How to Build a B2B Content Marketing Strategy That Converts

Content marketing plays a key role in customer acquisition and retention.

Whether you're selling an everyday product or advanced enterprise software, getting found in relevant searches is more important than ever because everyone is looking for answers online. Influencing B2B buyers is difficult, so your B2B content marketing strategy is vital.

What should your B2B content marketing strategy look like? How do you bring hard-to-convince B2B buyers to a purchase decision? Let's find out.

What is a B2B content marketing strategy?

A B2B content marketing strategy is any content strategy that targets businesses or organizations. Suppose your product or service is aimed at businesses and not individual consumers. In this case, a B2B content marketing strategy will help you capture the attention of key decision makers in your target organizations.

A strong B2B content marketing strategy lets your target businesses know about your brand, your products, and the problems you solve, bringing B2B buyers closer to buying.

Some content creation statistics show that creating and distributing content is the most profitable way to generate leads organically. That's why nearly 40% of B2B marketers prefer a documented content marketing strategy.

Source: CMI

Here's how using content as a B2B marketing tool benefits your business:

Answers burning questions from the public Make buyers aware of impending challenges and offer the solution they need Provides a non-intrusive customer experience unlike traditional outbound marketing methods Increases traffic to your website by driving visitors through content Helps you rank on search engine results pages (SERPs) and appear in relevant searches Serves as a dynamic guarantee for sales and customer service Helps build trust and increases conversions How is a B2B content marketing strategy different from B2C?

In B2B content marketing, your audience personas are people who make buying decisions on behalf of their organization.

These buying decisions typically go through multiple approvals and depend on the organization's budget, immediate or long-term goals, and several other factors. This makes B2B content marketing much more complex than B2C, where you only have to persuade the individual buyer.

B2B marketers rely on in-depth educational content that addresses the needs and challenges of a professional buyer rather than a TV ad or Facebook ad that typically appeals to individual consumers.

In B2B content marketing, purchasing decisions are driven by factors such as return on investment (ROI), ease of enterprise-wide adoption, integration with systems existing and expected results. In B2C content marketing, however, it is mostly emotional triggers that drive sales.

The sales cycle for B2B transactions is also much longer than for B2C transactions. Organizations are looking for long-term solutions and taking longer to buy. This does not necessarily apply to a B2C buyer.

B2B marketers need to map their content at every stage of the buying journey. Although the sales funnel also applies to B2C customers, the journey from the top to the bottom of the funnel is much faster here.

Here are some common content types in B2B marketing:

Blogs Case studies white papers Product Guides Video tutorials

B2C marketers, on the other hand, focus on fast-paced and engaging content, such as social media posts, user-generated content,...