In the hustle and bustle of your day-to-day tasks, do you ever take a step back and evaluate whether your company’s content is hitting the mark? As marketers, it’s easier to take the safe route and ramble on about your company’s services and accolades than to take the time to create impactful content that aligns with your buyers’ needs. It’s why so many B2B marketers fall into the habit of writing content that reads like a sales pitch.
According to a new survey from Corporate Visions, when asked whether their content is company- or client-specific, 32 percent of the 500 B2B marketers and salespeople questioned said they focus on their own company’s story, while only 27 percent indicated that they focus on their prospects’ stories.
In other words, B2B marketers are more frequently referencing their products and services in their content than providing research and insights, which doesn’t sit well with executives who want valuable insights and helpful tips and tricks to help them through the decision-making process. Instead of being too “salesy” in your content, consider sharing valuable content that’s related to your industry and buyers’ needs.
So how do you go about creating content that doesn’t read like a sales pitch? Let’s look at a few strategies:
- Learn about your audience: Consider doing some thorough research into your target audience. What are their major pain points? What will make their jobs easier on a day-to-day basis? You can learn their thoughts and tendencies by looking at data within your marketing databases; for instance, a marketing automation or CRM platform can provide you with insight into your customers’ purchases, email open rates and more. Based on this data, you can produce content that’s both relevant and educational to your target audience.
- Gather outside voices: Variety is key in content marketing; however, many marketers are only communicating to their target audience in their own voice. As knowledgeable as your organization is on topics within your industry, readers want to hear from other credible sources—such as other influencers in your space. Let’s say you’re in the fire alarm business, for example, you can interview a fire department chief to gain perspective on new safety regulations. If you’re not publishing diverse information, potential buyers are going to look elsewhere.
- Continue to share new ideas via various platforms: Sharing great content is one thing, but people want real interaction. It’s important to create opportunities for thoughtful conversation and engagement through original content by promoting content via various platforms; for example, your corporate blog and social media channels.
If you need help creating content that focuses on your prospects’ stories rather than your own, consider a content strategy vendor that can help produce high-quality, engaging copy for your company. These vendors can strike that perfect balance of industry and company stories for you. Click here to begin turning around your content.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
