Content marketing isn’t just a buzzword anymore; it’s a staple of B2B marketing. However, if you are not familiar with this marketing strategy, here is the definition from the Content Marketing Institute:
“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.”
This content can be eBooks, videos, animatics, ePosters or any other vehicle you can use to pass along valuable information to your prospects. And as the above definition points out, the end goal is to drive profitable customer action, but creating good quality B2B marketing content does more than just close a sale. Here are 3 key benefits of creating top-tier content marketing.
1. Positions your company as an industry thought leader
Effective content marketing uses information that your audience finds valuable. The content must help them solve a particular pain point in their industry. And delivering these solutions on a consistent basis, with messaging that resonates, will help your company establish trust and your position as an industry expert.
Trust and knowledge are powerful brand identity traits. So when it comes time to make a purchase decision, B2B buyers will likely start with a company that has helped them in the past and knows their industry. In short, they want to go with someone who knows what they’re talking about. Your content proves that.
2. Increases engagement and interactions with your brand
The more successful your B2B content marketing, the more overall engagement with your website, emails and social media. If you are actively using and updating these channels, quality content marketing will increase interactions across all outbound and inbound tactics.
If your content is valuable enough, it will be clicked, viewed, and shared time and time again. And the further your content spreads, the more businesses that will be coming back to your company for additional information. You will generate more social media followers, your email subscribers will go up, and the traffic to your website will skyrocket! These marketing channels let prospects easily access your content while growing them in the process.
3. Generates more qualified leads
This is what everyone is always worried about—generating leads. Yes, generating leads is important, and you can do this with other marketing tactics. However, the thing about quality content marketing is that it generates qualified leads.
In a B2B content marketing program, these are the prospects that have downloaded enough of your content or taken enough action to signify that they are ready for sales contact. These buyers are familiar with your brand because your content has helped them in the past. They’re subscribed to your newsletter and social media accounts so they know you’re an industry expert. At this point, they’re just waiting for a call!
Quality content marketing does more than just generate names in a CRM. It increases your position in buyers’ minds, it generates brand awareness and engagement, and it turns cold call prospects into hot, qualified leads ready to be given to the sales team.
In B2B tech marketing, tactics should be thought of as part of a larger whole, rather than separate pieces. By strategically integrating new and traditional marketing tactics, your marketing program become more effective and cost efficient. To learn more about how you can increase your lead generation and overall marketing, download our free eBook: Modern Integrated Digital Marketing—A Better Path for B2B Technology Marketers.
