Why Content Marketing Is Effective for B2B Companies
By: Andrew G. Fein
Tags: Content Strategy, Marketing, B2B, Marketing Strategies, Content Marketing

As a way to simplify this article and get right to the point, I’ve put everything into this nifty little list for you ⬇️ but as some context let’s just get on the same page about “What IS content marketing?”.

Content marketing in 2021 really consists of 4 main categories. Video, Photo, Audio, and Written Word. Just about everyone has different feelings on which is best or most effective. I like to remind them as often as I can that marketing is NOT a 1 size fits all solution. For different industries, businesses, consumers, you need to adjust and figure out what resonates best with your potential customers.

Video Marketing is easily my favorite form of content marketing, I myself am a huge consumer of video content so whether it’s on Linkedin, Youtube, or a commercial on TV, that is personally what I know works best on me as a consumer, as well as my favorite to produce for other brands.

Photography in content marketing also plays a HUGE role in staying relevant in 2021. Creating video content every single day can be a huge burden for a brand especially when their day-to-day processes may not be found very entertaining or interesting. So as a way to continuously create visual content that gives their consumers some kind of value, high-quality creative photography becomes a very solid way of keeping engaged with consumers.

Audio is another great form of content marketing, but there is almost no visual aspect to it. Audio can come in the form of a podcast, audiobook, and it’s now on the rise thanks to the Clubhouse App. Audio is a highly consumed type of content and is well-liked by many simply because you’re able to multitask. You can listen to a podcast while you’re driving or on the train or while you are scheduling meetings for the upcoming week.

The written word being a highly consumed form of content, but at the bottom of my favorites list as I feel that it warrants the most amount of effort needed by the consumer, yet even with that. It is a highly consumed, and very useful form of content, especially through blogs and when trying to establish SEO for your website.

So, Why are these important for B2B Companies? Let's go down the list⤵️

It Builds Brand Awareness: Your brand is great, it has a positive mission statement, it’s well designed, aesthetically pleasing…But without developing high-quality content showcasing those things, your audience doesn't know about any of that. You may have a great new product- the best baby stroller to ever roll the sidewalks or the best alarm clock in the world that emits the smell of brewed coffee in the morning... Without showing the world these products in a visual form all they can do is read about it, they can’t see what it looks like to see if it fits their aesthetic or see its great features in action. The same holds true for B2B companies, you need to bring visual awareness to your brand. They’re scrolling through social media anyway, you may as well give them the opportunity to see what you have to offer. Helps Build Links: This one is geared more towards written word/blog content, but in the world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) if you want to rank your website higher on Google effectively, the best way to do so is through backlinks, when blogs or websites talk about your brand or company or product and they add the link to your website in the text, that “authority” helps improve where you rank on a Google search result. Hypothetically this could also work with let's say posting videos on Youtube, but only if in the description under the video itself it is linking to your website. It’s Cost-effective: Saying it’s cost-effective honestly doesn’t even do it justice, realistically it’s almost free, what it costs is time and creativity. You are already reading this text on a computer or phone, if you were to take that same device, and dedicate a few hours of your time to writing your own blog posts or using your phone's camera and showcasing your best advice on Instagram, you would be making an effort in effective content marketing. Now let's say you did that consistently with those devices and continued to create pieces of content that are well made, well I guarantee you that you will find yourself in a much better place in only a few months than you are now. Establishes Brand Authority: People associate things that are well made with having authority in that marketplace and because it’s so cost-effective, anyone can try doing content marketing, but when they do the majority typically doesn’t do it well. So this gives you an opportunity to establish your brand as an authority in the marketplace by creating better, more valuable, better-designed content. Keeps Consumers Engaged: Consumers today both on the B2B and B2C end of things are sitting at their home desk, with their work monitor live, a rotary fan taped to their mouse, and are on their phone scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, etc. If you’re posting that good content on those platforms consistently, these consumers are going to take notice of it, engage with it, view it, talk to you, etc. Which gives you an opportunity to engage back and build a relationship with them, which if you know anything about sales, is the first step to closing a deal.

At the end of the day, as a B2B company, you could spend a bunch of time sending cold emails, LinkedIn messages, running paid ad’s on Google, etc. But all of that is for nothing unless you’re also creating a hefty amount of content that educates your audience about you and what you offer, so they can choose on their own they want to associate with you more. That natural desire to associate with you will lead them down a road of engaging with your content and even if they don't become a customer, they’re helping you reach more people who will.

Hopefully, this little list gave you some valuable insights on why content marketing should be a primary focus in your marketing efforts this year. As someone who makes a living in the B2B space, this is exactly what I do and I know what it has done for me is beyond any other method.

Best

Andrew Fein

Founder & Marketing Director

Saturn Agency