According to a recent study, as of 2016, 88% of B2B and 76% of B2C marketers were using it somewhere in their funnel. Here’s CMI’s definition of content marketing:
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action”.
The idea behind content marketing is a pretty sophisticated one, revolutionary even. After decades of addressing a specific product’s name and explicitly (ads, TV/radio commercials) or implicitly (camouflaged advertising in TV and film) discussing its advantages, we have arrived at an age where the product is absent from the ad. Not only that, but the brand behind the product is absent as well. At the very least, it’s barely in the back of the stage.
What are we left with then? A customer-centric approach, which provides customers truly relevant content to help with their life issues or arouse their thought, instead of pitching a product/service directly. At least this is how good content marketing works. What are you, the marketer, left with? Marketers are perceived as professionals who truly care about a customers’ interest or someone who knows the industry well. And apparently, that’s worth a lot.
The fact that this strategy probably negates the marketer’s intuition (“paying for something that doesn’t even mention my product’s or brand’s name?! Unheard of!”) is probably what makes this area pretty virgin and prone to a lot of mistakes and difficulties. Based on a recent study, 54% of B2B marketers believe “producing engaging content” is their number one challenge when it comes to content marketing. As for B2C marketers, the numbers may show that “not enough budget” is a top concern, but “not producing enough content” and “not producing content that is engaging” are close behind. The problem is clear.
So, what’s the secret?
What Should You Write About?
Content quality and quantity are the most pressing concerns with both B2B and B2C marketers. The secret, as always, starts with people – hiring the right person. Content in general and content marketing in particular are fields of expertise and specialty. In order to create enough engaging content, you must allocate resources: someone who immerses themselves in what’s out there, how it’s done and how to do it better. Remember: the goal is sophistication and that requires skill.
Let’s use an example: let’s say you own a modest fashion brand that has a few brick and mortar stores, as well as an online store, where items can be purchased domestically and internationally. The average person would think store clients are interested in receiving updates about new arrivals, discontinued items, new stores openings, fashion shows etc. That’s true, but – and it’s a huge but – that’s not going to suffice if you want to retain clients’ loyalty through content. In fact, these items should be the spice in the dish, not the dish itself. Customers require additional and relevant material to remain engaged. What are some good topics? Color theories (what goes with what), new trends in the fashion industry, “secrets to the perfect ironing,” “10 tips for cleaning stubborn stains off of fabrics” –get the idea?
Think about your brand as the sun and the distributed content as the planets orbiting the sun. The sun can’t orbit itself, right? Well, it could, but that’s really dull. Build a solar system of ideas and publish unabashedly, even if readers may think “how the hell is this related to the brand?” If you hired a good content marketer, they’ll know exactly what to serve and how to wrap it so that it complements the brand.
Clients are still bombarded by explicit advertising, so they’d be more appreciative – and thus much more attentive – give them something they haven’t thought about before, a ‘just because they’re valued’ gesture that proves their interests, well-being, knowledge etc. is important. By following these guidelines and hiring the right person who will execute these strategies, engaging content ideas will suddenly multiply and will become within reach.
Take a minute to imagine your core business as the sun, list all the “obvious” content updates aimed towards the audience. These are the stars closest to the sun. Now add stars that are further from the sun –see the abundance?
Now that we covered the topics, get that message out there.
How Should you Distribute Content?
When it comes to distribution channels, the difference between B2C and B2B marketers is much more narrow. First, it’s important to state that most researchers are pretty unanimous about the fact that content marketing does not belong to some part of the marketing funnel, but rather to each stage of the funnel. When it comes to choosing the distribution channels, place valuable content pretty much everywhere clients may come across the brand, but keep in mind that some channels are still more important than others.
Both B2B and B2C marketers favor two distribution channels above all others: social media channels, and newsletters sent to clients’ (see the full table below). No wonder: social media channels are a natural habitat for content distribution and for harnessing the users themselves into distribution agents. Whereas newsletters, if done correctly, land in people’s inboxes and are a powerful tool of calling the clients to action.
When using a specific channel, make sure to make the necessary adjustments, be it on the visual level (cropping images to meet the social media’s requirements for example) or on the content level (differentiating between talking to a personal client in a newsletter or to a mass of people, some of whom aren’t even direct clients yet).
Additionally, adjust the content to the customer’s position in the funnel. For example, most marketers use their website’s “recent news” as a distribution channel. But a person who reads the content on a website is already somewhat interested in you or your brand, so placing articles that are too far away from the sun would not be very beneficial. As for videos, blogs, white papers etc., speak differently with those who already bought something/registered to get updates, than with those who see a post for the first time on their social media feed.
Remember how we advised using explicit advertising in content marketing as a spice? Well the rule of thumb in content is “the farther the client may be from buying, the less explicit you should be with him.”
Who Should you Target?
Yes, you may have already guessed it – everybody. Research tell us that a majority of B2B marketers measure ROI over content marketing in the top and bottom parts of the funnel, and even less so during post-sales and retention. Don’t make this mistake; it is vital to measure post-sales content!
Yes, use content marketing to attract new clients and lead them all the way to a purchase, but who of us could resist heading straight to the brand’s Facebook page after visiting their cool store for the first time? That’s exactly where (ideally) the person should be– expressing direct interest and seeking the next opportunity to purchase a product. Keep your news feed interesting and valuable enough and it will happen.
Content marketing is actually somewhat difficult and tricky, but it’s a powerful tool most companies can’t live without. If you change your views about it – or better yet, hire someone to change them – and make sure to target the right people via the right channels, you will experience substantial growth through every part of the sales funnel.