You’ve probably heard many times that content marketing generates business results. But content marketing is a big name for a whole lotta stuff, and it’s only human to feel overwhelmed with all the options out there that go into creating content.
If you don’t have a crystal ball and you do have a budget to worry about, it might be helpful to see what’s working across the industry, and what consistently brings better results.
Seeing what one content marketer or two content marketers are doing might not be as effective, because every company is different, but seeing trends across what 771 B2B content marketers are doing might be a good place to start.
Research Reveals: The Most Effective B2B Marketing Strategies
To make things a little easier on you, I dug into the 2019 research by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs and analyzed it for you. You can watch my summary here, or read it below.
The Secret Sauce of Top Performing B2B Marketing Strategies
According to the report, the top performing B2B content marketers do the following significantly more than the least performing B2B content marketers.
According to the report, the most successful B2B content marketers work in a company that’s very – or even extremely – committed to content marketing. That means that they have their company’s back to invest in content marketing, which obviously makes their lives easier, but check out one of the reasons why this happens:
That top performers in B2B marketing have a documented content marketing strategy, and they continuously measure the return of content marketing on their investment in it, which probably helps them prove to the c-suite that, hey, this content marketing thing is working.
Which, in turn, explains why they indicated in late 2018 that they expect their budgets to increase in 2019.
One Important Person Effective B2B Marketers Never Forget
Digging deeper, 77% of the most successful B2B content marketers develop content around personas, meaning they understand exactly who they’re writing for and what this ideal customer needs from them. That’s compared with only 36% of the least effective B2B content marketers.
The top performers use content marketing to nurture audiences, as well as to build loyalty with existing customers. In fact, according to the report, “96% of the most successful B2B content marketers agree that their audience views their organization as a credible and trusted resource.”
Part of the reason they’re so successful with nurturing and trust building is that top performers always – or at least frequently – prioritize their audience’s informational needs over sales or promotional messages, explains the report.
How Effective B2B Content Marketing Professionals Research Their Audience to Set Themselves to Success in 2019
The most common research techniques among B2B marketers are feedback from their sales team, their website analytics and keyword research.
But what do the most effective B2B content marketers do better than the least effective?
They conduct primary, original research. They talk to customers – whether that’s one on one or by hosting panels – and they analyze their database.
The Most Effective B2B Marketing Strategies to Nurture Your Audience in 2019
Email is the most popular way for B2B content marketers to nurture their audiences, followed by educational content and clear calls to action for next steps.
But what differentiates the most effective B2B marketing strategies – what successful marketers do more than the least effective marketers – is mostly providing clear calls to action for the next steps, but they also relate to the audience through storytelling, and focus on building a community by encouraging audience participation.
74% of B2B content marketers are using long-form content as they head into 2019. But… is it effective?
The short answer is yes. 90% of the most effective B2B content marketers use long-form content, like in-depth articles and guides. That’s totally consistent with what I have seen in my business as well.
But 74% of the least successful content marketers also use long form content too.
So what’s the right answer?
Unfortunately, there’s no over-compassing right answer, but you can totally help long form content help you.
Remember, 77% of the most successful B2B content marketers develop content specifically around personas, meaning they understand exactly who they’re writing for and what this ideal customer needs from them. That’s compared with only 36% of the least effective B2B content marketers.
Also, if you recall, successful B2B content marketers prioritize their audience’s informational needs over sales messages. That’s 90% of the most effective B2B content marketers.
Only 56% of the least successful marketers prioritize their audience’s informational needs when developing content.
So it’s about the type of content and the quality of content, and knowing who you’re writing for and what this person needs from you – first and foremost – and only then can you go deep and develop long form content that actually builds the relationship and trust with your audience, and potentially even converts them into subscribers and paying customers.
Word Count Aside, What TYPE of Content is Most Effective for B2B Marketing?
The report included some stats from an earlier 2018 Content Marketing Institute study about the most effective types of content per stage in the buyer’s journey.
Blog posts and articles were rated the most effective types of content for the early stage, when you raise awareness and interest. White papers work best in the middle – during the consideration stage.
And What Type of Content Closes the Deal?
For the stage of provider evaluation and final purchase decision, the B2B marketers in the study said that case studies are the most effective type of content.
And since case studies consistently rank in industry studies as one of the top 3 or top 5 most effective strategies – and they’re one of my favorite topics in the world – I’ve prepared a bunch of tops and strategies to help you get better results with case studies, so make sure you subscribe to this blog, because I’ll start publishing them in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, check out this roundup with 21 case study marketing success stories, where 21 experts from across the world – including marketers who market to marketers, a former Facebook and White House executive, and one of BBC’s top 100 women – shared the creative strategies they use to leverage their organizations’ success for greater growth (no opt in required).
