It’s an understatement to say B2B marketing is tough. Not only do you need to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right moments in their buying journey, but you also need to nurture each individual prospect through a personalized, guided buyer journey.
That’s why your content marketing campaigns need to be functional and efficient. In addition to choosing creative concepts that engage your target audience, you also need to make sure your efforts fit within your marketing technology stacks. In other words, you need to build your marketing campaigns in a way that optimizes efficiencies and minimizes loss. But that can be hard, especially for B2B marketers, who may sometimes feel like they’re throwing darts in the dark to successfully reach audiences with the right content.
So what differentiates a successful B2B content marketing campaign from a lackluster one? Often, the answers are less than obvious, lurking behind the scenes. Here’s what some of today’s most successful marketing organizations are building.
1. Thoughtful marketing technology stacks
Successes in marketing are rarely one-offs. Rather, they are the outcomes of successful, interconnected systems. To understand it in depth, check out this article, “What is a B2B Marketing Stack?”
Some main things to take away: (1) Every marketing technology stack is unique, contoured to specific business models, and (2) marketing technology stacks require careful thought and consideration as communication webs that encompass multiple touch-points.
2. Versatile content assets
Marketing campaigns take time and diligence to become profitable. Often, companies will report months of trial and error until they find a strategy that sticks. That’s why successful B2B content strategies rely on content that’s versatile, meaning you can use these resources in multiple campaign use cases. Here’s a step by step process you can try:
- Write a compelling customer story
- Create an accompanying tips or takeaways sheet
- Test these assets across multiple campaign channels, from PPC to search, social, and more
If you’re not careful with how you’re investing your content marketing budget, you risk wasting money—and fast. That’s why it’s important to think through exactly how your content is going to function. Develop pieces that serve multiple use cases in your MarTech stack.
3. An experimentation mindset
Perfection is the enemy of a successful B2B content marketing campaign. If you’ve ever been involved in an editorial cycle, you’ve probably experienced the challenge of balancing input from multiple stakeholders. It’s easy to strive for the best piece that you can create.
But what’s equally important to keep in mind is time to market. Your release cycles need to be aggressive, especially if you’re competing for audience attention spans. Not only is it important to be first—it’s important to make a powerful and lasting impression.
Final thoughts
In the B2B content marketing world, persistence and patience pay off. Assume your target audiences are just as bombarded with information as you are, with limited time in the day. If you run into a point of friction, embrace it. Learn why your target audiences may not be responsive. Course-correct. Rinse and repeat.