Content marketing in B2B
What definition can we give to B2B content marketing? In B2C marketing, offering content to the general public is a luxury or marketing gimmick, admittedly powerful and increasingly common, but it may not be vital. In B2B, it’s exactly the opposite: explaining one’s vision, work philosophy, market approach, methods and implementation secrets in websites, booklets, Webzines, newsletters, WebTV, etc. is a must.
Content Marketing in B2B
Digital communication has made this work much more powerful by combining it with lead generation techniques. Professionals, always looking for solutions to their business problems, are in fact drinking in specialized information. It is essential for them to feed themselves with it and the Internet is, in B2B as well as in B2C, the playground of choice for “content marketing”.
B2B content comes in multiple formats, as SEMRush reminds us:
The different types of content – © SEMRush
Definition and limitations of theoretical approaches to Business to Business content marketing
Content production, like any marketing activity, takes time. It is therefore necessary to plan the organization, the financial and human resources to provide the planned content elements.
Beyond the means as such, it is necessary to plan its production. This requires the creation of an editorial schedule where all tasks are assigned. If the internal employees do not have the time, it is necessary to plan the use of internal resources (see previous point).
Content marketing is a long-term strategy. The results are never immediate. They imply a good referencing (SEO), relevant contents, an effective promotion, well designed landing pages… All these elements cannot be improvised overnight and take time to set up.
B2B content marketing trends and innovations
Podcasts are on the rise.
In France, 6.6% of Internet users download at least one podcast per month, according to the Mediamétrie “Global Audio” study released in March 2019.
Among French podcast listeners, the CSP+ are largely over-represented (49% vs 30% of Internet users). On average, podcasters download 16.9 podcasts per month.
Listening to these podcasts is a recent practice for nearly a quarter of respondents, a sign that this market is experiencing real momentum (Source: Mediamétrie study – Podcast listening – April 2018).
That’s why Visionary Marketing has launched its own podcast channel, on its site. It features interviews, analysis, anecdotes, about marketing, innovation, technology.
Another strong trend that has emerged in recent years involves writing long articles.
While the standard length of an article is around 1,000 words, a long article is usually around 2,500 words. Long articles allow you to go really deep into a given topic. And that’s what most BtoB readers are looking for. The long article also allows you to insert videos, infographics, tables, etc.
Tools and methods
To be sure to cover the entire content marketing production chain, here is a selection of tools:
- Watch and curation: Google Alerts, Feedly, Scoop-it
- SEO: Google Search Console, SEMRush, ahrefs
- Content Creation: WordPress, Canva, Picktochart
- Content distribution: Hootsuite, Buffer, Mailchimp
- Reporting: Google Analytics, HubSpot, reportingsocial networks (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin..)
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Yann Gourvennec a créé visionarymarketing.com en 1996. Il est conférencier et auteur de 6 livres. En 2014, il est passé d'intrapreneur à entrepreneur en créant son agence de marketing numérique.
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