What is B2B Content Marketing?

Other businesses have a problem. Your business has the solution. Sounds like a simple match, doesn't it?

And yet, it's a little more challenging than it seems.

The truth is, although it can be difficult to figure out on your own, B2B content marketing is great a way to generate leads. If you don't know exactly what "B2B content marketing" means, it's simply the when B2B brands create content resources that bring value to their potential customers.

Another way to look at it? If you can imagine the business world as a giant trade show, your content is the cool swag that lures visitors over to check out your booth. The more value your content brings to your audience, the more likely your audience is going to seek out your content and, hopefully, start doing business with you.

How do you start building a B2B content marketing strategy?

The most important aspect of B2B content marketing is to understand your target audience. You should be able to answer the following questions before you even begin to think about creating content:

What problems and challenges does your target audience face?
What is your target audience most passionate about?
How does your target audience interact and share content (such as via forums, social media, or email)?
How do you plan to engage with audience members as you convert them into leads?

Understanding your target market will help you choose content topics that will resonate with your audience and bring value to the interaction. The more value you’re able to bring to the interaction, the better chance you have of potentially converting your audience into leads. And, bringing in new leads is what B2B content marketing is all about.

What types of content should you produce?

While written content still has its place in SEO, the most valuable B2B content for your audience is rich media content, such as videos and podcasts.

Though it may take more energy for you to produce, videos and podcasts require less time and energy from your audience. Since your audience is made up of business professionals, you can assume they're busy and want access to information quickly and efficiently.

For example, if you’re targeting C-level executives, you’re not likely to reach your target with a newsletter or blog post. However, a podcast series they can enjoy regularly on their daily commute is a great way to grab their attention without interrupting their day.

How do you distribute B2B rich media content?

B2B rich media content relies on a combination of SEO and organic sharing within business networks.

SEO for rich media content involves optimizing video and podcast titles, descriptions, notes, and closed captions so they can be indexed by Google and YouTube.

To see your rich media podcast shared within business networks, consider bringing in video podcast guests with audiences of their own. These guests could be thought leaders in your industry, or even just business leaders that know about the issues and challenges that affect your target market.

When you use this approach, guests will usually share their video and podcast episode appearances with their own networks, giving you an opportunity to take advantage of cross-marketing between your own audience and your guest’s audience. Cross promotion is an excellent way to not only expand your audience organically, but to create additional opportunities to nurture (and eventually convert) new leads.