The majority of purchasing decisions in B2B generally begin with a prospect engaging with your content. Therefore, whether you deliver this content through your website, an ad or a blog, what you have to say and the insights you provide are critical as to whether or not that prospect turns into your customer.
Most B2B Marketers understand this concept, which is why I was so perplexed by a recent survey which stated that 50% of B2B marketers believe that thought-leadership in their marketing provides little to no value! This is despite 83% of B2B buyers proclaiming that thought-leadership pieces played a big part in their purchasing decisions. (LinkedIn, 2018)
It’s clear to see that it is in fact of immense value to B2B marketers, and that more marketers in this field should be considering it as part of their marketing strategy.
But what makes for a provocative and engaging thought-leadership piece?
Because, with 52% of C-suite executives (and potential purchasers) declaring that they perceive B2B marketing content to be ‘Untrustworthy’ and ‘Self-serving’ (Raconteur, 2018), it’s certainly understandable why many marketers wish to tread carefully around creating this kind of content!
I once held the same viewpoint, but recently I took the plunge and wrote a piece of thought-leadership content that seemed to hit all the right buttons…Don’t get me wrong, this took me some time and I’m sure I’ve been guilty of missing the mark before! However, this particular piece was responsible for generating around 60% more leads compared to other content-led campaigns we have run in the past – as well as some lovely feedback and new enquiries!
Here’s 3 top tips from what I have learnt:
1. Don’t try and sell your products or services.
This sounds crazy, as this is the fundamental role of a B2B marketer. But a successful thought-leadership piece is just that, it should provide alternative thoughts and ideas around a topic in which your brand is an expert. In my own content, I actually gave multiple examples of other agency’s work – again, crazy, why would I do that?! Well, because it didn’t matter; I was sharing our brand’s views on what makes good creative marketing, and it was irrelevant if the examples were our work or not. This is because the content served it’s purpose in providing insights to our audience who ultimately found value in the content, and therefore got in touch with us over those other agencies!
2. Be bold, contrarian and provocative.
B2B tech is a market that is saturated, which means your target customers are likely to have engaged with countless Whitepapers and marketing material from competitor brands before they come across yours. So this is your chance to provide fresh insight and stand out against the masses! If you need stats to back up this view point, Raconteur, 2018, found that 65% of C-suite executives preferred and were more likely to read content that challenges the norm!
3. Amazing content can still be useless without the right delivery.
As mentioned earlier, your prospects have already stumbled upon many a Whitepaper or blog article, which gives you good reason to go against the grain and distribute your thought-leadership in an alternative format. I personally decided to create an interactive eBook, it added much more depth than a standard Whitepaper as well being highly visual and engaging. It also provided me with opportunities to link to video content, and for our prospects to get in touch with questions relating to the topic. Another thing I considered was the timing of my delivery, 74% of C-suite execs spend the most time consuming content before work, first thing in the morning (Raconteur, 2018). As my eBook was being distributed through a paid social campaign, I was conscious to increase bids on my CPC during these times, to give my content the best chance of being seen by my target audience.
I hope this blog encourages you to be brave and go create some amazing thought-leadership content! But if you do have any questions or would like to see some examples, please get in touch: emma@affarimedia.com
