2023-06-16 07:07:32
Content marketing is critical to growing your brand and reaching the right audience. Without it, you won’t create leads, increase conversions, or grow your email list. If you can keep up with what your customers want, you can stay ahead of your competition.
If you’re familiar with B2B content marketing, you probably know what the desired end goal is:
A blog that generates the majority of your website’s organic search traffic, as well as a significant portion of your leads. Downloadable resources and educational webinars that add tons of new email contacts to your marketing list every month. Videos, podcasts and guest articles that help your brand be discovered on channels outside of your website
SoHow do you get there if you’re starting from scratch? B2B startups don’t have content libraries to tap into. And they don’t have the time or resources to spend on trial and error. With that in mind, we’ve put together a little roadmap: Focus your initial publishing efforts on the items listed below, and your initial content program will have a positive ROI in months, not years..
Alternative blog entries
Blog articles tend to attract readers with a very high purchase intent. Often these visitors are actively evaluating a competing solution. But something is holding them back (high prices or missing features, perhaps) and they’re looking for a reason to shop elsewhere. If you can position your solution as strong where the competitor’s brand is weak, you have a good chance of turning these visitors into sales leads.
The trick with alternative content is to be as honest as possible and avoid being too negative. If your article is an obviously biased impact piece against one of your main competitors, you will be seen as unreliable.
Even if your business doesn’t have any direct competitors because you’re bringing a completely new product to market, for example, you can still take advantage of this type of content. Do some research on how your potential buyers are currently approaching the problem your solution solves. Then write an article outlining the pros and cons of each method, with your solution at the top of the list.
Time saving templates
We all want to eliminate work from our day and find shortcuts to effectiveness. Templates help us do that, which is why they’ve become such a popular format in content marketing.
Template content is a great way to associate your brand with expertise and usefulness. When you provide something that makes your potential buyers a quick profit, they are more likely to engage with your other content. They will look to your brand when they need the kind of solution you provide.
So what are your buyers trying to do quickly? What can you help them achieve by getting them 80% of the way there? Brainstorm specific ways you can save your buyers time. The resulting content will drive traffic to your page and help you collect more email addresses if you decide to request them.
Thought leadership taking a stand
In a crowded market, it’s not about what you offer. Everyone is offering a variation of the same thing. It’s about what you believe.
Thought leadership refers to any content that involves a member of your team sharing original ideas or opinions related to your industry. Many brands try this type of content, and most disappear without a trace. The reason? They don’t challenge the reader enough to be memorable.
When you express a philosophy or point of view that forces your potential buyers to reevaluate what they believe, you show that you’re thinking about their problems in a whole new way. There’s the status quo, represented by all the market leaders in your category… and then there’s you.
Take some time with the founders of your company and ask them these questions:
What is wrong with our industry?
What is the most ridiculous thing that clients in our category accept as immutable fact?
What is our crusade? What do we want to change about the world around us (not just our industry)?
Whose minds are we trying to change and what are we trying to convince them of?
The answers to these questions can form the foundation for thought leadership content that really makes an impact.
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#Content #Marketing #B2B #Entrepreneurs