’t think “sell.” Instead, think “what does a new client need from us to feel confident in our services.”
Retain Your Business
For many B2B firms, repeat business is the main source of revenue. Content focused on retaining clients is absolutely essential to any firm looking to foster long-term client relationships. Your competitors are constantly calling your clients to steal them away. Great, original content reminds your existing clients what makes your services so great and why they should ignore those competitor’s sales calls.
Tip: Blogs and email newsletters are a wonderful way to retain your clients. For firms that don’t have long-term client relationships, blogs and newsletters can help with referrals.
In my experience at a San Diego web design firm, the best B2B content marketing strategies include content pieces that add value in each of the ways mentioned above. Learn more about B2B content marketing for your business.
