B2B content marketing is a crucial part of any company’s marketing strategy. It has the power to attract new customers, expand current relationships, and increase revenue. Those are all reasons why B2B content marketing agencies are in high demand these days.
There is more than one B2B content marketing agency out there that will gladly take your money if you don’t know what to look for when choosing one. In this article we’ll discuss how B2B content marketing can help grow your business and how to choose a B2B content marketing agency that will be right for you.
What is B2B content marketing?
B2B content marketing is an approach to developing and distributing valuable, relevant, consistent, and engaging information (content) that educates your target audience about the problems you solve. The idea of B2B content marketing is finding ways to get people talking about your brand online in a way that’s helpful for them instead of selling to them.
The “content” part of content marketing is extremely important. Why? Because content is the foundation of all your online marketing efforts, from social media to email campaigns and beyond. Content fuels your search engine optimization (SEO), forms relationships with influencers, builds trust among potential leads, converts prospects into customers, and so much more.
Why is content marketing important?
Content marketing has proven to be an effective means of gaining traffic, increasing awareness, building trust and engagement with your target audience. Content Marketing Institute reported that content marketers who blogged produced 96% more content (blog posts) than those who didn’t.
They also found that companies which published 11-50 blog posts per month acquired nearly five times as many leads as those companies which published 0-11.
Those are just statistics; content marketing is growing in popularity because it’s an effective way to build meaningful relationships with your audience.
Content Marketing Institute also found that, “B2B marketers who blogged acquired nearly three times as many leads per month than those who didn’t; they averaged 25 qualified opportunities each month compared with just 12 for non-bloggers.”
That means content marketing can help your business generate 25 more qualified leads each month, which should equate to at least an extra $1500 per lead. That’s not all; content marketers have reported that the average revenue generated from a customer is six times higher than what was invested in content creation and distribution.
How many B2B companies use content marketing?
According to Content Marketing Institute content marketing has become mainstream in B2B companies. A survey they conducted reported that 66% of all companies are doing content marketing, 81% of the most successful B2B marketers report content as an important part of their strategy and almost half (44%) say it’s “mission critical.”
Those that do content marketing are seeing results. A content marketer at SAS reported that content marketers increased content traffic by more than 100% in one year, enabled the company to have a top-three brand ranking with an industry trade publication and drove nearly 400 qualified leads per month.
Another B2B content marketing agency reported that content helps them to increase organic traffic by 500% and social media referrals have increased by 700%.
You can find countless content marketing success stories from content marketers who have been able to increase traffic, social media engagement and downloads, but content marketing doesn’t just help increase those metrics.
Should B2B companies invest in content marketing?
Yes! If content marketing is already working for you and your company, then why not invest even more money in it to make sure that the content will keep getting better. Investing in content marketing can drive traffic and leads to any business while also building trust with customers on a deeper level than traditional sales tactics like cold calling or email blasts ever could.
In a Content Marketing Institute survey, 73% of marketers reported that content has had a positive effect on their business’ bottom line. Some companies even report seeing an ROI as high as 50%. Yes, content can really change the way your company does things and improve the results you’re getting from all other parts of your marketing strategy.
Not only does content marketing improve your business’ bottom line but it can also help you save money in other areas of your company. For example, content marketing is much cheaper than sending out cold emails or buying an email list which are both tactics that companies often use to try and sell their products/services.
How a B2B business should look at content marketing?
When it comes to content marketing, what often matters most is not where you are today but where you want to be tomorrow. Content Marketing Institute found that content marketers who have a documented content strategy generate nearly three times as much traffic as those companies without one.
If your business is already looking for ways to grow and attract new customers then investing in content marketing will be the best decision you ever made.
For B2B businesses it’s even more important to invest in content marketing. That’s because content marketing helps businesses create trust that leads to sales, which is much more difficult for B2B companies than it is for consumer brands. Content Marketing Institute said “Content marketers selling business products and services must earn their prospects’ attention by establishing expertise, thought leadership or industry relevancy.”
Unlike B2C content marketing for B2B is not about selling the next shiny thing. Rather, it’s about educating your customers and prospects on how to overcome their problems with you as a solution.
The bottom line: when done right content marketing can help you acquire new leads at lower costs than traditional channels like advertising or public relations while also attracting higher quality leads than those found on social media.
And remember, content marketing isn’t just producing content…it’s about building an audience who trusts you enough to do business with your company. That can only happen when content is valuable and provides real value for the reader. By investing in content that educates people without selling them at every turn your content will build trust and eventually you’ll attract new leads.
How do you write B2B content of marketing?
At the end of the day, it all comes down to one thing: providing value. You should always look for opportunities to help your readers and deliver information that is valuable and helpful instead of focusing on selling a product or service you provide. Not many B2B content marketers do this as well as they should because their main focus is getting someone to buy something.
One way to provide value with B2B blog posts is to share your knowledge and expertise about a specific topic. This can be done by writing an eBook, white paper or even hosting a webinar which all work great for BPI (Business Performance Improvement).
Everything you produce should be aimed at helping your readers get a better understanding of their situation and how to improve it. The key word here is “better” because you don’t want them to simply understand the problem but rather solve it by working with your company.
Even though you are in the B2B content marketing business, you should never forget that at the end of the day it’s still all about people. As Dan Kennedy said: “Success in direct marketing is based on one thing … whether or not you personally like and trust each other enough to do business together.”
What does a B2B marketing agency do?
A B2B content marketing agency is responsible for creating and managing content to be placed on your blog, website or across social media channels. They also help you get more traffic by developing online strategies that increase the visibility of your business in search results pages (SEO). A B2B content marketing agency will oversee all aspects of digital marketing including SEO, paid advertising, social media, email marketing and content.
They will also help you with your overall digital marketing strategy and measure results to see if what they’re doing is working. They will use analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Moz or Hubspot to track metrics like traffic levels, social media engagement, sales conversions etc. that will let them know the effectiveness of their efforts.
A B2B content marketing agency should also be able to help you generate more leads and sales. After all, that’s why most businesses invest in content marketing as a means of driving traffic to their website or increasing awareness about who they are and what they do.
How do I vet a content marketing agency?
You can start by looking at their blog. Do they post multiple times per week or even every day? If it’s not frequently, then you know that this B2B content marketing agency isn’t serious about delivering quality content to your business.
Another thing you should look for is how well their blog is doing in Google search results. If it’s ranking for competitive keywords then that means they are doing a great job delivering content to your target audience and putting you on the map online.
In order to pick the right B2B content marketing agency for your business, you should choose one that understands the importance of creating quality content and how it can help to grow a company. The best B2B content marketing agencies will always focus on delivering valuable information that will ultimately lead someone through a sales funnel. They’ll also understand what drives engagement in today’s online world so they know exactly.
You should also consider the following when deciding whether to hire a B2B Content Marketing Agency:
1. What is the agency’s business model and how can it help you?
The first thing to consider when looking for a B2B content marketing agency is what business model they use. This will affect the services you can expect from them and their prices. In B2B content marketing, the common models are:
- Inbound B2B content marketing agencies – where B2B companies invest in high quality B2B content to attract high value B2B prospects and grow a B2B audience organically.
- Outbound B2B content marketing agencies – where B2B companies partner with B2C or B2B publishers to distribute highly targeted B2B content for free to their subscribers which then converts into highly targeted leads for the B2B company’s pipeline as B2B leads.
2. How do they measure success, and what guarantees are there that your content marketing will be successful?
The B2B content marketing services that you receive should be measurable. If the B2B content marketing agency says they can grow your organic traffic or leads, then make sure to ask them for specific numbers and how exactly it will be done. Ask if their strategies are scalable as well so you know what’s coming down the line when expanding your B2B content marketing efforts.
3. Is their team qualified to write your blog posts or develop a social media strategy for you?
The B2B content marketing agency you choose should have a team of professionals who are experts in B2B writing. You need to be confident that the blog posts they create for your business will not only look good, but also attract B2B leads and customers. If you’re looking to expand into social media then you should ask them whether or not they have social media managers. If so, what are their qualifications? Do they have B2B writing experience within the industry being discussed? Have they done it before for other B2B companies in your niche?
4. Do they have an in-house SEO expert who can optimize your website for search engine traffic?
A B2B marketing agency should be able to show you that they have a solid knowledge of SEO, and an in house B2B content marketer with experience writing for websites. They should also know how to increase your search engine visibility through onsite optimization, including using focus keywords which can help your site rank higher when B2B customers are searching for your products or services.
5. Will they assist with email marketing strategies like lead nurturing campaigns or drip campaigns?
A B2B content marketing agency should be able to help you with your email list and offer B2B leads. They can also provide you with a drip campaign, which is where customers receive regular emails about the topic they signed up for, until they reach the point of conversion (whether that’s an eBook or sale).
6. Does the company offer any free trial periods so you can see if their services are right for you before committing to them long-term?
Finally, B2B content marketers should offer a free trial or sample before you commit to working with them. They need to show that they have the skills and expertise needed in order for your B2B company to succeed with content marketing. This is important so you know what exactly you’re getting from the B2B content marketing agency when signing up long-term.
Where should you start?
B2B content marketing is a powerful strategy for B2B companies looking to grow their business and find more customers. It can be tough, however, because you’re not selling to an individual like in B2C marketing – your prospects need relevant information before they will buy from you.
That’s why it’s important that when choosing a B2B content marketing agency, you look at three things: the model of B2B content marketing they use; how do they measure success (and what guarantees are there?); and does their team have qualifications needed to get your B2B company succeed with content marketing?
If these questions sound intimidating or if you want help enacting these principles into reality, let us know! Our experts are ready to help your B2B company get the content marketing strategy it needs to succeed.