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HOW TO CREATE A B2B CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY FROM SCRATCH
This is the text from the presentation.
If you are reading this guide…
You have probably heard that content marketing helps your business grow.
When done right, an effective content marketing strategy will attract leads and generate sales for your business.
It will also make you a thought leader and help drive traffic to your site.
Creating an effective strategy that achieves these aims is easier than you’d think.
Here’s our advice for creating and executing a content strategy to grow your business.
Planning Your Content Strategy
With the right planning and preparation…
You can become a thought leader in your niche by consistently delivering valuable content.
But first…
You should know what exactly content marketing is.
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
Content Marketing Institute
To reap the benefits of a content marketing strategy, the first step is to plan.
You should start by brainstorming your objectives.
There is no right or wrong answer.
Do you want to…
Generate leads for follow-up by sales teams?
Become a thought leader and develop name recognition and respect within you industry?
Offer better customer support and help them get the most from your products?
Build a community around your products and services?
Like with all other types of marketing, you should be aware of your goals before you begin creating your content.
This will make it easier to evaluate your success on an ongoing basis and to alter your strategy accordingly.
Then consider who is your target audience.
In other words…
Who are you creating this content for?
Writing with a specific person in mind is a great way to focus both your thoughts and your goals for your content.
Write a description of your target audience and think about their needs, wants and challenges they’re facing.
Creating Your Content Arsenal
The most common types of content used by marketers include
visual (71%), blogging (70%), video (57%) and podcasting (10%).
For B2B marketers, the most important form of content for providing a strong ROI is blogging.
Therefore…
Blogging should be at the heart of every B2B’s content marketing strategy.
Distribute Your Content Using Social Media
More than 50% of marketers who’ve been using social media for at least 2 years report it helped them improve sales.
Choosing Your Social Media Platforms
With the plethora of social media platforms available…
How do you know which ones are right for your business?
For B2B companies, statistically the most effective platforms are Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
90% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their business.
66% of marketers that spend as little as six hours per week report seeing lead generation benefits with social media.
Top two benefits of social media marketing are:
(i) increasing brand exposure
(ii) driving traffic to your site.
All your social media efforts should have these goals in mind.
This makes choosing the right social media platforms easier than you think.
Your business should be on a platform if:
Your target audience are using it
and your influencers are using it.
Developing a Distribution Strategy
Executing a content marketing strategy that generates leads and sales for your business is not as easy as setting up a social media account.
You need to strategise, execute, evaluate, iterate. Rinse and repeat.
Is that clear?
Let me say it again.
You need to plan how and when you are going to distribute your content on social media.
A good content marketing strategy sends its content at optimised times for its target audience.
For many of our B2B clients, publishing between 7-9am and 5-7pm has proved successful.
This means your prospects will be more likely to SEE and ENGAGE with your content.
Engagement is a measure of strategy success.
By tracking engagement with your content over time, it will become clear when the best times to post are for your target audience.
These times will differ from business to business.
But that’s not all.
A good content marketer also posts consistently.
It is not enough to send the occasional tweet or publish the occasional video.
For your followers to remain engaged with your brand over time… Your business needs to remain visible and you want to give them a reason to return to your site.
More than 50% of marketers who have been executing their content and social media marketing strategies for two or more years, have been able to establish thought leadership.
If you are perceived as a thought leader, you will convert prospects in your sales funnel into paying customers more quickly.
And that’s what content marketing can do for your business.
It helps your business grow.
And that’s exactly what we do.
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Thanks for viewing the Slideshare or reading the text above.
If you have liked this post you will also like the following posts:
B2B: How Proactive are you With Existing Clients?
B2B Content Marketing Agency London
Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.
If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com
On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.
Best regards,
Mike Pitt
Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd
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This is blog post post number 301.
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