Several years ago ( I think it was pre-Covid *cough*), I did a presentation on content marketing to the portfolio companies of Illuminate Financial (a VC dedicated to Fintech and enterprise tech). Afterwards, they interviewed me for a blog post.
I just found that interview again, and am surprised that I still believe most of what I said then: mainly, that good marketing in B2B isn’t rocket science, and that good content can deliver credibility for your business. (And that you can shamelessly re-purpose old content if it’s still relevant ;)
What is the context and background of what you do?
I help businesses sell to other businesses. My focus is marketing strategy for tech companies – specifically helping them figure out the best message to put to their audience within their market and space.
In the B2B tech space this is often a big challenge as it’s something that sits at the intersection of understanding product, the overall market, and the audience.
Too often you see tech companies who are incredibly strong when it comes to building their product, but they don’t have enough understanding of the environment they are selling into. For their proposition to resonate with the industry budget holders (often different from the end users), it needs to be positioned in a way that factors in the different dynamics and forces at play. This nuance is key to the message. It needs to focus on who you are selling to, and the world they are in.
How can you work out if someone (new hire or agency) really knows B2B?
The first thing I would do is look at the work that person or agency has done in the past. Have they got experience in your sector, and do you like their style? And secondly: Be rigorous when you ask them about their process – get them to take you through it step by step. How do they approach learning about the problem and product, identifying the audience they are trying to reach, and factor this into their work. Make sure you understand what they are doing and why. Don’t let them bamboozle you with marketing jargon. If you don’t understand something, ask.
Why content marketing?
Content shouldn’t be separate from the rest of your marketing. I think marketing disciplines need to work together. I have seen businesses who have split digital, traditional, content marketing etc into silos and it can be a disaster (and it’s not efficient either!). You need to have a clear position and voice as the starting point for all your marketing. Content builds your credibility and authority in your chosen space. It allows your audience to read what you have got to say, self-educate and build trust in you. That’s why it’s so valuable –it helps find people not on your radar and bring them into your orbit. It’s out there working for you when you don’t even realise! But it’s closely related to your value proposition, your brand and your product – these things have to makes sense together.
And, to get it right, it’s essential to lead with the bigger themes in your market rather than the product message. If you only talk about yourself, your prospects will just shut down and stop listening. You need to earn the right to sell to them by showing them you get their world, and the challenges they face.
Biggest mistakes you see companies make with content?
Leading with a product message is the first. Other mistakes are companies who push out content for content’s sake. Too many firms think they need to publish once or twice a week for consistency. When they do this, they often creep into pushing out posts that either don’t relate to their expertise, or are low quality – or boring! This destroys credibility and traction, which is exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to do.
The other trap is when you have PR masquerading as content. ‘Content’ that is too self-centred, an excuse to write about a client win or award, etc. Don’t make your content library a PR catalogue. No-one will come to your site to read about how great you are.
Last but not least – don’t put out content that you wouldn’t want to read yourself! Use this as a sense check before you hit post. Are you saying something new and interesting? Is it formatted in an easy to read way? Can I skim it and get the gist? Ask yourself – would a mildly interested observer want to read this (be really honest with yourself…). If the answer is no, then don’t post it.
What advice would you give to a company just starting? What is the minimum base you need?
The first thing to do as a tech marketer (if you are new hire in a company), is to gain the trust of the techies. The best content will always come from the expertise in the business. One way to create content and gain internal trust is to engage people internally to help create content. Ask people to write a post or interview them about their expertise. It is a great first step to make people internally feel involved, and bridges the gap between marketing and tech. It won’t cost you anything extra either if you are running on a tight budget.
What about your views on agency or non-agency? Consultants vs in house?
Why wouldn’t you want to work with an agency if you can afford it? They can combine so many things and have a roster of talented people under one roof. Of course, it comes at a price. So working out the best route for your company is common sense. There are certain functions any business should have in-house these days – a good digital marketer for instance – because you want to own your own marketing data.
What agencies can bring is professionalism and creativity. A way of looking at things differently given what they are exposed to cross industry. There is a lot of B2B content that just looks the same. As though someone created a template and its been shared with too many people. This can be boring and risk falling into the content for content’s sake bucket. Agencies can help create standout visuals, brand messaging, and tone of voice. At the beginning, you can do lots of this work with freelancers to fit your budget but ultimately this won’t scale.
What are some of the other hacks you would suggest aside from using freelancers?
Getting the foundations right and building from that will save you lots of money and headaches in the long run. As a starting point, I would be hiring a great digital marketer who understands KPIs and measurement. Lots of B2B marketing is experimenting with channels and messages. Which emails are opened, AB testing etc… try to embrace this. Get someone into your team who is excited about it, can set it up, and measure it. This would probably be one of first hires you should think about (I know I’m shooting myself in the foot here as I’m a content marketer) – but I really don’t think you should outsource digital anymore.
What about the balance of content you would suggest – top of funnel vs sales and head vs heart?
I think that businesses need to have more emotional content! There is a huge misconception that the B2B buying journey is entirely rational – so the content needs to be all sales-aids, etc. with ROIs, business plans, savings calculators etc. Yes, there is a big rational aspect but there is also a huge emotional element that gets completely overlooked.
If you have a product that solves a specific problem in an industry, there will be people who feel strongly about it. They will have been frustrated with the problem for years. And finding a solution is a relief. That’s what your marketing should talk about.
In a business, there are also ambitions and politics at play. Maybe the sponsor wants to look good to his/her superiors by finding and backing a solution.
There are lots of message here that can make people sit up, pay attention and say ‘wow – I didn’t realise this existed’. I think the industry is missing a massive trick here by focusing on rational decision making alone.
What are the other gaps that you see?
As well as top of the funnel content, there often isn’t much middle of the funnel either. This segment is all about best practice. Content marketing works best when you’re generous to your audience with what you know.. This allows people to self-educate. Too often it becomes too salesy too quickly which is a turn off.
Being too focused on your company, and not the market is the other gap. In any industry there are four or so thought leaders, experts who blog about industry issues that are well known. Reach out to them! Show them you have an opinion, truly react to what they say. Show you are engaging and part of the space you are selling into.
I really enjoyed this conversation (as you can probably tell, I can talk about this stuff for ages). If you’re relatively new to marketing in B2B, then you might also like this post, which explains some basic terminology.
And if you have a B2B marketing or content-related question, or would like to explore your options, then do get in touch!
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