Alright, so the title here sounds a little harsh. Let me explain.
Your B2B website should be a living, breathing resource center for potential and current clients. The blog is at the center of this resource as a content marketing tool for continually adding fresh, educational information. In order to attract your target audience and retain your existing clients, the blog needs to provide valuable information.
What Matters to You…Doesn’t Matter to Your Clients
I get it. You and your marketing team are thrilled with a new product release or are true believers that your services are the best in the industry. You and your competitors aren’t even in the same arena when it comes to great products and services. You want to shout this from the rooftops. The only problem is that your target audience doesn’t care. It’s true.
What matters to you (how awesome your company is), doesn’t matter to your potential clients. Take a minute for that to sink in. It can take a little while to digest this, but once you do it will revolutionize how you plan out your B2B content marketing strategy. Next, you need to figure out what matters to your potential clients. The best way to do this is to create an ideal client persona, complete with pain points and objections to your products or services. By truly understanding your potential client, you can address what matters to them, not what only matters to your firm.
Clients Don’t Want to Be Sold To
First and foremost, potential clients aren’t looking to be sold to. They want to be educated. As the central component of a B2B content marketing strategy, your blog is a wonderful way to educate potential clients about the benefits of your products and services, the value they offer, and how they work or are best utilized. A standard page on your website can act as a service feature list, but your blog should discuss why your products and services matter to your target audience.
Write About How It Works
Rather than focus on the what behind your products and services, focus on the how and why behind them. Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes. Why would they want to use your products or services? How do your products or services benefit them? Address their pain points in the blog post or provide a “How-to” on using your products or services.
Always Provide Value
All of your competitors are talking about their own products and services. Differentiate your firm with a content marketing strategy that focuses on creating and providing value for your clients. Content marketing is not a task to simply be completed and marked off. It’s a process of creating blog posts that help your clients to understand the value of partnering with your firm. It’s a way to help them do their jobs better, make it easier for them to do their jobs, look good for their boss, etc. The main point is that these are all provide value for your target audience.
Start Writing Content That Resonates
Now, it’s up to you and your team to start writing content that resonates with your target audience. Contrary to what the headline of this blog states, your blogs will discuss your products and services. HOWEVER, how you talk about them and the types of information you share about them will be different than what you may have previously believed.
Questions about creating a content marketing strategy that resonates with your target audience? Let us know in the comments.
