A report published by the CMO Council entitled Better Lead Yield in the Content Marketing Field raises 2 rather bothersome points for B2B content marketers.
- A staggering 67% of B2B buyers don't trust vendor content.
- Just 27% of key purchase influencers and decisions makers consider online content to have a major impact on vendor selection.
Why should B2B marketers care about content?
If we consider those highlights in isolation you wouldn't be blamed for feeling as though you've just been delivered a rather swift punch to the sternum. If more than two thirds of our target audience don't trust what we saying and even if they do, just short of a third let it influence their selection of vendor, then why on earth should we bother churning out content, right? Wrong!
The answer lies with the minorities. A third do trust vendor content and a third do rate content as a major influence on vendor selection. That means there are companies out there that are overcoming the majority viewpoint and doing a great job with Content Marketing to win their clients over.
Let's take a closer look at those statistics and what they mean for B2B content marketers.
67% of B2B buyers don't trust vendor content
If we think about it, this really shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Corporate messaging has a long-standing reputation for being an egotistical exhibition of product features and technical jargon, lacking personalisation and context for the solution-seeker. It's no wonder that many buyers are still highly skeptical that any content on offer provides anything more than a self-serving purpose.
What types of content do they most value and trust?
Peer-powered content is perceived as more valuable and trustworthy.
Build trust by developing content that first and foremost seeks to help, educate or inform buyers. Profiling your buyer personas will help you focus on creating and providing content that educates them on fresh concepts and ideas to solve the problems they face. Refrain from overt product promotion. You aim is to establish your business as a realiable source of informative and trustworthy content, positioning you as thought-leaders contributing value to your industry.
What characteristics of B2B content do they value most?
Content depth and accessibility is valued by B2B buyers.
Ensure that content provides comprehensive information regarding your specific, covering all related aspects. B2B buyers are looking for original perspectives on stale concepts. Provide your company's view on the latest industry news and present innovative concepts to establish your business as the go-to resource for your field. Readability is also highlighted as valued. Abstain from using jargon and terminology that your audience may not be familiar with. Your buyer persona profile will, again, help here to ensure you are using language that your target market is comfortable with.
With 41% of B2B buyers using smartphones to access content and 30% using tablets, it is important to provide accessibility to content from these devices. In fact, B2B marketers should consider the impact of multi-channel and device consumption on all content formats. We are living in an on-the-go age where our mobile devices are ubiquitous facets of our day-to-day activities, including online content consumption. Despite this, few organisations make provision for this behaviour and do not optimise content for multi-channel and multi-device accessibility. This quote from the study sums it up rather nicely: [B2B marketers] need to captivate and engage [buyers] in a cluttered, competitive and time-constrained online world.
In order to reach and influence our different audiences across various channels and devices, we need to move beyond the clichéd whitepaper ideology and incorporate shorter, more accessible formats including video and multimedia and distribute content across multiple channels.
27% of key purchase influencers and decisions makers consider online content to have a major impact on vendor selection
Primary reasons given for the lack of impact on vendor selection revolve around the fact that most buyers find vendor websites lack the objectivity and strategic context that they require to assist them with complex evaluation and purchasing decisions. Content that is created explicitly to provide solutions to buyer persona hurdles, providing context that indicates a deep understanding of the challenges and needs they have, is the type of content that helps buyers identify best-suited vendors.
The overall findings of this report point to the fact that many, if not most, B2B organisations are still in the fundamental stages of building the required strategies, processes and competencies to deliver effective content marketing that resonates with their respective markets and translates into business results. Those who are succeeding have been proactive in transitioning content creation from a haphazard and ad-hoc process to one that is intrinsically aligned to the overall business strategy and guides the target audience to a solution effectively.
Want to learn more about creating a great content marketing strategy that will win you customers and delight your clients? Grab our free eBook today.
