In a recent report I read, it stated that B2B content is no longer king. The newly crowned king is context. Apparently, in order to generate the best results from B2B content marketing, you need to first study and digest the behaviour of your buyers. For example, what are they talking about on social media? What types of posts do they share? Which media sites do they get their information from? Only once you have this information can you start to segment your target audience into smaller groups and then write content specifically for each group.

Ok, now put your hands up if you didn’t already know this.

What this report refers to as ‘context’ is what savvy marketers call ‘research and insight’. And, it should be so ingrained in every piece of content that you create, that it doesn’t even get mentioned anymore. If any marketers out there have been creating content over the past few years and have not been completing this level of research, then I’m afraid to say, you’ve squandered a multitude of lead generation and new business opportunities.

Let’s go back to the start – what is B2B content marketing?

B2B content marketing is the creation of helpful, thought leadership information that helps to position your organisation as an industry leader in the eyes of your buyers. It’s not about being salesy, it’s just about showing you empathise with members of your target audience and can offer a solution to their pain points… without being too pushy or overbearing. Once the buyers trust your brand and know that you have the solution to their problems, they’ll be more open to a sales call…simple.

Now, the eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that I referenced pain points and solutions. In order to create content that your target audience will actually want to read, it needs to be relevant and worth their while. So, to find this information plus demographics and behavioural traits you need to carry out in-depth research of your target market and collate all the findings into a single document called a buyer persona. This document will now inform all of your future content and help engage the buyer.

Like love and marriage, like a horse and carriage…

…you can’t have one without the other. If you’re looking to create content, then you MUST first complete comprehensive research of your target audience. If you’re not willing, or don’t have the time to do this research, then don’t bother creating content. It’s genuinely as simple as that. Make your content relevant and helpful to your reader. If you don’t, it’s just a colossal waste of time, money, and resources.

 

To find out more about creating unique content that truly resonates with your target audience…