Creating a successful B2B content marketing strategy is a major milestone.
Once you have that strategy in place, you can relax a bit.
Profits are coming in. All you need to do now is test new ways of improving it.
Unfortunately, many companies just aren’t there yet and what’s worse is that some simple mistakes are all that’s holding them back.
4 Mistakes Hurting Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy
If your B2B content marketing strategy has yet to reach that point where you see consistent results, there’s a good chance at least one of the following four common mistakes are getting in the way.
1. You’re Ignoring the Promise of Paid Ads
Yes, paying for traffic to your site can actually improve the ROI of your B2B content marketing strategy.
There are two reasons for this.
The first is that, while a big part of B2B content marketing is attracting organic traffic through SEO, this is often much easier said than done. If your efforts currently aren’t attracting any leads at all, you have two options:
- Pay for more and more content, hoping you eventually attract traffic
- Pay for ads that attract traffic right away
Either way, you’re spending money.
The second reason is because Google is giving paid ads more room on their SERPs. As such, it would be a huge mistake to put all of your budget behind content for organic traffic.
2. Your Content Is Focused on Just One Person
Most B2B content marketing are aimed at just one person: the buyer.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, of course. Forgetting about the final decisionmaker at a company would certainly be a major mistake.
However, you have to keep in mind that, on average, there are between six and seven stakeholders at each B2B company. It might be hard to believe, but many of them aren’t actually concerned about the end result your service or product provides.
For example, the CFO probably cares much more about the costs involved. Do you have content to address their concerns?
If you offer a technology solution, the CTO might be interested in its benefits, but they’re probably also thinking about how it’s going to fit with the company’s current infrastructure.
What kinds of content do you have about implementation?
Think about all of the stakeholders at your targeted companies. Instead of forcing the buyer to drag them through your funnel, create content that makes them just as much a part of the process.
3. Your Funnel Doesn’t Include Any Social Proof
One of the biggest mistakes B2B content marketers make is spending all kinds of time and money on their funnel without every leveraging the power of social proof. So, while it might produce results, it still falls extremely short of its potential.
The more you provide your leads with proof that your company can benefit theirs, the more it will seem obvious that they should become a client. Simply by adding social proof, then, you’ll have a more successful funnel and a higher ROI.
Most companies that do understand the benefits of social proof make the mistake of only using case studies in the middle of the funnel. They can help at the top of the funnel, too. Just position them as step-by-step guides, so they provide helpful information while also proving what your business can do.
You should subtly include short testimonials on every page of your site, as well. Include references to your success stories in blog posts, too.
4. You Still Haven’t Tried ABM
Finally, while many B2B companies are seeing a lot of success with Account-Based Marketing (ABM), you may have decided it won’t fit your business model.
Still, it would be a mistake to ignore ABM altogether. Instead, consider taking a hybrid approach. In short, when you know you have a promising lead, create content that’s specific to their unique needs.
Publish it as a blog post, but email them the link, as well.
Make sure it’s clear from the title of the email that your recipient is the only one receiving it. Then, in the message, explain how this content will help them.
Not only will this help convert the lead, but, because you’ve posted the content as well, it can be repurposed for other, similar clients in the future – improving its already high ROI.
How to Gain More Leads from Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy
One final mistake worth mentioning is not using Hushly.
We designed our platform specifically for B2B companies, so you’ll see immediate results from every post you publish. Imagine being able to derive a clear ROI from all of your content.
This is something we’ve already achieved for more than 100 B2B companies. If you’d like to see how we do it, please request a free demo today.
