When implemented correctly, content marketing offers a lot of value to potential clients in the way of education and tools to be better at their jobs.
The benefits to companies who execute a well-crafted B2B content marketing strategy are a proliferation of new client leads, tools to nurture leads throughout the sales process, and building up the thought leadership and credibility of the company. Many firms in the B2B space understand the value of content marketing, but don’t understand what makes content valuable to the end user – the prospect or client. However, there are a handful of B2B firms across various industries that are really nailing content marketing.
Here are 7 B2B companies that are really rocking their content marketing efforts (and their target market loves them for it).
MarketingProfs
All it takes is one look at the online marketing resources of MarketingProfs, a B2B marketing education and training company, to see how much work they put into their content marketing. They don’t just blog. They also have podcasts, online seminars, tutorials, guides, reports, and a variety of other accessible tools.
Education is at the core of their business, but you don’t have to pay for everything. The folks behind MarketingProfs understand the power of giving away quality content to nurture leads that may not be in a buying stage yet. Through their commitment to content marketing, MarketingProfs has established itself as the go-to resource for all things marketing.
Salesforce
When you think of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, Salesforce likely comes to mind. Why? Well, yes, they have been around for a long time, but they also actively push out quality content in a variety of formats to help current customers use their CRM, help sales professionals get better at their jobs, and educate potential clients on how to best utilize their CRM data.
Take a look at the Salesforce blog. It’s not so much simply a blog as it is a resource hub for all their content marketing efforts. The blog hosts recent articles enables visitors to sign up for their newsletter, showcases recent reports, and is home to a ton of interactive content.
Oracle
As a B2B firm, Oracle has their hands in so many different things. Due to this wide ranging product and service offerings, they have a variety of target markets. While their overall B2B content marketing strategy may be complex and intricate, their online content resources are easy to navigate. Trust me, this takes a lot of thought, testing, and smart people to do. It’s easy to make things complex, but much more challenging to make it seamless for the user.
Take their Supply Chain Management resource library. It’s a clean, easy to navigate online resource that houses carefully organized survey reports, infographics, videos, briefs, and more. All the educational information a supply chain professional needs, in the format they prefer it in, is available all in one spot. They are rocking this thing called B2B content marketing.
QuickBooks
QuickBooks – they do accounting and payroll software, right? This is likely an issue they have faced from potential clients, being seen as a fairly one-dimensional software platform. How do they solve that problem? Educate prospects with content marketing (and a strong search engine optimization strategy).
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Now, you may thing account software really only has one benefit, to help you track your books. The content marketing for QuickBooks tells a very different story (hence why they are rocking B2B content marketing in our book). They have a ton of articles for small business that cover all sorts of tips from managing inventory, to reducing costs, to case studies on successful businesses. QuickBooks has also created guides, tools, and videos for business professionals to use to streamline their operations and better manage their internal resources. They key to their content is that rather than focusing on how the software works, they share tips on how to put the software to work for a business to save costs, increase revenue, and streamline operations – all things that matter to a prospect or customer.
Zenefits
If you are an entrepreneur, you may be familiar with Zenefits. It’s an HR software platform that manages a bunch of different functions like payroll, benefits, compliance, and time tracking. Are they the only HR software out there? Nope. So, what sets them apart from the other HR software providers? Their content marketing resources. They offer everything from webinars to guides to blog posts to events.
When you look at the B2B content marketing resources, you can see that they focus on how to use the Zenefits software or the various features of the platform. Instead, the resources focus on things that HR managers or those managing HR duties care about: compliance, commuter benefits, 401ks, casual work cultures, employee productivity, and more. The content they are putting out there is valuable to HR professionals because it explains how to be compliant with new legislations or how to accommodate various types of employees – things that help them be successful at their jobs.
MailChimp
“Need advice on new marketing channels? Want to understand the mystery of segmentation? You’ve come to the right place.” – MailChimp.
This is the very first thing you see when you navigate to the content marketing resources on the MailChimp website. Keep in mind these resources are available to anyone, not just MailChimp customers. MailChimp makes money on their email marketing software, so why are they talking about new marketing channels and sharing tips on segmentation? Because their target audience cares about those things.
The cool thing about MailChimp’s B2B content marketing strategy is the accessibility of the content. They likely have a range of target markets from mom and pop shops to multi-million dollar organizations, however, they manage to keep a consistent, accessible tone to all of their content. When you get into topics like list segmentation, remarketing, social paid advertising, it’s easy to slip into a ton of tech talk. They avoid this in all their content making it valuable for all members of their audience. This is one of their value propositions that shines through in how they deliver content.
MavenLink
If you don’t use project management software, you may not be familiar with MavenLink. In the project management software space, there are a lot of competitors. What does MavenLink do to differentiate themselves in a competitive market? They focus on providing helpful best practices, tips, and resources for project management professionals.
What we like about their B2B content marketing is not only that they giving away great tips for project managers, they are transparent about it. Their resource library states, “Discover how to deliver projects more predictably and profitably with efficiency tips and greater visibility into your work day.” What project manager doesn’t need that? It’s clear that MavenLink is focused on helping their target market become better performers (and not just because they say so). Their ebooks, case studies, webinars, videos, and blogs all share actionable advice for project managers. They are literally giving away their knowledge. Even their pop-ups on the website are giving away knowledge.
The Secret to Great B2B Content Marketing
Now, all these examples are well and good, but what’s the takeaway here? What can you gain from all these great resources who are rocking content marketing so hard? Well, there is a common theme amongst them all. Their content is focused on education, not sales. They aren’t talking about the features and benefits of their products or services. They are sharing helpful information to help current and potential prospects work smarter, be better at their jobs, and/or save time or money. Their content is VALUABLE to their target audience. The secret to great B2B content marketing is to create valuable content that your prospects and clients love and make them come back for more.