B2B Content Marketing Trends
The B2B landscape is constantly evolving. If you want to capture your target audience’s attention, you have to stay ahead of the curve. 71% of B2B marketers agree content marketing is more important than ever, yet less than 30% believe their organization's efforts are successful. How do you close that gap and give your content marketing strategy the attention it deserves?
From multi-purpose to multi-platform, we’re here to help you streamline your content marketing strategy and engage B2B audiences across channels. Whether it’s keeping content consistent or spotlighting internal thought leaders, here are six B2B trends to watch:
1) Expand your social media presence
In an era where social media reigns supreme, it's no longer enough for B2B organizations to simply have a casual presence on social platforms: the real key to success lies in actively engaging with your audience.
The data agrees, and so do industry experts. Over 89% of B2B content marketers utilize social media tools, making it the #1 content distribution method. And by leveraging social platforms effectively, you can transform them into powerful tools for brand awareness, lead generation, and customer engagement.
To maximize the power of social media, it's essential to create content that actually resonates with your target audience. Instead of taking a shot in the dark and hoping for the best, think critically about your audience and their pain points. What are their interests? What challenges do they face? And how could your product ease that strain?
Create content that answers these questions and distribute it on the platforms where your audience lives and interacts. LinkedIn, for example, offers a professional networking space where B2B organizations can connect with industry peers, share valuable insights, and establish themselves as thought leaders. By responding promptly and thoughtfully to comments, messages, and mentions, you can actively engage with potential and existing clients who are eager to engage and consume your content. This boosts your brand's visibility and credibility, generating discussions and industry conversations around your content.
2) Go all in on video marketing
As the demand for engaging and visually compelling content skyrockets, video marketing is essential. Not only does video engage B2B audiences, it enhances conversions and drives five times the engagement of other content.
Video marketing is a natural fit for B2B content because it allows you to communicate complex information in a concise, compelling way. This makes it easier to effectively convey your message and capture the attention of busy decision-makers.
Despite the high ROI and attention-grabbing potential of video marketing, the barrier to entry can seem higher than it really is. These days, you can produce presentable video content for a relatively low cost. From explainers offering a concise overview of your product to testimonials featuring satisfied customers sharing their experiences with your offerings, you can incorporate video marketing into your strategy in a variety of ways, at a variety of price points. How to reach more visitors online with the power of video marketing.
3) Increase internal thought leadership
Another way to take your content beyond the boardroom is to increase internal thought leadership and leverage the knowledge of your employees.
Thought leadership allows you to flex your intellectual muscles and demonstrate your industry expertise. And according to B2B customers, it’s extremely effective: 75% of potential buyers agree that thought leadership helps them shortlist vendors, and nearly 50% of decision makers say thought leadership has influenced them to do business with an organization.
So how can you get your employees involved?
Thought leadership is all about creating value through knowledge sharing…and who understands your business model, products, and customer base better than your own employees?
Instead of looking outward for insight, encourage and empower your team members to share their expertise with your audience. From blogs and articles to whitepapers and employee testimonial videos, internal thought leadership draws from your ranks to establish brand credibility and authority. This insider knowledge helps your employee influencers provide unique insights and perspectives, showcasing your organization's competitive solutions to complex industry challenges. And by putting a real person and a real voice behind your social media presence and promotion efforts, you humanize your brand.
4) Participate in events
From trade shows to conferences, events provide invaluable opportunities to connect with industry peers, showcase your brand, and generate leads face-to-face.
Although digital platforms have the broadest reach, nothing replaces in-person connection, and events offer a unique opportunity for businesses to engage directly with potential customers while networking with peers. The event format works particularly well for B2B since purchases often require more careful consideration and thought than B2C products, and in-person events allow customers to ask specific questions about your offerings. According to 68% of B2B marketers, live events generate the most leads.
How can your business get involved? From setting up a booth at a trade show to putting on your own event, there are a number of ways to generate buzz for your products and connect with customers via event marketing. You can further extend the reach of your event by sharing clips and quotes on social media. Capture pull quotes from speakers or live footage from the trade show floor to spark online interest.
5) Enhance authoritative storytelling
Authenticity and authority go hand in hand with B2B content marketing. By publishing authoritative content that tells a story about your brand’s success, you can build credibility and trust while showcasing your proficiency.
But what exactly is authoritative content? More often than not, it’s a case study illustrating how you solved a client’s problem and explaining how you can solve the same problem for others. These evergreen use cases can be turned into shareable stats for social or repurposed as blog posts, web pages, social posts, and more.
6) Make content easily digestible
As attention spans shrink, easily digestible content is especially critical, particularly in the B2B sphere, where products and services are often complex. By breaking down your content into bite-sized pieces and distributing them across channels, you can cut through confusion and create more opportunities to engage with your B2B audience.
Ultimately, thumb-stopping B2B content is rooted in easy-to-understand copy. It’s not just about the content itself, it’s also about how you utilize it. A comprehensive content strategy doesn’t stop at one platform. It’s all about learning how to diversify your content and then utilize it across different channels, getting the most bang for your buck.
Elevate your B2B content strategy today!
With a fresh strategy informed by current trends, content marketing can be a powerful tool for engaging your B2B audience. From healthcare to technology to finance, the experts at Zehnder distill complex topics into click-worthy content. Contact our team today to discover how we can help your business drive conversions!
