B2B Content Marketing Is Only As Boring As You Make It
The number one complaint I hear from many of my full service B2B SEO clients is that they don’t know what to write about. They feel like they don’t have anything new to say; that their industry isn’t exciting enough; that no one actually cares anyway—so their content marketing strategy gets pushed to the back burner and it’s like pulling teeth to get them to come up with even a short list of blog topics (even when my team is handling the writing!).
Coming up with engaging and interesting topics when you sell software can be a little more difficult than if you sell clothing, home décor, or other “fun” B2C products, but just because your products aren’t nearly as flashy as our B2C counterparts that doesn’t mean that your B2B content marketing strategy has to be boring! There are plenty of great topics out there provided you change the way you’re looking at things.
I don’t have anything new to say.
Unless your company produces some kind of software that is going to completely revolutionize your industry chances are your B2B content marketing strategy won’t be based on earth-shattering, ground-breaking, life-altering information…or will it? As B2B marketers we live and breathe our industry every day. We know every trick in the book, every insight, every tried and true tip and so after a while it starts to feel like you’ve got nothing new and exciting to write about. But guess what—to a potential visitor just beginning their search process and stepping into your industry for the first time all that information is ground-breaking and life-altering. And every day there are people who just realized they need what you have to offer. Your B2B content can answer the questions they are bound to have simply because they don’t live and breathe your niche. For instance, I’ve been asked why I bother writing about why ranking isn’t a great metric for SEO because “everybody knows that.” My response? They day prospects stop asking me for ranking reports is the day I’ll stop writing about it!
My industry isn’t very exciting.
Then I guess it’s time to find a new industry! As long as there are people who want/need your products than your niche is plenty interesting. Is warehouse management software as glamorous as Parisian couture fashion? Maybe not—but someone out there needs warehouse management software and wants to learn more about it and what it can do for them and their business. I think a lot of B2B marketers forget that their brand is allowed to have a little personality too! After all, your business is run by people and your audience is made up of real people—and people have personalities! For instance, did you know that General Electric has a Pinterest account? Their first board is called “Badass Machines.” Now you and I might not think that engine parts are all that exciting but racecars are pretty cool. So are fighter jets. And those “boring” parts that GE makes give us those badass machines. GE has found of way to make their B2B content marketing exciting and catch people’s attention in a new and unexpected way.
No one cares anyway.
If no one cares about your company, services or products than I wouldn’t expect to be able to keep your doors open for much longer. Somebody, somewhere cares, otherwise you wouldn’t be in business! Your B2B content marketing efforts have to account for every step of the buyer’s journey (because they’ll need different information at different stages) as well as take into account the influencers and decision makers involved in the process. Those people do care; otherwise they wouldn’t be looking for information!
Categorized in: B2B Digital Marketing
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