When people are looking for something, they head for the internet. This is practically a universal truth today, even for decision makers looking for products and services on a B2B level. We can even back this conclusion up with data. Think with Google tells us that “89% of B2B researchers use the internet during the B2B research process.” Enter content marketing.
What does this mean for businesses selling to other businesses (as opposed to selling to consumers)? It means that appearing in organic search results on search engines is more important than ever. Buyers are searching and they want to be able to find you.
It doesn’t stop at just finding you though. After they’ve found you they want to learn about you in the lowest pressure way possible, until they’re interested enough to contact you of their own accord. In fact, one source states that “47% of buyers viewed three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep.”
B2B decision makers want to view and absorb self-service content that can tell them almost everything they need to make a buying decision. By the time they want to talk to a sales rep it’s simply to ask any remaining questions, compare a few short-listed competitors and get down to making a decision. They don’t really want to be “sold” your product at this point; they’ve already been sold by your content marketing.
So, what if you’re content marketing strategy is weak, or worse, non-existent? Well, you’re going to want to change that. According to research conducted by marketing automation powerhouse, Hubspot, “Companies that published 16+ blog posts per month got almost 3.5X more traffic than companies that published between 0 – 4 monthly posts.” See, it works.
At Strategy Twelve we’ve witnessed this phenomenon with our own clients. With the implementation of a content marketing strategy, they’ve gone from relative obscurity to rating on the 1st page of Google search results on 50 to hundreds of relevant search terms.
You might be wondering how long you have to keep up with the content marketing to see benefits, and that’s a legitimate question. Content marketing for B2B companies rarely results in overnight results, but anyone who promises you overnight results is likely lying to you. With a good strategy and consistent effort, B2B companies should start seeing results from their content marketing efforts in 3-6 months.
This may seem like a long lead-time to see results, especially for the early stage startups that we often work with, but the benefits of content marketing will be felt for months and years to come. That’s because the more views your content receives the more valuable search engines view it as and the more searchers they’ll send your way. So, if you’re still humming and hawing, you’re one step further behind with every day you wait to implement a content marketing strategy.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by how much business you’re missing out on by not having a content marketing strategy, we feel your pain, and we can help. Reach out to us to discuss how content marketing for your B2B company could be a business growth game-changer.