You’re surrounded with examples of great content for B2C offers. Everywhere you look, you see reviews of consumer electronics, recipes including a beloved product from supermarket shelves or commercials for the latest sales event at a big box store. Marketing to other professionals in adjacent industries isn’t the same. The products and services a B2B company sells aren’t usually impulse buys, and buyers are far more market-savvy than the audience for consumer products. When publishing website content for B2B visitors, keep these guidelines in mind.
Talk to Your Whole Audience
For most consumer purchases, copy only has to reach a single decision-maker. Large investments such as a home or a car might bring in another voice or two as spouses and families give their input. In B2B marketing, your content has to connect with a number of influential people, including the executive who decides when it’s time to buy, the CFO who checks the budget to see if the expenditure’s affordable and the personnel who will use the product. You want to connect with the people who hold the purse strings, but don’t neglect others who influence the decision-making process.
Expect Longer Waits for Results
The orders companies place with their B2B suppliers could affect countless customers and cost millions. Those decisions aren’t made lightly or quickly. The lead time between when your business content is published and when it bears fruit could be months, so it needs to be evergreen. Evergreen content doesn’t become dated within a few months and still has something to say to readers months or years after its publication. Keep your B2B content largely free of narrow topical and time-sensitive information so it continues to work for you as long as you have it available. Save the timely information for social media and quick blog posts or email blasts; those channels are ideal for up-to-the-minute information.