Travel bloggers, journalists, and hobbyists have it easy. How hard is it to keep your audience engaged when your content is rock climbing photos from the Eastern Himalayas during Nepalese election season?
The rest of us are stuck down here with the common folk, trying to capture people’s attention with the benefits of outsourced paint drying observation for your small business needs—and just wait till you hear this one weird trick!
Writing engaging B2B content isn’t always easy. We feel your pain. That’s why we’re sharing some of the secret ingredients to our winning B2B content recipe.
Keep Your Blog Current
First off, if your target market is business owners, the odds are that they understand the basics of their own industry. Yesterday’s news isn’t going to makes waves with people who keep up with developments in their niche. If you want the attention of industry insiders, your content needs to be well researched and focused on the present.
Know Your Blog's Target Audience
Different niches comprise different norms, different modes of communication, and different personalities. If you want to connect with your audience, you have to understand what makes them tick. For marketers, this means tireless research to dig up any data that can provide useful insight. For industry insiders who write their own content, it just means maintaining a conversation with known entities.
Make Your Blog Actionable
B2B buyers are more interested in the tangible. How does your product or service affect the bottom line? In order to answer that question, the tendency is to jump straight into the nitty-gritty, the unapologetically technical run-down of what you have to offer. After all, these are people who operate within or around your industry. They’re actually interested in this stuff—sort of.
The issue is that B2B content is still content, and the arch nemesis of every content writer is the limitation of the human attention span. If you want people to pay attention to your B2B content, you still have to make an immediate impression and get to the point.
Switch Up the Format
Nobody sticks around for a one-trick pony. Don’t be afraid to mix up your mediums and content delivery platforms. If blog posts aren’t cutting it, take a stab at webinars, infographics, or videos. B2B buyers like variety as much as anyone.
Keep it Real
Here’s the thing, a good salesman may not take no for an answer, but the reality is that you’ve got to pick your battles. B2B buyers are going to approach advertising—explicit or otherwise—with a healthy degree of skepticism. Trying to play it slick may not be in your best interest.
Your last winning tip is that if you have a genuine offering, don’t be afraid to let it shine with a genuine voice.
