How is successful B2B marketing like a master jeweler working with diamonds of the digital marketing variety?
Diamonds are forever, as the 1971 James Bond film and its title song made famous, and with the archival global power of the web, your B2B marketing efforts are also likely to endure — so why not strive to make them truly memorable?
Also like diamonds, B2B marketing is a multifaceted endeavor.
Let’s explore five enduring tactics that can help you achieve B2B content marketing clarity and create your own digital marketing diamonds.
1 — Achieve Content Marketing Clarity
Bring diamond-like clarity to your B2B content marketing by identifying and focusing on the heart of your effort’s primary goal.
While it can be tempting to digress into periphery elements of the topic at hand, honing in on the purpose of your content and delivering a clear answer in providing it will make your marketing creations shine with diamond-like brilliance.
Part of providing content marketing clarity is knowing what your audience is hoping to learn from what you’ve got on tap, and this type of knowledge can come from a number of places.
One of the best sources for finding the root topics that your audience is seeking information about are the tools and services that show the questions people are asking online.
Some of the question research tools that B2B marketers can benefit from include:
- Answer the Public
- StoryBase
- SEMrush’s Topic Research Competitive Research Tool
- Ahrefs
- Google Search Console
- KeywordTool.io
- BuzzSumo’s Question Analyzer
Other often-untapped resources for finding out what your audience is looking for include:
- Asking Directly with Polls, Surveys, Focus Groups & Questionnaires
- Tapping Into Search Intent From Voice Search & Chatbots
- Online Form Queries, Server Log Files, & E-mail Questions
You can learn more about each of these tools and tactics in my “10 Smart Question Research Tools for B2B Marketers,” and also dig in to other relevant questions in the following helpful articles:
- 9 Questions to Ask When Hiring a B2B Influencer Marketing Agency
- B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy: 5 Questions to Ask First
- Project Management FAQ: Top Questions B2B Marketers Ask About Projects and Process
- 4 Questions to Drive More Productive Marketing Meetings
Clarity in B2B content marketing can help deliver a diamond rating to your efforts, so take the time to research and fully understand what you’re trying to achieve with any written, visual, or audio marketing efforts.
“Honing in on the purpose of your content and delivering a clear answer in providing it will make your marketing creations shine with diamond-like brilliance.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis Share on X2 — Get a Cut Above With a Marathon of Commitment
In today’s B2B marketing world it takes more than a little commitment to get a cut above when it comes to crafting the best digital diamonds of content.
B2B marketing’s lengthier sales cycles mean you’ll need dedication and commitment to achieve the type of long-term success that powers businesses outside of the B2C realm.
You don’t necessarily need to be Batman or Robin to craft compelling and memorable B2B content, however you will need commitment.
B2B marketing is more akin to a marathon than a sprint, and I’ve explored the similarities between marathon running and marketing in “26.2 B2B Marathon Marketing Lessons,” along with the importance of proper pacing when you’re in it for the long marketing haul, in “5 Payoffs B2B Marketers Win From Precision Pacing.”
“B2B marketing’s lengthier sales cycles mean you’ll need dedication and commitment to achieve the type of long-term success that powers businesses outside of the B2C realm.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis Share on X3 — Finding Hidden Gems Can Sometimes Be Key
Not all that glitters is gold, yet what’s hidden out of sight just below the surface are often gems that can digitally bejewel your B2B marketing content, if you know where and when to look.
Although no handy treasure maps are on offer, B2B marketers can use a number of tactics to unearth the hidden gems that will set your content apart.
Doing your own research and investigation can often be the best way to go beyond what everybody else is doing, allowing you to go far beyond the same few tactics and techniques that are often repeated in perpetuity in all-too-similar how-to guides and lists.
Creating original B2B research that’s both credible and impactful is the focus of our CEO Lee Odden‘s insightful “How to Optimize Original B2B Research Content For Credibility and Impact.”
“Brands that co-create experiential content with relevant experts and influencers can build industry confidence, grow brand trust, create a more effective digital customer experience and drive business growth.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden Share on X4 — Making The Hardest Substance Into a Softer Journey
Diamonds are famously and unyieldingly inflexible, but that doesn’t mean that the marketing journey you offer your audience can’t be a pleasant one.
Some B2B industries may have notoriously friction-riddled obstacles, and smart marketers will turn these challenges into opportunities.
By helping audiences smoothly navigate around troublesome hot-spots, the best B2B content marketing offers the kind of smooth sailing that competitors can’t easily match.
Easing the B2B customer journey is key in 2021 and will most likely become even more critical in 2022, as increasing competition and an influx of more B2C-like tactics mean you’ll need to serve up diamonds and not just more disposable digital dust.
These resources offer fresh takes on the B2B audience journey and using storytelling to smooth the way:
- 6 B2B Content Marketing Summertime Sizzlers To Increase Audience Engagement
- Microsoft’s Miri Rodriguez on How B2B Marketers Are Embracing Empathy For Better Customer Storytelling
- Hophead Marketing: What B2B Marketers Can Learn From The Craft Beer Industry
- Create a Stellar Audience Experience By Slowing Down with These Tips from Ann Handley
5 — Keep a Watch Out For Imposters In The Search For Authenticity
If it appears too good to be true, it’s wise to be wary and take extra measures to make sure the information and answers you’re providing are genuinely helpful and contain the latest accurate information.
Authenticity in B2B marketing is a subject close to our heart at TopRank Marketing, and as such we’ve developed several approaches marketers can take to achieving the most genuine and human connections.
A selection of some of our recent efforts highlighting the importance of authenticity in B2B marketing include:
- Inside Influence 12: Paul Dobson from Citrix on The Secret Sauce of B2B Influence: Authenticity
- The Real Thing: 5 Ways Authenticity Inspires Vibrant B2B Marketing
- Authenticity and Great B2B Content Marketing Go Hand In Hand
- 10 Expert Pointers To Create Better B2B Content With Authentic Influence
- 5 Tips For Finding Your Authentic Marketing Identity
- In Search of Trust: How Authentic Content Drives Customer Experience
Digital Marketing Diamonds Last Forever & A Day
We hope that these five tips for achieving B2B content marketing clarity by getting a cut above with commitment, finding hidden gems, making a softer audience journey, and keeping watch for imposters, will help as you create your own digital marketing diamonds.
Creating award-winning digital experiences and storytelling takes significant time, resources, and effort, which is why many of the world’s top B2B brands choose to partner with a leading B2B marketing agency. Contact us today and learn why for more than 20 years brands from LinkedIn and 3M to Dell and Adobe have chosen to work with TopRank Marketing.
