If content marketing has become the number one weapon of many companies wishing to acquire new customers, it is good that this strategy has been proven for many years in terms of visibility and reputation.
Investing in a content marketing strategy must, however, be carefully considered, with full knowledge of the issues and constraints of the exercise. Indeed, all the success (or failure!) of this method is based on the production and sharing of relevant content and high quality to disseminate your expertise to your customers and those you covet. However, be assured that when compelling content meets its target, the results can quickly become spectacular, like a multiplication of your conversion rate. We have made a list to present you the 5 types of content most used to propel one’s B2B marketing, their strengths, weaknesses and recommendations for their use!
The Whitepaper
Are you wondering how to market your products and expertise to a qualified target? Search no more! The white paper is the quick fix, and undoubtedly the most widespread content, especially for professionals. This is not surprising when we know that this type of content has influenced 82% of decision-making in the last 12 years (Source : Demand Gen Report)!
White papers are usually for your target audience, the people you want to go to first and who need information on a topic they already know more or less. As you can see, the white paper must cover extensive information gathered from experts in the field. The white paper is thus a long or expensive content to produce if you lack time or the necessary expertise internally in terms of editorial qualities for example. It is, however, an essential element of your inbound marketing strategy!
Our recommendations as to the drafting of a white paper is to determine a theme to address to a target to be addressed. Increase the messages or the angles by which the approach would result in a loss of efficiency and thus a return on investment.
We highly recommend that you hire editorial professionals to write your white paper. This one conveys your expertise, so it must not contain any misspelling, error of conjugation or clumsy formulation on pain of discrediting your expertise.
In addition, it is advisable to avoid quoting directly your products or services in your white paper, under penalty of it being seen only as an advertising content and not as an aid to decision-making. Demonstrating your expertise with interesting and useful content should be a lot more rewarding in the long run.
Webinars
72% of B2B marketers and sales managers consider the webinar as the best way to generate qualified leads. (Source: GoToWebinar)
This online seminar is indeed an opportunity to interact directly with a qualified target and having your full attention (at least during the first minutes of broadcast!). It is your responsibility to work on how you will be speaking to those specialists who have demonstrated an interest in your products or services by registering for your online event.
So put the odds on your side to capture the attention of your audience throughout your presentation and make sure your webinar is a success!
We have 3 main recommendations to give you if you plan to organize a webinar soon:
First, make sure you choose the best people to lead your webinar. They must master their subject in order to answer as many questions as possible, but they must also be comfortable with this live exercise to encourage participants to stay connected to the end and share their thoughts on topics addressed. Also remember to dedicate a person to the transcription of the questions asked and addressed, but also to all those that you won’t have the time to answer. This additional information will allow you to get back to the participants and start a conversation with them.
Then test your Internet connection and webinar platform in advance so you can quickly deal with any technical issues that may arise. Remember to keep a technical resource with you on the D-Day to ensure the smooth running of your project. You can also record your webinar so that you can offer a catch-up session to users who cannot be present, or to those who would like to hear it again.
Finally, plan your webinar on a date and schedule that may be appropriate for the majority of your participants. This is especially important if your webinar is expanding internationally across multiple time zones.
Case studies
The case study is a preferred document if you wish to communicate the benefits that your services or products have brought to other clients who agree to testify.
With this type of document, you have the opportunity to detail your expertise and the quality of your products while demonstrating the positive impact that you could bring in real-life situations. Your future customers are given the opportunity to project themselves into situations in which they can relate and easily find solutions to their needs. You simply prove to them that they can trust you!
However, there are some rules to follow in order for your case study to produce the desired effect:
First of all, privilege the testimony of a well-known client to multiply the impact of your case study. The word of a customer whose name is a guarantee of quality in his sector of activity will certainly have more weight with readers than an unknown company.
Take the time to detail the problem of the client and his initial situation. It is certain that the customer you have helped is not the only one to have encountered this problem and that other companies are certainly looking for solutions to similar issues. Explaining in detail the problem faced by your client will make your readers more likely to realize that they are, or could be, in a similar situation. This strategy will be even more rewarding if you make your case study a blog post, since these issues will be your keywords and allow you to be indexed on these queries.
In any case, do not hesitate to highlight the most striking phrases of the testimony of your client with a different typography so that they stick in the clients’ minds.
Then show how you have responded to this problem, solutions deployed proven in context without falling into technical jargon. Your client’s testimonial and the tone you will use will be crucial so that the rendering is not a purely commercial self-promotion message but the sharing of the story that you and your client have written, having ended in success.
Communicate with key figures that leave no room for doubt and that will convince your readers. If your customer has doubled their return on investment through your collaboration, it is essential to put this figure forward. This can even be expressed right from the title of your case study to make it catchier.
Finally, like for the white paper, we advise you to have your case study written by an editorial professional so that this one reflects your professionalism and your expertise.
Analysis reports
66% of surveyed prospects are ready to leave their contact details to receive an analysis report (Source DemandGen).
If engaging your prospects in an analysis can help you get information about them, making this analysis report downloadable can open the door to great business opportunities! Still, you must have followed a few simple rules before reaching the final result. We have listed for you the essential questions to ask yourself before starting your draft analysis report.
What subject is of particular interest to my audience? Is it more about future trends, or feedback? Do not be afraid to use a quick survey or Google Trends in order not to miss THE problematic of your targets! You can then focus your analysis on this specific subject and produce a report useful to most. Write the questions that will cover your entire topic and remain open to any changes that may be relevant to you when you actually start your study. Some angles of the subject may be addressed by your respondents, which you would not have thought of upstream.
Who to ask to build my analysis? Several answers are available to answer this question. As mentioned above, you can call on your current clients to build your analysis report, which will allow you to establish a different relationship with them and to learn more about their vision of the problem addressed. However, you must be able to rely on a wide enough customer base to cover your subject completely. In addition, you must ensure that your clients will have enough time to answer your questions, usually by sending the analysis report in full after completion.
You can also expand your horizons to complete their testimonials and conduct your own investigation on the subject to be treated. To do this, you will need to compile many analyses, gather information from experts or standard profiles, and take advantage of your own experience (where possible) to arrive at a complete analysis of the subject. For example, for an analysis report on feedback from content marketing, you can study the return on investments of various campaigns for yourself or for your customers and find a panel of users to interview via LinkedIn.
How to present my analysis report? Whether it is a PowerPoint, PDF or a flip book online, your study report must first specify the sources and the size of the panel interviewed to complete your survey. You can then organize your content through major axes that will appear to you when you have compiled all of your information. Present the figures as graphics and do not be afraid to make it all visual so you do not knock out your readers on the third page.
How to publish my analysis report? It is customary to first send your analysis report to the sources that contributed to it. You can also post your content on your corporate social networks and tag those who participated in the study to encourage them to repost it on their own platform.
Finally, you can create an advertising campaign to download your document. To do this, work on a landing page in your colors, exclusively for the content of your study and the benefits of becoming aware of your targets. Then put in place a campaign referring to this landing page and bring to the attention of all professionals with a persona similar to your interviewees this content that will certainly be useful to them.
Infographics
Infographic is probably the best way to get a message across quickly thanks to its very visual and fun side. But it must be easy enough to read and understand!
You must indeed reflect on the content of your infographic and how you will articulate the information that constitute it so that the story that is told is consistent and compelling. The more unique and relevant the content you propose, the more likely it will be shared and influence the decisions of your future clients.
As you can see, the form and content of your infographic are both important and must be studied carefully. We have listed for you the crucial steps to make the production of your infographic a success:
First, establish the general idea of your infographic, the message you want to convey, where you have to succeed by showing your added value.
Then write the content and highlight the key figures or information that will be the highlight of your document. Numbers, graphics, keywords, links of coherence and importance between information are all parameters to take into account to build your document. So you start to imagine your infographic by building it step by step.
Then, choose an infographic visual that will highlight the data you have previously selected. It can be fun or more professional depending on the target you are addressing. Feel free to use existing infographics that would have particularly stuck with you for yourself.
Finally, use a professional designer for the layout of your infographic. It would be a shame if all the work done upstream is spoiled by an unattractive visual. Calling a professional will save you time and no doubt get a better return on investment.
We hope that this overview of the content to be produced to make your brand or your company more credible with professionals will have been useful to you! Feel free to send us your feedback, your questions and comments, or your suggestions for future articles.
