B2B Content: Goodbye Feeble, Hello Awesome with These Practical Tips
Unique killer content marketing hacks to bore no more
If you’re a CMO looking for practical tips and advice on how to overhaul your dry content marketing, you’re in the right place. In a previous B2B Marketing Bulletin we saw just how B2B content became so mind-numbingly boring, why it’s the kiss of death for lead generation programmes and signposted ways to banish bland B2B content for good, specifically by:
Creating content with real personality
Making truly interesting content to build strong emotional connections
Daring to be bold and brave to fire-up on relevance
In this B2B Marketing Bulletin I’ll explore these recommendations and others in more depth. So if your B2B content is a snoozefest, you’ll have some practical advice to get started on turning things around from today!
How to inject epic personality into your B2B content marketing
Lose your personality-free corporate facade. Fast. Swap out that cold fish for an open, curious and likeable brand personality instead. And just like that, you’re on your way!
Take some cues from B2C brands. Why? Because they’re so much cooler, and enjoyable than their B2B counterparts. They get to the point, they engage and captivate, they push boundaries and just plain cut through in a way B2B brands don’t. Yet.
Humanise your marketing content by highlighting your people and teams in your company. It’s great to see the wonderful array of talented diverse people that make the magic happen. It’s super engaging and makes prospects feel like they’re part of your gang.
Apply this approach to your case studies too. Slick, bland case studies are a real attention killer. Instead, go for the grit and focus on your client and their challenges and stories and treat each case study like a one-off piece to truly excite prospects.
Shatter dull with powerfully interesting content that connects
The single biggest thing B2B brands can do is make their content interesting. And to do this for prospects and leads at all stages of the funnel.
When it comes to interesting, the B2B content bar is so low it’s easy to move the needle. But where’s the fun in that? Instead aim sky high to really stand out with useful and memorable content, because let’s face it, when was the last time you heard someone rave about B2B content? If ever? Make this your goal and if you succeed, your content will be a sparkly diamond in a coal mine.
In a Renegade podcast, Richard Jones suggests three ways to generate awesome content. First, hire maverick content writers who break the mould and write killer content from fresh perspectives. Second, tap into the often rich vein of content creators within your company to become part of a content generation community. Third, loosen up on processes that may stifle creative content by having to adhere to strict guidelines and formulaic approaches.
In other words, don’t play it safe, take a stand, push boundaries and experiment so you can have content that thrills and forges deep emotional connections with your buyers and prospects. Pull that off and in the B2B world that puts you in a winning minority! Because although the studies showing B2B buyers are driven by emotion rather than rational content marketing are nothing new, B2B brands remain stubbornly slow on the uptake to respond to this incredible growth opportunity.
Be daring, thrilling and brave to fire-up your relevance
Not playing it safe means being daring! Always. That said, in the topsy-turvy B2B world being scared is more often than not the default approach to content generation. Despite B2B brands working hard to define top tier best buyer personas and ideal customers, when it comes to content they seem to forget this and apply a catch-all approach. Bad idea. This approach makes for watered down, flavourless content that pleases no one. Instead be brave, take a stand for a specific tribe that’s most important to you. This will in turn make your content super interesting, useful and relevant to your key buyer persona. It frees you up to be more contrarian and provocative which is exactly what your B2B buyers want. They’re hungry for rich, mouth-watering content that they can chew on with real flavour. It’s your job to serve that up, not a lettuce washed down with a glass of water.
Popular content traps you’ll want to avoid like the plague
Always assume your leads aren’t ready to buy from you right now.
Many B2B brands focus on their most interesting marketing at the top of the funnel with gated content. Then a lead’s data is captured and the engaging content vanishes. Replaced instead with nurture campaigns that rationally market their products and services. Why? Because although only 5% of these leads are likely to be in market, B2B brands somehow ignore this. Forgetting also that their buyers are smart people. If they’re in market and they like what they see, they’ll get to you. So instead of continuing to engage with rich content they want, many prospects will simply unsubscribe or banish your emails to junk and go elsewhere.
Another lead killer zone is the hand-off from marketing to sales. In a similar way B2B content often switches gear at this stage of the funnel, and not for the better. Unless content remains engaging, fresh and consistent at all stages of the funnel, valuable leads will react to any content disconnect and call time on their journey with your brand.
Unleash stunning growth with genuinely awesome content
All B2B brands want to make meaningful connections with their leads and prospects with their content marketing. Though for most their dry content says otherwise.
