16 Ideas for your B2B Content Marketing Library – B2B Marketing and Sales Tip #305
Content Marketing, it’s the newest shiny object in the B2B world of Marketing. We need content and lots of it to ensure we are getting the most ROI we can from each channel and vehicle we are using for brand awareness and lead generation.
We all agree that content is an integral part of our marketing strategy. That’s the easy part. Now what kinds of content do we need and what works best with which audiences. That’s the tricky part. And for each business and target market it is probably different. Even trickier.
Here’s a few ideas to consider for your content library or assets.
- Case studies – no longer than 1 page please and be sure to call out the problem, solution and results
- Glossary of Terms – here’s a great example from our friends at Marketo
- FAQ – the more the better here and remember your keywords, you can add and update this page frequently too
- Articles – contributed articles from a partner or executive at your company has written on a topic, not your business. These sell an idea or concept, not your product. Here’s a great example from Invenio Marketing Solutions.
- Lists – Create lists of your own; things like Top 10 things to consider when choosing a XYZ solution or Top 5 things to avoid when implementing XYZ service
- How To Guide – break down a practical use case that a typical customer might benefit from or use as a starting point
- Presentations – share them on slideshare, link back to them whenever you can, turn them into a podcast or webcast
- Blog posts – SEO, SEO, SEO and thought leadership too.
- Newsletters – don’t use purchased content, share some of your blog posts, case studies, FAQs, etc.
- Webcast – live and onDemand, remember to keep them short and on topic and leave time for Q&A
- Videos – THE hottest new thing – we all love being entertained so don’t waste time with boring corporate speak, be fun, its what makes people want to share
- White Papers – I think the window might be closing on white papers…but they might still work in with some audiences.
- eBooks – Be sure to include images and pictures to break up the text.
- Toolkits – use an eBook, video, glossary and how to guide to create a toolkit. No need in writing new stuff, repurpose what you have in different contexts. Eloqua does a great job with toolkits.
- Demos – people like to see before they engage…it helps not waste your time too.
- Polls and Surveys – ask a few questions and roll the answers into a report or a series of blog posts
What content is working best for you? How many different kinds of content are you using today?
Got any other content ideas, please jump in and share. We’ll keep updating the list as we go.
6 Responses to “16 Ideas for your B2B Content Marketing Library – B2B Marketing and Sales Tip #305”
Leave a Reply
January 4th, 2011 at 8:14 am
Hi Evan …great list. I’ve seen (and do) many of these but having them all in one list is great, especially for a company that is just starting our with content build.
Another idea that is content-ish: An online calculator like the one I just launched: http://www.bizcompare.com/resources/sales_compensation_plan_and_calculator/
Thanks
Geoff
January 7th, 2011 at 5:26 am
Great ideas that help everybody start a healthy marketing plan, keep up the good work.
January 7th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Great tips! Bookmarking this post for future reference.
The glossary idea is something we haven’t done yet, but is definitely something our clients and other email marketing friends would benefit from.
Keep up the good advice!
Amy Garland
Blue Sky Factory
January 7th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Evan,
Why do you think “the window on white papers might be closing”? We don’t see that from where we sit, but I’d like to get your opinion.
Thanks,
Gregg
January 10th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Gregg,
I think the white paper window might be closing as more and more buyers are moving to social media and networking sites to find expert opinions and product information and testing prior to purchase now. The peer-to-peer advice and
feedback in a very transparent format via social networks and free information
exchanges like Focus is percieved as a much more honest assesment of a product rather than a lengthy whitepaper drafted by the company behind the product.
Also Content is being shared faster than ever and this is
forcing businesses to adjust to a 2.0 content strategy. All that said, every
industry is different and and every industry responds differently to different
marketing channels or vehicles. So if white papers work for your audience,
great. If your white papers aren’t getting the traction they used to, it might
be time to consider of the list above.
Also, here at ReachForce, our blog content, re-purposed into to
easy-to-read/scan eBooks get way more traffic than the white papers we have.
March 7th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
Another tool that I think is extremely useful from a content perspective is an infographic. Anything that you can do to visualize a process, a relationship, a ranking, etc. can help support the WIIFM of the engagement. I’d also add Flickr (photosharing) as individuals B2B or B2C love to see themselves, their peers and their key sales contacts.
The content assets really need to be optimized for “sharability” and need to be re-released multiple times over time through multiple channels to fully leverage your investments while reaching and engaging audiences appropriately.