You’ve developed a beautiful logo, your brand’s voice comes across clear and strong, and you’re developing high-quality content that is regularly posted on a variety of formats. Your B2B content marketing plan indicated that you should be at the point of seeing some measurable growth, but nothing is happening.
Why does B2B content marketing often fall flat when it comes to translating to actual sales growth? Here are a few of the common mistakes that can keep your objectives from coming to fruition:
You forget that your product or service is probably not on anyone’s mind. Many marketers make the mistake of making content all about the product they sell, instead of focusing on what interests their audience. There is probably not anyone out there searching for a white paper on the benefits of your product. What they are looking for is ways to solve specific problems. Be sure that your content is serving your audience’s needs by solving a problem or addressing an issue.
B2B purchasing decisions are rarely made in a linear fashion. It’s easy to picture decision-making in an organization as having a simple path of three or four steps to a purchase. In fact, most corporate purchases more closely resemble a web, with multiple stakeholders and each at different places in the decision-making process. They may take side routes to do some research or talk to colleagues.
It’s also important to consider that there’s often a lot more at stake in a B2B purchasing decision than in a consumer decision. This may sound surprising, but depending on the type of decision, a buyer may be spending a high dollar amount, or they may feel that their career success is tied closely to their decision-making skills in company investments.
It’s important to address the problems that your potential customer is facing. If you can’t identify the pain that your buyer is experiencing, you won’t be able to tell them what your product can do to help. Talk openly about the challenges and how they can address them, without being salesy. You’ll want to include a call to action at the end of your B2B content marketing piece, but focus on the challenges that your customer is facing. That’s what they’re thinking about, after all.
At SimpliContent, we provide all the resources you need to create a successful B2B content marketing plan. To learn more about how to wisely use your marketing resources, check out our white paper on the topic, entitled, “What’s Next in Your Marketing Investment?”