An overwhelming number of buyers in the B2B segment claim that content has a significant impact on their decision to buy goods or services.
According to a survey of marketers by the Content Marketing Institute, 64% of respondents try to create unique content that differentiates their brand from the competition. Let’s find out what ways professionals choose to make their content stand out.
Study: What Big Companies Emphasize
The majority of content marketers (83%) chose to emphasize quality. In this case, almost half of respondents plan to involve professional copywriters, designers, and other professionals, or outsource part of the task. Content marketing for business has become one of the key areas of development and investment.
Another way that companies plan to use is to create unique stories, cases and share expertise. About 72% of respondents believe that to be successful, they need to cover topics that competitors do not use.
Half of the respondents plan to engage in active promotion. In their opinion, additional advertising yields results and justifies the investment. However, 14% of content marketers who used paid promotion channels last year decided to refuse them fully or partially. At the same time, they don’t cut the budget, but allocate it to other needs.
What Types of Content Are Used by B2B Companies
Business content is slightly different from what B2C companies create. 89% of marketers include short articles of up to 1,500 words in their strategy, 75% create videos, and two-thirds do case studies. The latter are quite effective at the bottom of the sales funnel.
What other types of content are effective for business audiences:
- Online events. They are conducted by 62% of the companies surveyed. And a study of the interests of the audience suggests that it’s effective. 47% of users find such content useful, and many of them decided to collaborate only after taking an online course or attending a webinar.
- 61% of marketers used infographics and 3D models in their content strategy.
- White papers and helpful guides are popular in 59% of companies. They allow brands to demonstrate expertise, build user trust, promote offers, like an online casino promotion, collect leads, and expand reach.
- The number of offline meetings and seminars increased compared to last year. Forty-nine percent of respondents hold them, up from 19% a year earlier. At the same time, nearly half of those surveyed consider such events to be the most effective.
As for plans for 2023, 8 out of 10 respondents plan to invest in video content, and 69% – to develop their own media activities. 57% of content marketers will use social media and communities. This number is also up from last year, when only 39% used social media for B2B content.
What Affects the Success of Content Strategy in the B2B Segment
Having studied the business content strategies of the most successful B2B companies, we have made certain conclusions and share our recommendations:
- Use paid promotion channels besides publishing on your resources. According to statistics, 75% of the most successful companies promote content. Among the less successful companies only 57% do it.
- Be creative when creating content. 86% of marketers of the top companies believe that it’s useful to experiment in communication with the audience, the type and presentation of materials. Just be sure to analyze the effectiveness and result of innovation.
- Develop your own media. The excess of information leads to the fact that the audience is less and less responsive to traditional advertising. Own media resources will allow you to keep your brand in the memory of the audience, as well as demonstrate your expertise in the eyes of customers.
- Don’t ignore social media. Almost all top B2B companies actively use social media accounts and external blogs to distribute content.
- Participate in business events. This is another effective way to make yourself known and make useful contacts. Two thirds of representatives of successful B2B companies regularly participate in offline and online business events.
