3 Challenges of B2B Content Marketing

The beginnings of Modern Content Marketing

If we look back, we can find great examples of Content Marketing, which to date can be educational, inspiring and lead to a more effective digital strategy. Some examples of this are the free recipe books on Jell-O jellies in 1904 or the GI Joe comics and LEGO magazines in the 80s and 90s. However, it was not until the Internet reached consolidation when the term “Content Marketing” was coined.

 

 

In 2007, the Blendtec Company uploaded its first YouTube video, obtaining more than 6 million likes and a 700% growth in its revenues. A year later, P & G launched the BeingGirl.com website, which was considered four times more effective than any traditional Marketing effort would have achieved.

Why?  Because Content Marketing provides useful and real information, instead of being intrusive.

 

 

For the year 2010, 90% of companies saw the importance of Content Marketing and implemented it in some way by assigning 25% of their budgets to Content Marketing. However, many fell into the trap of generating content just to do it.

Because there was a lot of content on the Internet, companies with access to the best SEO practices of the time were doing a lot of on-page SEO on their pages and using Black Hat positioning techniques. This led to consumers being overwhelmed by useless sites instead of really useful content.

What is no longer working?

Five years ago, the best content marketing practices were very different from what we consider today’s best practices:

If you are still writing and publishing content, simply because you know you should do it, please stop! Content Marketing is no longer an equation or formula in which companies can publish the perfect number of articles with the exact number of links and keywords to appear in the first results of Google. Each time you post content, ask yourself, “Who am I helping with this type of content?” This is the true power of practice.

If you’re still leaving backlinks all over the web, stop again! JCPenney, the clothing brand became famous in the world of digital marketing for the creation and purchase of links for each of its keywords and of which most had nothing to do with the store. Google quickly punished this mega brand in 2011 and warned others against this type of SEO tactics. So be careful: Google wants brands that write for people and not for search engines. When your content is useful, backlinks will come naturally without having to be looking for them.

If you are still publishing exclusively content about your products and services, stop. The cold and hard truth is that nobody cares about your brand. They want answers to your questions and solutions to your problems.

While your products can be very good, consumers often do not search Google “Power Plate 3650”, but search Google “How can I change my tire? ” You see the difference? Your content must be related to the needs of your target.

 

The challenges of modern Content Marketing

These changes in Marketing have created some difficult obstacles to clarify in the world of Digital Marketing, however, based on the trajectory of Content Marketing, we can generate the following suggestions for companies that want to generate leads.

• Balance

The biggest challenge of Content Marketing is to obtain an adequate balance between quality and quantity. What is sought is to create enough content for your audience to continue visiting your site and social networks, ensuring that each piece of content, whether it is a blog post, a video or an infographic, is of high quality and above all useful . To be considered valuable, the content must be coherent, relevant and useful for your target.

• Sharing

When the content is shared in Social Media, the relevance and quality of the contents are discussed. The search engines have begun to search the social networks to judge the content and its usefulness for consumers. This means that you must make your content worthy of being shared on Social Networks. Remember that you can not focus solely on your brand or product, but tell a story that includes buyers and makes them the protagonists, without a doubt, that is the type of Content Marketing you need.

• Customize

The idea of ​​personalized content means that it can be accessed from any device and also adapts to the stage of the sales cycle in which the prospects are. This is the future of Content Marketing and it will not be an easy task.

 

Where is Content Marketing going?

Brands are not using Content Marketing more than five years ago, but they are having more confidence in their efforts. According to the “B2B Content Marketing 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends” around 93% of B2B advertisers are using Content Marketing in their strategy. Also, 42% of B2B advertisers are considered effective in Content Marketing, 36% more than last year.

In 2014, Content Marketing will become a standard form of marketing, which will experience unprecedented growth. This means that sellers will have to learn to stand out from the multitude of content. For this, we give you these tips for your ” Content Marketing strategy this 2017:

• Write how you speak

Thanks to the latest update of the Google algorithm, the content of the company should become much more conversational. Why? In the past, Google focused on the words of a search that it considered important. Now, it focuses on the entire search to make sure that the right information is what the consumer really wants. This means that your content matches the searches. In addition, Google now recognizes synonyms, which means not having to repeat your exact keyword again and again (bloggers are happy about this).

• Adopt the Authorship of your content

As Google continues to strive to achieve the best possible results for user searches, it has put a strong emphasis on determining the authority of the content author. When an author is a real person with a true social reputation, Google sees this as a good thing and finally classifies the content as real and genuine (in comparison to the content of the links farms or spammers). While the application of authorship can be uncomfortable at first, getting your staff to publish under your own name will help your employees and especially your brand.

• Socialize in the Networks

Because Google wants to know that your content is useful, Google believes that content shared in social media by people is a good indication of the value of the content. If it’s of good quality, people will share it, right? Do not hesitate to start sharing your content on social networks Google+, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  

• Focus on the Target

As we mentioned earlier, there is no secret formula of Content Marketing. However, what you can not lose sight of is that your content should always be focused on your target audience.

Since its latest update, Google aims to provide accurate answers, Steve Rayson (columnist for Social Media Today) insists and says: “Sellers have to understand what questions their customers ask and thus create valuable content that generates interest, including your site Web, Google Plus and relevant communities. ” Remember, your content is often your first opportunity to make an impact on your consumers.