3 Ways To Transform Your B2B Contents For 2015

Taking the cue from “The 4 B2B Marketing Trends: Sales Boosting Tips for 2015 “ by Anna Johansson, I’ll like to add on a couple of thoughts.

The interesting article highlighted the need to understand the business buyer profile accurately.  And, rightly so. A research by Intershop on August 2014 on 1,500 corporate buyers found that “85 percent of B2B buyers make purchases while at their desk during business hours. One-quarter of business buyers regularly purchase on consumer sites. A healthy 64 percent say they purchase monthly without going through procurement.”  The takeaway? Corporate buyers are behaving very much like any average consumer buyer.

The shift from B2B to consumer buying trend cast a new challenge to content writers. How do we create contents that’ll approach corporate buyers just like any other consumer buyers?

Get personal
In a B2B business, one may approach a set of customers using the same traditional one-size-fits-all kind of content strategy. However, to approach corporate buyers just like consumer buyers, there has to be a change of focus of contents. Contents need to be more personal. Understanding what the business really wants, focusing on their unique demands and customizing your contents to their needs, are all essential in getting the right attention across. Create great contents that are relevant and engaging, written with the prime objective of pulling-in the buyers, instead of pushing out irrelevant contents to the masses.

Get white papers
Consumer buying thrives on the word of mouth. Just watch how one jumps quickly to buy a product or engage a service by the “content” of a conversation or testimonial on the web. For B2B, the real content power lies within an age old marketing tool; white papers.

There are reasons why white papers have staying power.

• Substantive contents – statistics, data, results and findings from researches
• informational, educational without any tone in selling
• Relevant and useful contents-usually on forward-thinking issues

Businesses love white papers as they contribute to the decision making process – often justifying or nullifying an investment. Get your white papers written well; with in-depth research and thoroughly thought through points. Use them to communicate the values you bring and engage businesses.

Get connected 
If you haven’t get connected yet, you better put this on the top of your to-do list. Every customer (B2B or consumer) requires your quick and undivided attention, response and commitment to service. With the reach and speed of social media channels nowadays, you get to do all that effortlessly. Plus, you get to influence and create a strong brand presence via your communities and followers. Connecting on social media network or websites, makes sharing stories, news, information and promotions in a variety of creative format (audio, visual or text) “quick” and “easy” – all that matters in this “instant” world, where everything should preferably be available in just a “click”.

Last but not least, contents need to remain fluid in embracing new challenges. Remember, “Only dead fish go with the flow” – so, make sure your contents remains very much alive in supporting all your agile marketing efforts.