The Power of Content Marketing
We all know that "Content is King", yet there is a lot content out there, that isn’t valuable to anyone: neither the businesses who created it, nor their target audiences, who might not be aware of it or - even worse - find it uninteresting and not useful.
So what’s good content and is there a recipe to create it? Read it in today's newsletter
Have Fun!
edition o3 | The Power of Content Marketing
Doing content marketing properly is essential, especially in the B2B sector. As 95 % of your audience is currently not in the market to buy, providing them content that matches their needs in their current lifecycle stage, will make them remember your brand, once they are ready to buy. So connecting with them again and again along their customer journey with valuable content will support building a longterm relationship with them.
Great content also supports building a strong brand, as it fosters a positive brand image and transports your brand messages in a subtler way. Content marketing thus supports achieving your business goals, ultimately driving leads and sales.
Don’t just create content for the sake of creating it
Before you start to create content, you need a content strategy. This helps you to use your resources effectively and avoid spending time and / or budgets creating content, that isn’t useful for your target audience and thus, business goals.
What’s a content strategy and how do you develop one?
"Content strategy helps organizations provide the right content, to the right people, at the right times, for the right reasons", says Meghan Casey from the Content Marketing Institute. In order to develop it, ask yourself (and your team):
Based on your answers to those questions, brainstorm some core content tactics and formats which will be the basis to create all future content. Use multiple content formats to match the stage in which a buyer is in, for example:
And don’t only create written content - video is becoming a more important format: it’s highly engaging, a powerful means to transport complex messages in a simple way, and favored by Social Media and search engine algorithms.
A campaign example: MailChimp created a sharply targeted campaign, consisting of nine different mini campaigns to reach potential customers. It celebrated the individuality and creativity of both the company and its customers. From their mission, target audience and business goals to objectives - the company has included the answers to the content strategy questions from above as a basis to deliver a highly creative campaign.
Now, let’s create content!
Your top priority when creating content? It must be valuable and meaningful for your target audience, so that you have the chance to win clicks, establish a relationship and reach your business goals.
Remember, that you need to create content for each stage of the marketing funnel and that it should address your user’s needs and answer the questions they are asking. It should transport your marketing messages in a meaningful manner and show how your product or company ultimately makes your customer’s satisfied.
Focus on high-quality, unique content, that only you have, e.g. customer success stories, interviews or exklusive industry reports. This will make your brand unique, helps you stand out amongst your competitors and reach members of your target audience, who are outside of your existing customer base.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Spread it!
Last but not least: make people aware of your content. Share it across multiple channels, multiple times: use parts of your content to create smaller content pieces to promote it. For example repurpose some of the text for a newsletter, graphics from a white paper for LinkedIn posts or create a short cut-down from a long video for your paid campaign.
Bear in mind, that for organic posts, timing is crucial for your content’s success: you can have the best content, but it will get you no engagement if you post it at the wrong time.
But when is the best time to post?
On LinkedIn it has changed significantly. A recent Hubspot survey shows, that unlike a couple of years ago, the best time is between 12 to 3 pm, 3 to 6 pm, or 6 to 9 pm, on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, meaning that you are now able to find an engaged audience at these „outside hours“ too. Of course, your target audience might behave differently, so always monitor your KPIs and adjust your activities accordingly.
Ready to create some great content? Here’s your recipe:
Want to dive in deeper? Check out the inspiring stuff below, and become a content king!
The inspiring stuff
Before creating content, you should have a content strategy, argues Meghan Casey. Here’s how you develop one: Don’t Create ‘Cat Food’ Content Without Doing This 1 Thing First
A recent Hubspot survey has an update you should be aware of: What’s the best time to post content on LinkedIn?
How to create engaging and valuable content and types of content for different purposes: read this guide by Adriana Stein: A Guide To Long-Form Content
Is branded content marketing dead, asks Jessica Wynne Lockhart: What Ecommerce Consumers Really Want from Branded Content Marketing
Marketing isn’t about reaching everyone—it’s about reaching the right ones. Check out MailChimps creative approach to reach potential customers:
The fun stuff
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