How to do B2B content marketing the right way (with 5 examples)

Here we are over two decades into the 2000s, but there is still bad B2B content marketing.

Digital content marketing has been around for at least 10 years, but some companies still make elementary mistakes that destroy their potential for results.

It’s a shame because most content marketers (71%) will tell you that the content has only become Moreover important over time.

Most buyers ignore ads easily and actively search for content to help them make purchasing decisions (70% of buyers read at least 3-5 pieces of content before talking to a seller).

In truth, companies that do B2B content marketing well have a huge competitive advantage.

So what does the right way look like?

Let’s explore both sides of the coin so you can see exactly how to do content marketing right.

First: the wrong way to do B2B content marketing

The only way to learn the right way to do content marketing is to understand the wrong way, first. Here are six major no-nos.

1. Not creating a content marketing strategy

This is the biggest sin of content marketing.

If you lack a strategy, you cannot expect consistent results. (A content strategy is a plan that maps out how you will create, publish, distribute, and promote content to grow your brand.)

Sure, one of your shots could land. Maybe you’ll create an attention-grabbing blog post. Perhaps your website traffic will increase for a week. Perhaps you will gain leads.

But this will mostly depend on luck. And it won’t last because you won’t have a plan in place that keeps your content consistent in terms of quality, frequency, look/feel, and impact.

You need more than luck if you expect your content marketing to help grow your business over time. You need an action plan. You need to create content from a place where you anticipate and meet user needs.

To be effective in the long run, content marketing cannot be reactive or ad hoc. Instead, it must be proactive and strategic.

If content marketing is the vehicle, then content strategy is the engine. You can’t run down the road to results without it.

2. Not focusing on your target audience and customers

Many businesses start with content marketing by thinking about themselves first. What could they share? They brainstorm topics based on what’s important to them and what they know.

Terrible mistake.

What they don’t understand: Your content should never be inward-focused. It doesn’t matter what you want or what the brand wants.

The key step is to turn outward. What does the public want? What is important to them? How does this intersect with what you sell?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, this is a big problem that you can only fix audience research – especially by talking directly to your potential customers.

Unfortunately, most businesses make the mistake of don’t talk to their customers:

You have a completely different set of concerns and needs than your audience. You can’t expect to understand their perspective out of the way. This is a guess.

Bottom line: Don’t rely on your own assumptions about your audience. Don’t guess what’s important to them. And don’t make the mistake of writing only about what matters to you when creating content.

3. Selling versus helping

Imagine this scenario:

You have a question that only Google can answer. You consult the search engine. The best result looks promising as it might have the exact information you need. Click.

You can’t read past the title because your screen is immediately engulfed in a pop-up asking you to subscribe. « But I haven’t read anything yet! » think to yourself.

You click out of the pop-up and start scrolling, but there’s a banner ad below the first paragraph, and in the next section, the company awkwardly switches to talking about itself and its service.

Where is the information you were promised?

« That sucks, » you think. Click on the « X ».

This is a great example of selling versus helping with content – ​​a big no-no.

Remember, readers don’t come to your content to read a sales pitch. They seek information: answers, advice, facts, help, data.

Giving them what they need is one of the main ways to build trust with them, which will lead to more earnings if you consistently do it over and over again.

Content marketing is never about selling. Regard help above all.

4. Don’t promote your content

If you publish a blog and don’t promote it, does it really exist?

No. Because that blog will have no traffic if nobody knows about it. And content with zero traffic is worthless.

You need people to read your content to see the benefits of content marketing. And you’ll have a much better chance of that happening if you promote it.

This doesn’t have to be fancy. Post it on social media. Send an email to notify your subscribers.

Never post something only to let it rot on your website. Make sure people know it’s there so they can read it, use it, love it, and ultimately get closer to your brand because of it.

5. Not optimizing your content for search

You can’t do content marketing without SEO. And you can’t do SEO without content marketing.

They work together symbiotically in a beautiful balance.

This also means that trying to do one without the other is asking for failure.

Let’s put it like this:

• Good content is helpful, solves problems, and builds trust with your potential customers.
• Good SEO ensures that people searching for your keywords can discover your content in search engines.
• Following SEO rules it also improves the quality of your content and the user experience on your website.

If you plan to do B2B content marketing, don’t leave home without SEO and well-optimized content.

6. Expect instant results

One of the biggest mistakes you can make with B2B content marketing is giving up too soon.

On average, it can take six months to a year to start seeing results.

This time frame will vary depending on the size of your business, your goals and your strategy. But either way, content marketing doesn’t work overnight or instantly.

It’s a slow burn to success. But once you start seeing results, they should composed over time.

This is because the great content you posted a week ago, a month ago, and a year ago will continue to bring in traffic and leads long after its initial publication date. As long as you are strategic, your B2B content marketing will be sustainable.

But you have to be patient to wait for the ROI (return on investment) to start appearing.

The right way to do B2B content marketing: 5 examples

B2B content marketing done right looks like these five examples. Study these brands and their contents to see the light.

Giving people what they want: grammatically

Grammarly knows its audience and creates blog topics that match the questions they’re asking on Google.

This means that the brand is Not creating posts like « the best editing app for your business » or « why you need an editing app ».

For example, this blog about how to write collaboratively speak to professionals and students, Grammarly’s target audience. This is one topic they actually struggle with, especially in our world of remote working and Zoom meetings.

Grammarly also creates content to answer common grammar questions people search for, like « when to use over vs. more than » or « when to use who vs. who. » Grammarly is outwardly focused on what its target audience needs and wants from its content.

Consistency Matters: Orbit Media

A regular cadence of outgoing content on your blog is important for consistency, but so is updating old content so it stays fresh and relevant.

Orbit Media does it right with theirs blog surveywhich they update every year with new data and insights.

Please note that this is also a full update. They’ve resubmitted the survey, collected and compiled the responses, and analyzed them for insights every year since 2014. Then they rewrite the post and update the artwork. It is now consistent.

Winning at Optimization: Zapier

To see a winning combination of content + SEO, watch Zapier.

Zapier makes automation software, but they rank for terms like « best to-do lists » and « AI image generator. » As? Why?

Zapier integrates with apps like these. This is how they create relevant content for seemingly random keywords.

However, the bottom line is that it works: the company ranks high for these keywords and generates nearly 1 million monthly traffic, as this topic of study Shows.

Helping versus Selling: LendingClub

LendingClub offers clients personal and business loans, banking and investment services. They blog content is a great example of help versus sell.

The emphasis is on education, and when services are mentioned, it is unobtrusive and relevant to the topic being discussed.

A giant of B2B content marketing: HubSpot

HubSpot is a giant in their industry for many reasons, but one of the main ones is their content marketing.

With a large, robust, and consistent blog that produces high-quality, targeted content, as well as a strategy that garners subscribers and drives with « content updates, » it’s no wonder this brand attracts over six million people to its website every year. (This Sumo relationship shows just how staggering HubSpot’s success is.)

It’s time to do B2B content marketing the right way

If you want to see the kinds of results enjoyed by top B2B brands doing content marketing, know that it’s not out of reach.

What do you have to do, above all?

To commit.

Content marketing requires first-rate commitment to work.

You need to be committed to a strategy, committed to your audience, committed to quality, and committed to being patient while you wait for ROI.

But it’s worth the effort because content marketing is profitable, affordable, sustainable, and what customers want to see from brands.

You just have to do it right.