It is the singer, not the song. In February 2018, fans hailed Pink’s performance of the national anthem at the Super Bowl, but jeered Fergie’s version a few days later at the NBA All-Star Game. Lots of brands have the same content, some just sing it differently and better.

B2B marketing, in years past, was largely a paper-based or face-to-face activity. Then, the best options included print advertising, direct mailers, brochures, product sheets, sales calls and trade shows.

Today, with the internet, email, social media and increasingly other forms of digital communication, it is much easier to reach existing and potential customers. Of course, as buyers are faced with more information and become more astute about what they consume, this has created a different set of challenges for marketers.

As a result, content marketing has become the uber B2B marketing practice. In its simplest form, content marketing is about creating high-quality, valuable mediums and messages (think websites, microsites, blogs, videos, tweets, templates, Q&A’s, infographics, surveys, contests and research) to engage audiences, while also promoting a brand.

According to information shared by the Content Marketing Institute:

  • Compared to paid search, content marketing gets three times the leads per dollar spent and has both lower up-front costs and deeper long-term benefits.
  • Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing and generates triple as many leads.
  • Almost half of 18-49-year-olds get their information online, and that number is increasing.
  • Approximately 77% of internet users read blogs, and small businesses that blog get 126% more leads than small business that do not blog.

SnapApp gathered more than 50 B2B content marketing stats, including:

  • 73% of B2B marketers publish case studies, and 78% of B2B buyers use case studies when researching purchases.
  • The average blog is now 1,142 words. Previously, 500-word posts were enough to get a keyword ranking. Those days are gone. With so much content to organize, it appears that Google looks at word count as an indicator of depth and quality.
  • Infographics are shared and liked on digital media three times more often than other types of content.

HubSpot shared these marketing insights and trends:

  • Historical optimization is the practice of refreshing previously published content to increase lead generation and traffic. In doing so, brands can capitalize on the existing authority and traffic a post has already garnered.
  • Google has 3.5 billion and Facebook has 1.5 billion searches per day. So, brands are essentially at the mercy of algorithms  –  which are subject to constant change – including:
    • Google’s algorithm being updated to favor legitimacy and thought leaders on a topic (not content machines or pay-for-play copywriting).
    • Search engines in general (including technology like Amazon Alexa) becoming more complex and sophisticated and understanding semantically related concepts.

Finally, in today’s high-velocity digital, social and mobile universe, brands are more empowered than ever. Time, speed and knowledge are the “currencies” of the future. Compelling and consistent content marketing works, and Cooksey Communications can help. We can provide the best practices and strategies to create content that inspires, convinces, educates and entertains.

Randy E. Pruett
Vice President & Account Manager
randy@cookseypr.com