Five of the Best B2B Content Marketing Trends That Are Proven Effective To Gain New Clients

By Eva Braughly on May 6, 2020 - Fact checked by Dumb Little Man

Five of the Best B2B Content Marketing Trends That Are Proven Effective To Gain New Clients

by Eva Braughly May 6, 2020

Digital marketing is fast-paced with trends and new updates to existing systems continuously popping out. That’s why it is important to stay up-to-date with the latest strategies that can be beneficial in reaching new audiences. Keeping up to date with the marketing trends will also help a business stay ahead of their competition. The best B2B content marketing strategy relies on knowledge and skills, which are developed through recognition of new systems.

The digital marketing industry is ever-changing, fast-paced, and dynamic. Marketers and businesses must stay updated to remain competitive and relevant. The trends, tools, and approaches are evolving which needs fast-learning skills to get by. A business must be innovative and open to changes to ensure that they will not be left behind.

Here are new B2B content marketing trends that businesses must watch out for:

Artificial Intelligence

The best B2B content marketing always needs clear planning and a comprehensive strategy. Content production and distribution can be a daunting task and a time-consuming process if a marketer does not utilize the proper tools and automation. Marketing expert Jeff Bullas stated that AI plays an important role in content marketing. Various apps, businesses, and websites are focusing on collecting data from the behaviors of consumers.

This collected information will be difficult to be effectively processed by humans. In this case, artificial intelligence becomes very useful. AI technology is gaining traction in various industries, including the digital marketing industry. Learning machines are using data to get insights to analyze patterns and information that will be translated into comprehensive reports.

AI can be very helpful in aiding a business on their quest when it comes to content marketing. The creation of high-quality content is essential. It can help in researching topics that are gaining buzz with the latest information in the industry and optimizing content headlines. It is also valuable in using automation for the fast distribution of the content on various web 2.0 platforms and other syndication websites.

AI does not only help in the content distribution process, but also aids in making it more efficient. Depending on the AI tool used, it can also determine the right demographic to show the produced content.

Data Utilization

Content marketing is no longer just an optional part of an entrepreneur’s marketing strategy. It has become an important factor in the current digital age. Businesses that are online will most likely utilize content marketing in some shape or form. Almost every other businesses are putting out content for their potential customers to see. However, the question remains on how a brand sets itself apart.

What sets apart the best B2B content marketing strategy versus simple churning out of content is a sophisticated strategy. Everyone can create content and put it out to all the platforms they can use. To be successful in content marketing, especially in B2B, using data will enable a business to move ahead of its competitors. A data-driven content strategy will have a clearer vision of the market and consumer behavior. It helps build measurable goals and enhance strategies to deliver a high return on investment.

There is a growing movement in digital marketing where data is analyzed. A business will use the results of the analysis and use it to develop a concrete content marketing plan. The implementation of the strategy will also be analyzed for more data to ensure that the plan is moving towards a higher possibility of success.

Account-Based Marketing

The best B2B content marketing strategy would be the approach that relies on content. Account-based marketing or ABM employs content to purposely target a specific client or account. The content made for the ABM strategy is unique and customized to specific clients while addressing their needs.

ABM needs a highly personalized approach in each account. The content created for ABM must be tailored to tell the target account of how a service can help in resolving the needs and pain points of their business. The resolution for their pain points is detailed into a form of content that they can easily digest. The distribution of the content can be done through email and other digital advertising approaches.

The customization of the contents can be made by particularly addressing the target account’s unique needs in the introduction of content. The resolution for their predicaments can be placed on the conclusion part of the content. Utilizing case studies related to the target organization is also great content to start with.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is no longer an option for a B2B business. Video marketing has seen major success with a business-to-consumer model. Nevertheless, it has gained traction in the B2B market due to its ability to share information needed by potential clients. Its popularity continues to increase and shows no signs of slowing down. Video marketing also is an important process in forming lead generation strategies, attracting new customers, guiding with the sign-up process of converted leads, and retaining the current customer base.

Despite its popularity, it is important to note that the days of boring video content that drags on for many minutes will not drive the video marketing initiative forward. The video content must be interesting, informational, relevant, and targeted towards the audience that the business is hoping to attract. There are various video content formats that B2B marketers can use to push their video marketing efforts onwards.

Here are some video content formats that B2B marketers can utilize:

Whiteboard and Explainer Videos

Explainer videos must be brief and concise while containing the answers to what the researcher is looking for. Explainer videos are giving an overview of what the service or product is about while persuading the viewers to consume more content. Whiteboard videos are also similar to explainer videos but it is more in-depth with its approach.

Basically, explainer videos discuss the whole point of the company’s services while whiteboard videos focus on a single topic. If a business offers reputation management services, an explainer video would discuss reputation management and what it can do for the business. On the other hand, a whiteboard video will focus on reputation management on social media channels and how it affects perception. These two video formats are often used for a B2B’s education-based marketing strategy.

Webinars

A webinar can be recorded or done through live streaming. This will be a great way to engage with the audience who wants to learn about the industry and how it can benefit their business. Webinars also help in building a credible reputation for a business that can gain leads.

Testimonial and Case Study Videos

Testimony and case videos are a great way to convince potential leads to a service or product. It helps a business demonstrate its effectiveness to leads and potential customers. These types of videos also add credibility and reliability to the business as it is able to prove the benefits of using their product or service.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization or SEO has the basic definition of increasing a website’s search engine result ranking to drive traffic. This definition can be possible on B2C websites, but B2B marketers must be able to accomplish driving organic traffic and building brand awareness through quality content. Superficial SEO tactics only focus on driving traffic while disregarding the second imperative.

Content marketing and SEO must go hand-in-hand to make SEO more effective in the B2B setting. Instead of simply driving traffic to the main page, B2B marketers can use SEO to optimize other pages of the website that are rich with high-quality content.

When using these five marketing tools to gain new clients, it is vital that there is consistency across the strategies. There must be a cohesive goal for each of these strategies and must serve the purpose of building rapport with the target audience.