Content marketing is an indispensable tool for B2B companies seeking to generate more qualified leads. With many new tools, strategies, and channels emerging, businesses must have a clear and up-to-date content marketing strategy. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just stepping into the content marketing arena, this ultimate B2B content marketing strategy checklist will guide you to success.
Based on insights from the Content Marketing Institute, just 40% of B2B marketers have a written content marketing strategy. Interestingly, 64% of the top-performing B2B marketers do have one in place. They understand the significance of crafting and disseminating valuable, pertinent, consistent content to captivate potential customers.
Customer behaviors, search engine algorithms, and digital platforms continuously evolve, creating challenges and opportunities.
Here’s a B2B content marketing checklist to help you plan, execute, and monitor your content marketing endeavors. This checklist is divided into three sections: defining your strategy, implementing your plan, and analyzing and optimizing your approach.
Set clear, well-defined business goals before embarking on your content marketing journey. While aiming high, be specific by following the SMART criteria, ensuring your objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.
Don't settle for vague aspirations such as "acquiring new customers." Instead, quantify your objectives. How many new customers are you aiming for? How will you measure and track customer acquisition? At which stage of the sales funnel do you want these customers? What's a realistic timeline for achieving these goals based on historical data?
Next, align your business goals with your B2B content marketing objectives. Determine precisely how your content strategy will contribute to accomplishing your business objectives. Through this alignment, you'll begin to discern the tactics your content marketing requires
The digital landscape is vast, with 8.5 billion Google daily searches and roughly 2 trillion global searches annually. To ensure that your content reaches the right audience, you must have a well-defined target audience represented by robust buyer personas.
Buyer personas are detailed profiles of ideal customers constructed through data analysis and insights. They enable you to segment your audience based on specific characteristics, needs, behaviors, and preferences, facilitating the creation of content that resonates deeply.
It's advisable to start with one or two primary personas, gradually delving into every aspect of their existence. Examine your existing customer list, an email database, potential leads, referrals, and third-party networks. Understand their backgrounds, roles, responsibilities, and preferred sources of industry information.
While crafting your content marketing strategy, take notice of the treasure trove of your past content. If you've been actively creating content, this can be a goldmine of insights. A content audit is akin to taking an inventory of your content assets, analyzing their performance, and making informed decisions based on the results.
During your B2B content audit, consider the following factors:
This analysis will be the foundation for optimizing, expanding, or removing content pieces to enhance your strategy's effectiveness.
Keywords are the building blocks of your content strategy. The keywords you choose influence your search engine rankings, helping you to be discovered by the right audience. In 2024, the emphasis is on understanding long-tail keywords and phrases, as 50% of search queries are four words or longer.
To conduct effective keyword research:
| Begin by generating a list of relevant topics and then identify keywords within those topics. For instance, if you operate in the marketing software sector, your topics may include "inbound marketing," "blogging," "SEO," and "marketing automation." Once you've established these topics, delve into finding keywords within each topic. Your choice of keywords should reflect your expertise and where you can offer the most value to your customers. |
Numerous tools can aid your keyword research:
Now that you understand your audience and have a list of keywords, create content tailored to different stages of the buyer's journey. Consider the three key stages:
The best content remains unnoticed without effective promotion. Once you've created your content, you need to ensure it reaches your target audience. Content promotion is as crucial as content creation. The following methods have proven highly successful:
Effective content marketing isn't solely about creating new material. Why limit your existing content to one format?
Successful content can be repurposed into various formats, extending its lifespan and broadening its impact. For example, a well-received blog post can be transformed into infographics, videos, podcasts, case studies, white papers, eBooks, webinars, and more. The key to successful repurposing is to present the content differently, providing added value in each format.
A content marketing strategy is only as effective as your ability to measure its success. To ensure you're on the right track, set key performance indicators (KPIs) for each goal using tools like Google Analytics.
Analytics tools are more sophisticated than ever, offering valuable insights into content performance. Use them to track metrics such as:
Remember to track metrics on social media, such as shares, followers, and comments. Additionally, monitor lead nurturing with metrics like Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), MQLs per channel, conversion rates between MQL to SQL (Sales Qualified Leads), email open rates, and click-through rates.
Regularly review and analyze these metrics to gauge your progress and effectiveness. Content marketing is an evolving process that demands ongoing refinement and innovation for optimal results.
A well-structured content marketing strategy is not a luxury; it's a necessity this year. It's your passport to connect with your target audience, build trust, and convert leads into loyal customers. What worked yesterday might not be effective today. By diligently following this B2B content marketing strategy checklist, you can make your content marketing efforts truly shine.
At KeyScouts, we support your journey to content marketing success in 2024 and beyond. If you ever need expert guidance or feel overwhelmed, don't hesitate to contact us. We're committed to helping you every step of the way.