Let’s face it, traditional, ‘broadcast-style’, B2B marketing is broken. Nobody cares about your brochures, ads, web banners or direct mailings any more.
While vendors used to be seen as valuable sources of information, you’re now seen as just one of thousands of sources and not a particularly reliable one at that. It’s as if you’ve got a sizzling neon sign on your head that says, Beware: hidden agenda.
The problem: we’re all buffeted by a firehose of information. By email, on the web, on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. When that happens, humans tend to send all input through a filter called What’s in it for me?. This is a filter with very small holes.
Your challenge
So the challenge is not just to deliver messages to target audiences. It’s to get through the filter and to get people to ignore the sizzling neon sign.
That’s where the most powerful weapon in the B2B arsenal comes in: thought leadership via content marketing. Here’s how we think about them:
is exploiting your position in your markets to generate valuable insight and advice on issues your customers and prospects care about.
Content marketing is turning your insight and advice into campaigns that change people’s minds and incite action.
It’s all about playing to your strengths and adding value to the sales conversation from the start. Done properly, content marketing will help you position your company as an expert; generate new leads; progress existing ones; build your database; raise awareness; and give a boost to your search engine performance.
It will also make you a better contributor to social media communities, making you a citizen instead of a leech. Finally, great content marketing gives your sales team a reason to engage with prospects instead of cold calling, which – as we all know – sucks.
You’re an expert
A lot of B2B marketers shy away from content marketing because they’re intimidated by the expertise of their target audience. But you’ve got a lot to offer when it comes to advising and sharing insights.
You live and breath this stuff. They see their own problem in this moment in time; you’ve seen the market develop.
In other words, you, and your in-house experts, aren’t just posing as experts you are experts. This expertise is your most important asset as a B2B marketer. Don’t squander it.
If you leave this article with a single thought, I hope it’s this: content marketing is the most important thing you can do as a B2B marketer. If you’re not good at it, it’s time to fix that. And if you’re good at it already, it’s time to become great.
