B2B Content Marketing

What is B2B Content Marketing?

Especially in the B2B sector, content marketing holds a high significance. B2B content marketing refers to the creation and marketing of content specifically aimed at reaching specific B2B target audiences. The main goal is to increase the visibility of one's own company and use created content to generate qualified leads.

B2B Content Marketing and the Customer Journey

While companies in the B2C sector typically interact with a very large number of customers, the B2B sector is characterized by a select clientele and long-term customer relationships. Organic B2B content marketing, therefore, involves not only defining an understanding of the needs and desires of the target audience but also providing tailored (SEO) content along the touchpoints of the customer journey.

The consideration of the customer journey is sometimes neglected in B2B content marketing. However, only marketers who understand at which points in the customer journey the right content needs to be placed to be found by B2B prospects can reach and win over B2B customers for the long term. The organic visibility in the form of search engine optimization is a crucial factor here. Target audiences searching for B2B services often start by using search engines like Google. This means that companies performing well with unique B2B SEO content are also accessible to potential target audiences.

5 Important Steps in the B2B Content Marketing Process

Consequently, B2B content marketing builds on developing a long-term content marketing strategy in close coordination with the touchpoints of the customer journey. Fundamental steps are followed - from defining B2B goals through the conception of an SEO strategy to the publication and continuous review of content.

Defining B2B Goals

As the basis for B2B content creation, the first step is to define the goals to be achieved with the content marketing strategy. B2B content always targets a specific audience and ideally fulfills a purpose. Only by defining goals can the success of the strategy be measured later.

The overarching goals often include lead generation to acquire new customers. At the same time, B2B content marketing also reflects a company's overall language and communication strength, allowing the content to be used to position itself as a company and strengthen its brand. Additionally, an objective might be to improve relationships with existing customers and pass on expertise.

Audience Analysis

The second step involves conducting a professional target audience analysis. This is crucial for correctly implementing customer communication. Key questions at this point include:

• What problems (and questions) does my target audience have? 

• How does my service help solve these problems? 

• What are the characteristics of the people in my target audience? 

• How does my target audience search for solutions to problems?

A well-founded audience analysis is necessary to develop specific buyer personas in the next step. Buyer personas are abstract profiles of potential business customers that fit the target audience's mold. The more extensive the offered service is, the more complex the target audience becomes. Usually, several decision-makers, such as buyers or managers, are involved in acquiring extensive services, necessitating the simultaneous fulfillment of many different needs. In the B2B sector, the rule is:

Only those who know their target audience in detail can provide ideally tailored content and choose the right content formats!

Developing an SEO Strategy

Content marketing is understood as a sub-discipline of a holistic SEO strategy. In addition to technical aspects like loading time, sitemap, or robots.txt, content marketing in B2B SEO must be adapted to the specific needs of the target audience.

In B2B SEO, it is important to get to know customer wishes through intensive competitor analysis, keyword research, and topic research in detail. There are many peculiarities in this sector that need to be identified through SEO strategy conception and require a rethinking process. For instance, purchasing processes in B2B take significantly more time, so customer contact must be maintained through trustworthiness and expertise. As a result, long-tail keywords, i.e., long specific search terms, are often chosen in the B2B sector as they frequently reflect the complex interests of the target audience. Low search volumes should not be discouraging if the search term encompasses a specific interest.

Another aspect is choosing the right content formats. Whether classic whitepapers or dynamic video content on YouTube - the possibilities in B2B SEO are almost limitless. While classic text content such as guides is often found in B2B, innovative content ideas offer particularly high potential to stand out from the digital competition.

Creating an Editorial Plan

Following detailed strategic planning, implementation in practice follows. From an agency perspective, there is a clear recommendation: Successful B2B content marketing focuses on quality rather than quantity. Halfheartedly created blogs and guides are rarely crowned with success.

Even when initial analyses reveal a broad spectrum of questions, search terms, and potential formats, companies should initially focus on the most in-demand content. To plan publication, a structured editorial plan is advisable.

The editorial plan records which topics will be published at what time. At the same time, the planning defines which content formats are used and based on which, e.g., results of prior keyword research, the content is created. Usually, a well-founded editorial plan is compiled several months in advance, taking possible trending topics into account and correctly timed overtime.

Publication and Marketing

The success of a content marketing strategy not only depends on what content is published but also on how visible the published content is to the addressed target audience. Consequently, it may be sensible to strategically promote content after its publication.

Continuous Evaluation

Based on concrete SEO KPIs, the performance of published content is evaluated. With the help of evaluations, it can be determined which content requires optimization. Poor rankings usually indicate that the created content is not relevant enough compared to the competition. Here, it is advisable to re-evaluate search terms and possibly expand or change the content.

But caution! An organic content marketing strategy requires time. While initial trends may show after a few weeks, thorough results may only become visible after several months.

Content Formats in the B2B Sector

A wide variety of content formats is available for conveying content in B2B. Most companies choose classic formats that are often used in B2B:

• Blog articles 

• Whitepapers 

• Guides 

• Case studies 

• E-books

• Webinars

Typically, these are formats primarily designed to convey expertise. To fully exploit the potentials of B2B content marketing, the B2B target audience should be fed with the right content along the touchpoints of the customer journey.

B2B SEO – Stand Out with Unique Content!

Blog articles, whitepapers, and guides are considered true classics in B2B SEO. To stand out and further improve access to the B2B target audience, the marketing strategy should be fundamentally expanded.

In particular, social networks such as TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook prove effective in the new era of digital marketing. Reason enough for even traditional companies to broaden their horizons and explore the potential of B2B social media marketing.

Maximize B2B Social Media Marketing Potential

Social media is one of the initial contact points between companies and B2B target audiences. While it was once argued that specific B2B groups were not active on social networks, this argument is largely invalid today. At the latest in specialized B2B networks like LinkedIn or Xing, all B2B areas come together digitally, from working students to executives.

The possibilities of B2B social media marketing are diverse. To strengthen expertise through organic marketing, it can be worthwhile to adapt traditional website content such as whitepapers, blog articles, webinars, or case studies for publication on social (B2B) networks. Naturally, social media also offers excellent conditions to spotlight your brand. However, purely organic strategies can be challenging in B2B social media marketing - a combination of organic and paid advertising measures has proven particularly effective in practice.

YouTube B2B - Advantages of YouTube Channel for Companies

As one of the largest search engines worldwide, YouTube is one of the most popular social media platforms. On the surface, B2B marketing and YouTube may seem far apart. Yet, YouTube is also experiencing a transformation and is now a relevant touchpoint for B2B. Older user groups beyond youth age are active on the platform, making it interesting for B2B.

But how can YouTube sensibly complement B2B content marketing? YouTube can be employed for various purposes, like generating organic leads. Goals and synergy effects that can be achieved with YouTube marketing and particularly YouTube SEO are diverse: from acquiring new customers to increasing brand awareness and boosting traffic:

• A B2B video format, for instance, is explainer videos. These can supplement existing content to illustrate complex B2B products or services and bring them closer to the target audience.

• Customer interviews are the social media equivalent of classic case studies: Here, it is possible to reinforce a positive image of own products or services in the context of actual use. Satisfied customers simultaneously enhance the trust in one's brand.

internetwarriors – Your B2B Marketing Agency in Berlin

As a 360° B2B marketing agency headquartered in the heart of the capital, we offer you both competent consulting and operational support in all areas of B2B content marketing.
We understand B2B content marketing as a component of a holistic online marketing strategy. We guide you through all disciplines of online marketing and work closely with you to develop an effective marketing concept to reach your goals. Contact us now!