What is B2B Content Marketing?

Are you looking for a new way to market your business to potential customers? B2B content marketing may be the solution you’re looking for. It focuses on creating and distributing texts, videos, and audio to a target audience to generate leads and drive sales.

This type of marketing is popular — according to the Content Marketing Institute, 93% of marketers plan to develop a content marketing strategy in 2023. The strategy can include blog posts, eBooks, white papers, case studies, webinars, and more. They should be tailored to the target audience and be educational, informative, and entertaining to encourage engagement and lead generation.

When creating content for B2B marketing, it’s important to consider the following:

• Identify your target audience. Who is interested in what you offer, and what content would they want?
• What is their phase of the sales funnel? Are they just starting to learn about your product and service, or are they further along in the sales process?
• Strive for high quality. Make sure your texts and videos are well-made, accurate, and engaging.
  

• Promote your content. Use social media, email, and other channels to reach your target audience.
• Measure and analyze. Do it with each piece to determine what your target audience is most interested in. Remember that attribution is a complex topic, and don’t expect immediate action.
• Adapt and be flexible. Use what is appropriate for each sales pipeline stage. 
  • Educational texts, videos, and audios provide valuable information and help build relationships in the early stages.
  • Marketing content highlights the value of your products and services as prospects move through the sales process.
  • Personalized texts, images, etc., demonstrate a deep understanding of the customer’s needs.
  • Social proof, such as testimonials and case studies, is a great way to build trust and credibility.

This blog post will further explore which type of content is best suited for each B2B sales pipeline stage.

Overview of the B2B Sales Pipeline

The B2B sales pipeline consists of a series of stages, from attracting a new prospect to a sale and to increasing client loyalty.

1. Lead generation involves identifying promising prospects and generating interest in your product or service. Businesses can do it through email campaigns, cold calling, and advertising.
2. Qualification involves determining whether a lead is likely to make a purchase. This can involve assessing the prospect’s budget, timeline, and other factors. There are, for example, leads qualified by the marketing department and those qualified by the sales team.
3. Assessment is about understanding the customer’s needs, wants, and goals. 
4. The proposal outlines the product or service that you’re offering, as well as its benefits. It normally includes pricing, delivery times, and other terms and conditions.
5. While negotiating, you determine the deal's price, volume, etc. You’ll also need to handle any objections that the customer might have.
6. After closing the deal, it's important to ensure that the customer is satisfied with the product or service.
7. Maintain your relationship with the customer, providing excellent service and keeping them updated on new products.

Pre-purchase content

Pre-purchase content is designed to inform potential buyers of a product or service before they make a purchase decision. It can come in many forms, including blog posts, webinars, white papers, case studies, and even live Q&A sessions. Make sure it helps potential buyers understand the features and benefits of a product or service.

The key is to make successful pre-purchase content targeted, relevant, and informative. It should offer value beyond just features and benefits, and explain how the product or service solves a customer’s problem and why it’s the best solution for them. 

Ensuring that content for the pre-purchase stages is easy to find and understand is essential. It should be organized in a logical, clear manner and should be written in plain language. Visuals like diagrams and infographics can also help present complex ideas.

Finally, include a call to action. Make sure it’s easy for customers to take the next step, such as scheduling a demo, downloading a whitepaper, or requesting a quote.

The pre-purchase, awareness-building types of B2B content 

• Blog posts
• Guest blogging
• Webinars
• White papers
• Case studies
• Live Q&A sessions
• Exhibitions
• Trade shows
• Social media 
• Infographics
• eBooks
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Email campaigns, and more.

Mid-funnel content

Mid-funnel content is designed to provide potential customers who have shown interest in your brand with additional information to help them decide. It can also engage them with your brand further, increase their trust in your company, and make them more likely to convert.

So, here are a few ideas about what you need mid-pipeline:

1. Case studies are a great way to show potential customers how what you offer has helped other companies reach their goals. Include key details about the products or services used, the challenges the customer faced, and the results they achieved.
2. Demo videos can be a great way to show prospects how a complex product works or complex service is rendered. You can also use them to show the features and benefits of what you offer.
3. Comparisons (for instance, a graphic) can be a great way to highlight key differences between your offer and a competitor’s.
4. White papers can be a great way to provide potential customers with the information they need to make an informed decision If you’re selling a product or a service that requires a more thorough explanation.
5. Guides are excellent for a product or service that needs more hand-holding than usual.

Create content for each lead to illustrate you understand their business and that you care: by profiling customers and demonstrating the value you bring for their specific business, you can further build trust, credibility and loyalty.

If you think that’s way too much content to create, that is no longer the case. With recent advances in content creation, such as AI-powered content tools and content management systems, it’s easier than ever to create high-quality, targeted content for each stage of the buyer’s journey, for each prospect. Contact us at Intentful to discuss content creation needs for your sales and B2B marketing teams.

Post-purchase content

When it comes to B2B marketing, post-purchase content is key for customer loyalty and satisfaction. Studies have shown that existing customers are more likely to buy than new prospects and that converting someone new costs five times more than retaining those who have already bought something.

Investing in post-purchase content creates an opportunity to keep people interested in your brand and increase the likelihood of them returning to make a purchase. 

Here are some examples of what you can use to retain customers:

• Onboarding content is designed to help customers understand and get the most out of their purchase. It can include video tutorials, user guides, FAQs, and more.
• Product updates: emails about new features or updates, blog posts about changes, and more.
• Customer support can include webinars, help center articles, and feedback surveys.
• Social media are an essential channel to show off new products, answer customer questions, or promote special offers.
• Reward programs are a great way to encourage repeat purchases. 

We at Intentful offer artificial intelligence content for B2B marketing. Intentful’s intuitive AI platform makes it easy to generate blog posts, email campaigns, social media pieces, and so much more in minutes — and all that is engaging and on-brand. You can read more about how AI changes content creation these days here.

Intentful offers three delivery options to meet your needs:

• Have Intentful deliver texts turnkey. You review and approve them. 
• Alternatively, we can create an Intentful AI platform instance for you, allowing you to produce texts in-house. 
• A hybrid model is also available. You can do some of the work in-house and some with Intentful’s assistance. 
  

Whichever option you choose, Intentful has the tools and resources to help you meet your content goals.

Intentful can train AI models on existing client articles, blog posts, and any other non-client texts you want your AI model to know. This enables you to create a comprehensive AI model tailored to your needs. 

We are here to answer any questions about our services and provide guidance on using our platform with the utmost efficiency. Contact us.