‘Familiarity breeds contempt’. A bold statement, we know. But what does this have to do with B2B content marketing?
Well, to put it simply, audiences are growing tired of being served the same lackluster content and are looking for something more. More exciting. More engaging. More authentic.
Yes, traditional formats such as webinars and whitepapers are still relevant in the B2B content marketer’s arsenal, but buyer behaviours and engagement levels are changing. So, it’s time for something new and exciting.
This year, B2B marketers have an opportunity to shake audiences out of their fatigue and give them something new and invigorating. In this blog, we’ll cover 5 tactics you can use to elevate storytelling, create new immersive worlds and redefine expectations.
Atomise Insights
Your organisation has created a new 5,000-word whitepaper that is bursting at the seams with valuable information and nuggets of insight – good job. Will it be studied and carefully digested by your C-suite audience as you’d intended? Probably not.
It’s not you, don’t worry. C-suite executives are time-poor and, let’s be honest, they’re probably skim-reading to find key pieces of information quickly. But this doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your time. What you’ve actually done is curate a mass of high-impact and engaging statistics and insights that can be served up in shorter, more engaging formats.
Content atomisation means distilling key information into its shortest form without diluting its core message or context. B2B audiences, and particularly under-pressure C-suite decision-makers, need information that’s short, digestible and insight-driven. This may seem like a paradigm shift for your business, but if anything, it’s better. You are already gathering and identifying the key insights; it’s simply a case of presenting them in shorter and more engaging ways. For example, using formats like audio-visual summaries on landing pages, interactive infographics and carousels for intense snapshots.
Get reel with short-form video
People buy from people – it’s an emotive, human interaction that requires authenticity and truth. Does your highly produced and extremely expensive corporate video convey this type of genuineness and empathy that customers want to see? Perhaps not as much as you think.
The reason social media and platforms like TikTok have such far-reaching and highly engaged audiences is because they give users a face and voice. It humanises the transfer of information. For example, an infographic or short-form video distributed via an organisation’s mailing list can seem cold and unfeeling. However, if that same video is posted on LinkedIn from an employee’s page and is supported by a personal message, it immediately becomes more approachable and accessible.
“TikTok is making a surprise debut in the business space, featuring 28% of B2B video content”
Another way to create meaningful connections in this space is to focus on the things that make us human… failure, humour and emotion. When highly produced videos, stock imagery and external linking leave audiences cold, creating lo-fi videos in shorter forms, or adding humour to social posts can create a cut-through with disengaged buyers. As mentioned, atomising content is a great way to connect with audiences, but adding humanness and empathy to these videos and posts can help elevate it even further.
Share expertise and show you’re a thought leader
All this talk of short-form videos and atomised content doesn’t negate the need for insightful and expert-led information. Following the advent of traditional content marketing, the internet quickly became awash with convoluted and poorly researched content. I’m sure we’ve all seen ebooks and whitepapers like this in our time.
But one thing always helps brands rise to the top – razor-sharp expertise. When you choose to share your knowledge, predictions, and understanding of your marketplace, you show audiences that you are not only informed, but also a brand they can trust. This trust then keeps prospects and leads coming back to your business for more – and ensures your brand is front of mind when the time comes to buy.
Remember: prioritise consistency and quality over volume. Carefully choosing the topics on which to speak, and then delivering insightful information in an engaging way, will always prove more valuable to B2B buyers. Prospects don’t choose potential suppliers because they post twice a day on social media; they choose partners that they know understand their challenges and objectives – and can offer the expert support they need.
Think interactive when it comes to content
Traditional B2B marketing content in PDF formats is known as ‘lean back’ content. This is because audiences can open the document, lean back in their chair and then dive in. In some instances, this can be valuable (for example, in data-loaded reports), but in most cases, this illustrates a lack of engagement.
So, what’s the solution?
“Interactive content sees 52.6% more engagement than static content”
Yes, you guessed it – the answer is ‘lean forward’ content. This type of content marketing format draws the audiences in, forces them to participate and takes the entire interaction to a new level. Let’s take an infographic as an example. Traditional styles include high-impact visuals and engaging colours which catch the reader’s eye, but that’s usually where the engagement ends. Now, imagine an interactive landing page that has animated visuals and requires the reader to click on icons and menus to reveal more insights – much better.
This approach to interactivity can be introduced in a variety of ways. Think ROI calculators or a benchmarking quiz with personalised results. If you have an impressive budget burning a hole in your pocket, you could even commission a video that asks the viewer to make on-screen decisions and tells a different story depending on their inputs.
Build an ecosystem for your audience
Interactive content is a great way to ensure you capture your audiences’ interests. However, after they have ‘completed’ the interaction, they may venture off to other sites or even other suppliers/partners. What you need is a way to not only capture your buyers’ attention but also maintain them over the longer term.
“A cold prospect can require 20-50 touches before converting to a sale”
This is where content ecosystems are vital. An ecosystem is an environment where your audience can immerse themselves both in your content and in the insights you are offering. For example, instead of a standalone landing page, what about a microsite that includes video, audio, and dynamic content on evergreen topics that will keep them coming back?
When we consider the highly digitised world we live in and the capabilities of the latest tech, why not create an immersive content experience in a virtual world using the likes of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). With continued growth of technology such as the Meta Quest VR headset, your business could go all out and create an entirely virtual experience in the Metaverse which includes features such as gamification. This innovative approach to B2B content marketing is a far cry from traditional PDFs, but it performs a valuable function in today’s busy marketplaces – it maintains your audience’s attention and engagement, and keeps them coming back to you.
Beat the content fatigue
B2B buyers and audiences are tired of the same old content types and messaging, and some might say, rightly so. But this also presents an opportunity for industry leaders to rise above and position themselves as the go-to brand in their sector. If there was ever a time to audit your existing content processes and introduce new and exciting ideas, it’s now. Hopefully, this blog has given you the inspiration you need to shake off the old PDF approach and try something new and invigorating that will keep your buyers coming back for more.
Do you agree with these 5 approaches? Are there other ideas you think we’ve missed or you’d like to add? To have your say, just drop us a line at info@digitalradish.co.uk.
Selbey Anderson Group of agencies