Using Creative Content To Drive Deeper Engagement in B2B Marketing Campaigns

As seasoned business-to-business (B2B) marketers can attest, brands selling B2B products and services often face steep challenges their counterparts in the business-to-consumer (B2C) world simply don’t have to deal with. Among them, B2B offerings are often more complex than B2C products, require longer decision-making processes and must be supported with detailed, reliable data to inform purchase decisions. For all these reasons and more, a solid B2B content marketing strategy can help B2B brands more effectively connect with their audiences, get them engaged and move them along the path to purchase.

“Content marketing offers B2B brands a powerful opportunity to educate, inform and engage business decision-makers who are seeking solutions to complex company challenges,” says Cary Murphy, chief strategy officer and B2B marketing subject matter expert. “By delivering valuable and relevant information with B2B content marketing, your brand can establish itself as a trusted authority in its industry, foster deeper engagement at every stage of the buyer’s journey — and spur more sales.”

In this post, we’ll cover the following important topics to help your brand more effectively use B2B content marketing to drive lasting business impacts:

• The proven power of content marketing
• The key differences between B2B and B2C content marketing
•  The most common B2B content marketing types, where to publish them and when to refresh them
• Elevating your B2B content marketing strategy with ‘10x content’

The proven power of content marketing

Statistics show that seven in ten buyers prefer to learn about a brand’s offerings via an article rather than an advertisement, making content marketing an ideal way to connect with these consumers. And when compared to traditional advertising, content marketing generates three times the leads for every dollar spent — while delivering a cost savings north of 60%. Considering these advantages, it should come as no surprise that nearly 80% of brands’ chief marketing officers consider custom content an important part of marketing’s future.

The key differences between B2B and B2C content marketing

B2B and B2C content marketing share a number of foundational principles. But the two disciplines differ significantly in a number of areas, especially those of strategy, audience and execution. Here’s more on the leading contrasts between B2C and B2B content marketing:

Audience focus and timeline

While B2C brands largely focus on everyday consumers, B2B brands typically target decision-makers, influencers and stakeholders within organizations — individuals with a focus on improving efficiency, solving company-specific challenges and driving a strong ROI. Further, with numerous team members often involved in purchase decisions, the B2B buying process is often substantially more complex than that of B2C consumers, and typically entails multiple stages and longer cycles.

Tone and messaging

B2B content tends to prioritize authority, expertise and practicality. Its messaging often highlights value through problem-solving, demonstrating measurable outcomes and offering insights into industry trends. Meanwhile, B2C content often taps into emotional triggers, focusing on lifestyle benefits, entertainment or immediate gratification to capture consumers’ interest.

Formats

While both B2B and B2C content marketing can effectively leverage a variety of modalities, each tends to favor certain ones. B2B content marketing often relies on in-depth, informational formats designed to educate and build trust. As a result, B2B brands tend to use longer-form content types more frequently than B2C brands do. In B2C content marketing, on the other hand, formats emphasizing visual appeal and brevity tend to dominate, with quicker-hit options such as video ads, billboards, and social media ads and posts often serving as go-to tactics.

The most common B2B content marketing types, where to publish them and when to refresh them

The most effective content marketing strategies for B2B leverage an array of creative content types (all created with an omnichannel strategy in mind) and distribute them via a wide range of channels, including:

• Owned channels such as website blogs, resource hubs and email newsletters
• Third-party channels including industry-specific publications, guest blogs and professional communities like LinkedIn
• Event-based channels such as webinars, conferences and trade shows
• Social media platforms such as LinkedIn for professional connections, Twitter for thought leadership and YouTube for educational video content

To keep your content up to date, refresh it regularly, with the ideal update intervals varying based on the content type. Here’s a breakdown of the most common content types used in B2B content marketing, where to publish them and when to refresh them:

Blogs

Blog articles are ideal for thought leadership, timely updates and improving SEO.
Where to publish: Owned channels such as your website’s blog and resource hubs
When to refresh: Review and update high-performing blog articles every six to 12 months to maintain relevance and rankings.

White papers and e-books

These comprehensive resources can be used to showcase expertise and address complex topics.
Where to publish: Owned channels or gated landing pages, with promotion on professional-focused social platforms such as LinkedIn
When to refresh: Update annually to reflect the latest industry data, trends or insights.

Case studies

B2B brands often use case studies to highlight successful solutions and outcomes.
Where to publish: Owned channels, email newsletters and as supporting material for sales teams
When to refresh: Aim to add new case studies every 12 to 18 months, especially when new projects deliver impactful results.

Videos

Video content can be used in a range of effective ways, such as for product demos, explainer videos or thought leadership interviews.
Where to publish: YouTube, LinkedIn, website pages, and during trade shows or conferences
When to refresh: Plan to revisit your video-content assets every 18 to 24 months, or sooner if trends or product updates make earlier versions outdated.

Podcasts

Ongoing podcast series can help your B2B brand build trust and demonstrate thought leadership.
Where to publish: Platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts and as embedded content on your website
When to refresh: Focus on new episodes while occasionally reformatting or again promoting valuable older content.

Webinars

These virtual events are ideal for education and relationship-building.
Where to publish: Hosted live on owned platforms and shared on-demand through resource hubs and email campaigns
When to refresh: Convert recordings into evergreen on-demand resources and update them quarterly or annually.

Infographics

Use these engaging visual assets to simplify data or to illustrate trends and processes in an easy-to-digest way.
Where to publish: Social media, website resource hubs, and third-party blogs or publications
When to refresh: Update every 12 months to align with new data or industry developments.

Social media updates

Your brand’s social media channels make ideal platforms for sharing insights and engaging audiences.
Where to publish: LinkedIn for professionals, Twitter for thought leadership and Instagram for visual storytelling, for example
When to refresh: Post in real time and recycle high-performing updates every three to six months to extend their reach.

Email newsletters

Routinely distributed email newsletters can be used to nurture leads, share company updates and promote your brand’s other content.
Where to publish: Delivered directly to your audience via email
When to refresh: Maintain a consistent schedule (weekly, biweekly or monthly) and audit templates and focus areas every six to twelve months to keep content engaging.

Elevating your B2B content marketing strategy with ‘10x content‘

“10x content” refers to content that is 10 times more valuable, engaging and impactful than typical industry materials, a concept popularized by Rand Fishkin, co-founder of SEO-focused software maker Moz. For B2B marketers, examples of content that can meet this standard — and thereby boost the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts — include:

• Comprehensive guides that solve pressing industry challenges, such as step-by-step tutorials on regulatory compliance or process optimization
• Industry benchmark reports that provide data-driven insights to help businesses measure performance and uncover growth opportunities
• Interactive tools like ROI calculators or assessment quizzes that deliver personalized value
• Video series featuring thought leadership interviews, product demos and other insightful content that keeps audiences engaged over time
• Webinars and virtual events that create opportunities for direct engagement while offering in-depth education and fostering connections with industry experts 

Each of these high-impact 10x content examples can help make your B2B brand’s content marketing efforts even more effective by providing highly valuable information that captures and keeps your target audience’s attention, all while positioning your brand as an industry expert and helping you build trust among your prospects.

Conclusion

With the right approach, your B2B content marketing strategy can drive deeper connections and deliver results that matter. Focus on tailoring your content to meet the needs of your audience, publishing it on the right channels and keeping it up to date — and by doing so, your B2B brand can build trust, nurture leads and guide business decision-makers through the buying journey.

Amplify your B2B content marketing efforts — with Brandon

If your brand is looking for an ad agency that specializes in B2B content marketing, you’ve come to the right place. Here at Brandon, we get B2B because we are B2B — and we’ve been working with some of the nation’s largest (and smallest) B2B brands for years. We’re also experts at revving up B2B revenues with powerful tactics like content marketing — and we’re ready to put them to work to grow your brand today. Whenever you’re ready for results, reach out to our team to discuss all the ways we can elevate your B2B brand’s marketing efforts.