Creating B2B Content that Actually Rocks [INFOGRAPHIC]

Content marketing is more than a consumer marketing trend. If you’re a B2B marketer, this audience development tool can be extremely powerful when it comes to building customer bonds and generating awareness about brands that may otherwise have a difficult time telling their stories.

Across the board, CMOs want to boost their content marketing budgets in 2013. It’s a top priority. But online media isn’t a free-for-alland the competition is stiff. Your target audiences are constantly bombarded with a lot of reading material. Your company needs to stand out.

Do Your Due Diligence
As the following infographic from Uberflip explains, you need to undergo the following simple steps before jumping into the content marketing craze:

1. Understand the tactics that best complement your line of business
2. Determine your success metrics

More than Just Writing
B2B content marketing is about bringing audiences knowledge, thought leadership, and industry best practices. Writing isn’t enough to accomplish that end goal.

You need a blended approach that incorporates social media to fuel distribution, a newsletter to encourage user retention, case studies to help make your business’ use cases more tangible, and in-person events to personalize audience connections. Videos, webinars, and executive-authored blogs can be key parts of a broad marketing strategy that is equal parts knowledge factory, traffic generator, and sales channel.

Look Beyond Yourself
Share the love. B2B buyers rely on social media networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook for information. Like your company, they’re looking for exposure. Share the love by regularly and publicly acknowledging and communicating with customers, prospects, and fellow brands that you love on your blog and through social media. 

Focus on Leads
Leads and sales are the lifeblood of your business (obviously) and should always be clear goals in your content marketing strategy. Content marketing engages customers, attracts prospects, drives sales for your business, builds thought leadership, and educates the market. This newly engaged audience can convert into prospects. As a content marketer, it’s your job to make it happen.

What’s Missing
This infographic needs some brand examples to help illustrate B2B companies that are doing it right. Check out the following B2B brands for great inspiration:

— Crazy Egg leverages its blog to generate free trial sign-ups for its website heatmapping software.
— Grasshopper positions its blog as a tool to share valuable insight with entrepreneurs.
— Unbounce’s blog is instrumental for building a community of conversion optimization experts.