Lead generation is a top goal of B2B technology providers, and content marketing is vital to driving more leads, visibility, and sales opportunities for enterprises in the field. Generating and nurturing tech buyer leads for each stage of the sales funnel is essential to the success of a B2B technology provider — whether a startup, established brand, SaaS company, IoT servicer or more.
In fact, in the quest for better quality leads, technology providers are allocating close to one-third of their total budgets to content marketing, up from 25% in 2015, per the Content Marketing Institute (CMI). Yet, the CMI also noted in its sixth annual report, 62% say their greatest challenge is creating engaging content.
To that end, we offer six essential D’s to generate leads by effectively employing content marketing in the B2B technology space.
Develop an editorial mission statement.
Just as a mission statement can guide company actions, the editorial statement can focus and direct content development. A well-honed editorial statement will help identify audience and align publishing (across platforms) with a singular goal. Taking the time to develop this tool can help lead generation efforts as all the content creators will share the same foundation.
Document your content strategy.
A well-defined strategy aligned with the brand’s core objectives can help define goals and allocate resources. With attention paid in advance to leads’ needs, challenges and desires, and a clear understanding of the solution offered by your company, you can better craft content around a clear value proposition that resonates.
MOZ: https://imgur.com/Jm1mjEl
“A documented content marketing strategy influences overall effectiveness: 57% of the most effective technology content marketers have a documented strategy. By comparison, only 10% of the least effective have a documented strategy.” — CMI, 2016 B2B Technology Trends report.
Determine success metrics.
Ongoing optimization is critical for technology marketing. Using A/B testing and regularly consulting tools such as Google Analytics, Optimizely, and Hubspot, can help the technology provider better understand how users are engaging with the brand and what is drawing more leads and better conversion rates.
Differentiate for each platform.
Join the technology marketers using six different social media platforms on average per the CMI. After identifying the most appropriate channels for your industry, be sure to differentiate for each audience. For instance, a LinkedIn post should not be interchangeable with one for Twitter or Tumblr. Some platforms may be better suited for top of the funnel content (such as guides or infographics), whereas more targeted, professional platforms, like Linkedin, may be better suited for vendor comparisons, whitepapers, or technical deep dives.
Plus, there’s actually another “D” under this idea — don’t ignore social media. B2B technology leaders and C-suite executives are online and using social media to support their purchase decisions too.
Design with user experience in mind. Your content must be accessible and have impact.
Potential leads interact day-to-day with the brand’s website and its landing pages. It’s important that these look good. Yet, design is more than aesthetics. Focus too on enhancing user experience and adapting the site and landing pages to more clearly drive the leads’ actions and decision-making.
Don’t overlook mobile responsiveness, either. Mobile users have different needs, and more and more decision-makers are engaging with your content on mobile devices every day.
Communicate the goals of your content marketing program.
Whether this is virtually, or face-to-face, meet regularly to address the goals, progress and results of content marketing initiatives. The more effective B2B tech marketers in the CMI study met either weekly or daily.
Of course, these meetings are only useful if they have value. Meeting for the sake of being able to say you’ve met, won’t make a difference. Know that lead generation demands consistent, careful consideration and optimization of the marketing program.
Sources
Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs (2016, March). B2B Technology Content Marketing 2016: Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends— North America.
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads 2016/03/2016_TechnologyReport_FINAL.pdf
MOZ: Whiteboard Fridays - https://imgur.com/Jm1mjEl
MarketingCharts.com - https://www.marketingcharts.com/traditional/b2b-tech-content-marketing-which-content-when-67722/
B2B Marketing and Growth Agency.
Grow your B2B business boldly. Ironpaper is a B2B marketing agency. We build growth engines for marketing and sales success. We drive demand generation campaigns, ABM programs, B2B content, sales enablement, qualified leads, and B2B marketing efforts.
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