Write Synergy

3 Ways To Transform Your B2B Contents For 2015

Picture courtesy of Rgbstock

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.

Wearable Technology & Story-telling

(Source: rgbstock)

This article “Wearable Technology: Content Fit For Storytelling” by Mike Carrozzo in Content Marketing Institute, is a great follow up to my previous article about writing amazing contents for your brand. It takes story-telling up a notch by looking at three significant points that’ll help brands create contents fit for wearable technology.

With the rise for wearable technology, the shift is imminent to create a more personal and highly interactive form of content. I guess when we wear it, we are actually living it- so that itself is paramount for a need to have quality contents created rather than just producing contents for contents’ sake. From smart glasses, high tech earpiece devices, smart watches and the whole smorgasbord, it’s time for contents to step up and be natural, unique and going beyond limitations to pitch great stories.

Check out, too, the 4 Wearable That Give You Superpowers (by Mark Wilson, Wearables Week) .

What’s your story?

People and brands are so good at telling stories nowadays. Just look at the number of followers or people they influence on social media or blogs. People are drawn to the stories they share. Immersed in their brand presence. Captivated by the excitement it stirs. Can you too, start writing your amazing stories?

Relevance
A great story is written from quality contents that are relevant to its targeted audience. In a nutshell: a relevant connection has to be made with your story. When the Song “Call me Maybe” hit the top charts, Abercrombie and Fitch took advantage of it and created an explosively fun and entertaining advertisement that commanded attention everywhere! What’s not to like? A current chart-topping song, good looking shirtless guys happily dancing and singing away. If it hadn’t make you drop by its stores, it would have pique your curiosity already. Nothing engages a consumer more than a well-told relevant story.

Creativity
Can we be insanely creative while being dead serious about our brand personality? Why, yes of course! Creative contents strike the right balance for a quirky, weird and entertaining delivery while strongly delivering the message across. Here’s how one brand did it. Mercedes took on their passion on being environmental-friendly when promoting its new fuel cell vehicle in this creative approach. The ad presented one cohesive image of utilizing latest technology to preserve the environment. Watch this powerful commercial that already boasts of 9 million over hits here.

Emotions
Many story tellers like to tell a story that’ll put a tear in your eye. However, some unfortunate ones ended up being too sappy. Or being too over-dramatic. If it’s difficult, just remember this: real people, real lives, real stories. You’ll never go wrong. One particularly well-crafted story of one’s origin, is the The Lego Story. The video shares the story of the founder, the late Ole Kirk Christiansen and how the famous Lego came about. A delightful and entertaining video that speaks volumes of Lego’s commitments, ethics and values to bring joy to children around the world.

Contents can be anything you want it to be. Create quality contents to tell a compelling story, influence your audiences and make yourself be heard above the market chatter. As Ole said, “Imagination is the limit”.
What other brand stories do you like?