Question: how do you define successful B2B content marketing?
Is it the number of shares? Associated pipeline value? Closed business?
It could be a combination of all three. But if there’s one thing I believe, it’s that before you can measure any of those KPI’s, you need to examine what value your content is providing. How is it helping your customers?
CEO of Marketing Insider Group Michael Brenner has some great insight as to how content marketing produces ROI. I had the chance to speak with Michael about the future of B2B content marketing, and how B2B enterprises can shape their content strategy.
1. How would you describe the current state of B2B content marketing?
The state of B2B Marketing is strong. The changes that our digital world have brought upon marketing is pretty massive, and I think now we’re starting to see it being truly embraced by business marketers. We’ve learned that buyers don’t want interruptive ads and product promotion. We’ve come to realize that buyers are actually people – at least most of them 😉
B2B Marketers are also realizing the potential of marketing as a strategic asset to the business. CMOs are taking a seat at the leadership table in many organizations and largely putting our tactical collateral creation, and direct marketing days behind us.
Advances such as marketing automation, content marketing, analytics and technology overall are helping us to understand what really works: truly customer-centric (not sales-centric) approaches.
But we still understand the importance of driving leads for our sales colleagues, and we’re using customer insights, data and analytics to create compelling content that attracts buyers at the earliest stages, with helpful content, instead of trying to buy their attention or interrupt their buying journey.
2. From single-handedly building an award-winning B2B content marketing program at SAP to starting your own consultancy, Marketing Insider Group, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered in B2B content marketing?
The biggest challenge in B2B content marketing is culture. It’s the natural instinct of the business, from CEOs to sales leaders to product engineers, to use marketing vehicles to promote who we are, what we sell, and why we are better.
But buyers are too smart for these promotional messages. They educate themselves from the start of the buyer journey until very late in the buying process.
So B2B Content Marketers have to push back on this natural tendency to promote the brand and its products. This kind of cultural environment is tough and doesn’t exist in a great many businesses.
3. How does B2B content marketing differ from other forms of content marketing?
The biggest difference between B2B and most consumer products is the role of education in the B2B buyer journey. There are more people involved, there is much more complexity in the buying journey, it takes a lot longer, the costs are higher, and so is the risk.
So the challenge in B2B is making sure you are creating content right at the start of the buyer journey, and all the way through. Most businesses have massive gaps in early-stage, educational content. I tell my clients that I have never seen a brand go too far up the funnel in creating content. But whether you are a fashion brand or a B2B technology company, the general process is the same:
- Identify the questions your customers are asking at each stage of their journey
- Research the topics and the types of content they read and share
- Commit to answering those questions in the formats they prefer
4. Having developed numerous B2B content marketing programs before, what advice would you give to those just starting out?
My advice is to think of B2B content marketing as just an extension of the business. It doesn’t have to be hard or expensive. But it does require a commitment to sharing your expertise as a company with your customers in a helpful way.
This requires executive support. It requires recruiting the experts across the organization and convincing them to share their insights. But it only takes a small amount of time from a large group of people. And that can turn into massive results for the business.
5. What do you think B2B content marketing will look like in the next 5-10 years?
I think in 5-10 years we will see B2B content marketing at the center of the business. Employees in every function will be participating. From sales to customer support, to executives in every function. I have often said that HR is the new Marketing. Because what I see is that every employee has something to share, something that has real meaning for them, and this can create tremendous impact.
Younger professionals and the kids growing up today understand how to tell and share stories online in an almost continuous fashion. As they enter the workforce, marketing will become an extension of everyone in the business. How awesome will that be?
Michael Brenner is CEO of Marketing Insider Group, co-author of the best-selling book The Content Formula, and one of the leading voices in Marketing today. Follow Michael on Twitter (@BrennerMichael) and connect with him on LinkedIn.
