B2B Content Marketing Hub – Skale https://skale.so Turn your SEO channel into a growth machine Thu, 11 Apr 2024 10:06:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://skale.so/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-skale-32x32.png B2B Content Marketing Hub – Skale https://skale.so 32 32 13 B2B Content Marketing Agencies and Services to Generate Revenue in 2024 https://skale.so/b2b-content-marketing/agencies/ Thu, 04 Apr 2024 12:46:40 +0000 https://skale.so/?post_type=b2b-content-marketin&p=4090 You can’t copy and paste a B2C strategy and expect your B2B content marketing to perform. 

Studies show that B2B buyers consume three to five pieces of content before contacting a sales rep. What’s impacting their purchasing decision? Clear, research-based articles, case studies, and webinars that are tailor-made for your niche.

Great B2B content has a sharp focus on your ICP and is expertly crafted to match your audience’s search intent. It delves into the customers’ jobs-to-be-done, as well as their key pain points and challenges. That’s where a specialized B2B content marketing agency shines.

We’ve compiled a list of 13 top B2B content marketing agencies that specialize in creating content that speaks directly to discerning B2B audiences. 

Agency PricingServices offered
SkaleFrom $4,000/monthSEO growth strategy and execution, paired with expert-led content creation, conversion rate optimization (CRO), link acquisition, and technical SEO
‘AnimalZ’CustomBrand awareness,lead generation, content production, distribution
SociallyinCustomInfluencer marketing, social media strategy, social selling, community management, social media consulting
Viral NationCustomCRM implementation, paid placements, email lead generation
Disruptive AdvertisingCustomPPC management, CRO, eCommerce marketing, lifecycle marketing
FoundationCustomContent creation and strategy, content auditing, marketing intelligence
Siege MediaCustomVideo production, copywriting,  and blog design, link building
Velocity PartnersCustomWeb development, content marketing
JellyfishCustomPPC management, social media marketing, app store optimization (ASO)
BraftonCustomBlogging, business copy, inbound marketing consulting, video marketing, graphic design
VerblioAI + human content: $0.06/word

100% human content: $0.16/word
Content writing, including ebooks, whitepapers, blog posts, website content, and press releases
Power Digital MarketingCustomBranded Amazon search, paid social prospecting, CRO, web developmentemail marketing, data intelligence
Proper ExpressionCustomFull-stack content marketing, growth marketing, demand generation

1. Skale: Best for B2B SEO content

Skale Homepage

Since 2020, Skale has built revenue-generating SEO and content channels for some of the world’s fastest-growing B2B SaaS companies—including HubSpot, UserTesting, and Flodesk. 

Unlike many agencies, they focus on real business KPIs, like sales-qualified leads (SQLs), qualified signups, and monthly recurring revenue (MRR) — instead of vanity metrics like traffic and rankings.

They’ve delivered impactful client results, like:

Skale’s robust content creation process is fueled by competitor research and in-depth, strategic briefs. They proactively reach out to experts in your niche and incorporate their opinions and insights to deliver engaging, authoritative, and credible content that builds your brand. 

Their content marketing offerings include:

  • Optimizing existing content
  • In-depth topic and competitor research 
  • Strategic content briefs written by SaaS SEO experts
  • Content creation for articles, guides, listicles, and landing pages — all crafted by expert writers
  • Collaboration with your in-house team to perfect your brand voice, personality, and key messaging
  • Expert outreach to enrich content with unique insights that meet Google’s E-E-A-T criteria
  • Comprehensive content reviews and quality assurance by senior editors
  • Scheduling and publication of content on your CMS
  • Detailed monthly reports, so you can track ROI and the ongoing value of your content activity
ServicesRecognizable clients
Content writing:
• Alternative pages
• Checklists
• Content hubs
• Glossary pages
• Guides
• Landing pages
• Listicles
SEO management 
Link building 
SEO website migration 
HubSpot, Usertesting, Personio, Appcues, TravelPerk, Flodesk

Generate revenue from SEO content

Book a call to learn how Skale combines SEO and content expertise to drive revenue for your business

Schedule a call

2. AnimalZ: Best for technical B2B industries

Animalz Homepage

AnimalZ is a B2B content agency that caters to enterprise companies, startups, and VC firms. They specialize in long-form content such as articles, industry reports, ebooks, and more. The agency has worked with some top SaaS players, including Zendesk, Airtable, and GoDaddy.

AnimalZ aims to create interesting, thoughtful, and authentic content that doesn’t even look like marketing. Their unique outlook on content is for brands that are a little more “out there.”

Using their strategic storytelling skills, the team has driven commendable growth for their customers, including:

  • Driving a 255% increase in blog visits for Sellbrite
  • Scaling page views from 0 to 76,000 for 360Learning
  • Increasing email subscribers by 13,000 opt-ins for Sacra
ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Brand awareness
Lead generation
Content promotion and distribution
Product marketing
Noom, ZendeskCustomTechnology
SaaS

3. Sociallyin: Best for social media strategy

Sociallyin Homepage

As the name suggests, Sociallyin is a social media-focused marketing agency that produces all kinds of social content — including videos, images, and text — tailored to their customers’ needs. 

They’re a passionate team of creatives who know how to craft engaging content for ever-changing algorithms. Their data-driven social campaigns captivate their clients’ target audience, drive lead generation, and boost brand awareness.

They’ve worked with globally recognized brands such as Mellow and Samsung, and delivered powerful results, like:

  • Generating 8,000 engagements and 34,000 impressions for Incomm, across Instagram and Facebook from Q1 to Q4
  • Reaching 50,000 installs for the Mellow app in just two months
ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Social media marketing
Social paid ads
Community management
Samsung, NetappCustomTechnology
SaaS
B2B

4. Viral Nation: Best for influencer marketing

viral nation Homepage

Viral Nation is a social media marketing agency that specializes in influencer marketing. They have a bespoke, AI-powered platform that helps their clients create, connect, and collaborate better.

Their influencer marketing campaigns consistently yield high ROI, making it a leading marketing channel for brands. They have an award-winning team of designers, storytellers, social experts, and strategists who specialize in delivering content that target audiences connect with on a deeper level. 

Here are some notable client results Viral Nation has achieved across all of their campaigns and platforms:

  • 1 billion+ engaged customers
  • 7x average return on ad spend (ROAS) increase
  • A 42% reduction in the average customer acquisition cost (CAC)
ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
CRM implementation
Paid placement
Performance and high-velocity media buying
Experiential marketing 
Access to a network of creators
Strategic, creative, and data-driven influencer marketing 
Chegg, Logitech CustomB2B
Crypto

5. Disruptive Advertising: Best for PPC management

Disruptive Advertising Homepage

Disruptive Advertising is a full-service digital marketing agency that’s best known for its PPC management services. They’re selective about the brands and people they work with, and only choose those they believe in. 

With over 10 years of experience and hundreds of five-star customer reviews, the agency excels at pairing authentic brands with specialized marketers to develop winning strategies. They also offer their customers access to exclusive relationships, content, and community.

With their leading-edge marketing strategies and metric-driven approach, Disruptive Advertising has delivered some amazing results:

  • Decreasing cost per click (CPC) by 30% for Guide CX
  • Generating 67% more leads for a security services firm
ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Web analytics and site optimization
Amazon marketing
Facebook and Instagram marketing
PPC management
CRO
eCommerce marketing
Lifecycle marketing
KPMG Spark, Nani Swimwear, Adobe Experience CloudCustomB2B

6. Foundation: Best for marketing intelligence

Foundation Homepage

Foundation is a content agency specializing in helping B2B SaaS brands achieve ROI across their marketing and sales funnels. They drive revenue through traffic, sales enablement, thought leadership, backlink content, and social media content. 

Using this powerful content production and distribution process, they’ve achieved impressive results for their clients — such as a 300% increase in social engagement for an audience engagement platform in just three months. 

ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Content creation and strategy
Content auditing
Marketing intelligence
Case studies are available on their website, but brands are anonymousCustomB2B
SaaS
Manufacturing

7. Siege Media: Best for content design

siegemedia Homepage

Siege Media is a content and SEO agency that creates ROI-focused and customer-driven content strategies for growing brands. 

Their portfolio of work showcases impressive results, including a 350% boost in organic traffic for Instacart and the generation of over 10,000 links for Zendesk. 

They’re also heavily focused on content design, as they understand that great UX is critical to a great content strategy. Rather than evaluating one or two posts on your website, the team will look at your whole website and help optimize your brand’s entire digital experience. 

ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Video production
Copywriting
Graphic and blog design
Link building
Asana, AirBnBCustomSaaS
Fintech
eCommerce

SEO content driven by experts in your niche

An engaged audience will generate revenue- that’s why Skale interviews experts for every piece

Learn more

8. Velocity Partners: Best for B2B marketing strategy

Velocity Partners Homepage

Velocity Partners is a specialist B2B tech marketing firm. They focus on creating content that cuts through the B2B noise. And that starts with “radical accountability”: about the audience, the creative process, and about marketing’s capacity to make an impact.

For instance, they helped Salesforce boost event turnout with a content strategy that included teaser videos, blogs, emails, LinkedIn ads, landing pages, and more — leading to 150 registrations for their flagship Basecamp online event.

ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Web development
Content marketing
OpenMarket, Constellant, SalesforceCustomB2B
Technology

9. Jellyfish: Best for data-based campaigns

Jellyfish Homepage

Jellyfish is a B2B and B2C marketing agency that’s worked with popular brands like Disney, ESPN, eBay, Netflix, and more. Their global team, which spans 22 countries, excels at building compelling brand narratives. 

The agency believes generative AI provides an opportunity to unlock innovations, and has  built a custom GenAI tool that helps businesses identify where best to focus their investment. 

Their main focus is to help brands build an online presence through diverse content marketing initiatives: email, social media, blogs, and paid ads.

ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
PPC management
Social media marketing
ASO
Disney, Slack, Netflix, ESPN, eBayCustomB2B
B2C

10. Brafton: Best for forward-thinking content strategy

Brafton Homepage

Brafton is a B2B content marketing agency with an extensive in-house team of graphic designers, copywriters, marketers, video designers, and sales professionals.

With a targeted and data-driven content marketing approach, they’ve managed to generate significant value for their clients: including hundreds of leads for MoEngage and an 80% decrease in customer acquisition costs (CAC) for Concentric.

ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Blogging
Business copy
Inbound marketing consulting
Video marketing
Graphic design
Lanshore, Webex, MoEngage CustomB2B

11. Verblio: Large range of content formats

Verblio Homepage

Verblio offers blog and content writing services to help marketers improve brand awareness, messaging, and positioning. Their content offerings include blog posts, articles, web copy, landing pages, and other long-form content projects. 

Their approach involves diving deep into a brand’s writing style and leveraging subject matter expertise to make content more valuable and insightful.

Verblio can deliver a high volume of articles for you — think in the thousands — or take charge of content strategy creation altogether. And with their pricing model, if you don’t like the content, you don’t have to pay for it.

ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Content writing, including ebooks, whitepapers, blogs, website content, and press releasesGrowthsquad, Rankings.ioAI + human content: $0.06/word
100% human content: $0.16/word
B2B

12. Power Digital Marketing: Best for affiliate marketing

Power Digital Marketing is a growth marketing agency that claims to grow its clients’ businesses 2.4x faster than the industry average. 

They offer full-funnel marketing services and have built a platform that generates custom reports on digital strategy performance.

Power Digital Marketing are trusted by companies like Figma, Stripe, and Hayabusa to generate results like:

  • Growing Pet Conscious from 0 to 6,900 followers in three months
  • 12x increase in ROAS for Hayabusa Fight in a year
ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Branded Amazon search
Paid social prospecting
CROWeb development
Email marketingData intelligence
Dropbox, CasperCustomB2BB2CFashionRetail

13. Proper Expression: Best content marketing agency for demand generation

Proper Expression is a full-funnel B2B digital marketing agency that offers growth marketing and sales services. They focus on the client KPIs that matter most: revenue, profitability, ROI, and customer acquisition. 

The agency uses integrated marketing, deep business acumen, and real-life corporate knowledge to develop multi-channel campaigns that directly impact their clients’ bottom line.

Proper Expression have helped clients in the health, luxury, and e-learning space generate convincing results:

  • Increasing demo requests by 70+ per month for Niche Academy
  • Increasing organic traffic by 74% for a Gen2 RPA company
ServicesRecognizable clientsPricingIndustries
Full-stack content marketing
Growth marketing
Demand generation
Robocorp, Paul StuartCustomB2B
B2C

Choose the best B2B content marketing agency for your business

Are you serious about taking your B2B content marketing to the next level? Then choose a specialized agency with the expertise, experience, and passion to help your business stand out in a crowded marketplace — and drive real results.

To find the right agency for your business, consider factors such as affordability, how their service offering aligns with your business goals, and whether their track record shows success in your niche. 

As a growth-focused B2B content marketing agency, Skale will build a powerful content engine for your business, and focus on genuine business metrics like SQL, MQL, and qualified signups. We use SEO-backed content strategies and expert-led content to drive MRR and ARR for B2B clients of all sizes. 

Schedule a free consultation call with Skale to discuss your content marketing requirements today.

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Ignite Engagement: 9 B2B Content Marketing Ideas [with Expert Insights] https://skale.so/b2b-content-marketing/b2b-content-marketing-ideas/ Fri, 12 Jan 2024 16:24:14 +0000 https://skale.so/?post_type=b2b-content-marketin&p=3819 Seeing inspiring content from your favorite B2C brand and wondering why you’re not pulling off similar experiences for your B2B business?

B2B seems to be stuck in a content rut. But, at the end of the day we’re still talking to the same audience: humans. No fancy title, company name, or years of experience changes the problems and emotions we encounter every day as humans.

Now, we all know creating helpful content is key to reaching and engaging in-market buyers with information, inspiration, and knowledge. 60% of prospective customers seek out products only after reading related content. 

As a B2B marketer, your challenge isn’t just creating content but coming up with B2B content marketing ideas that go above dry statistics, boring content, and corporate jargon. So how do you produce content for every stage of the B2B sales cycle, that gives that same emotion-striking experience that you’ve come to love from your B2C brands? 

Here are nine B2B content marketing ideas to ramp up your content-led revenue engine: 

  • Content optimization and repurposing for maximizing the lifespan of well-researched, high-ROI blog posts
  • Interactive content to hook users on your product and brand without them having to spend money—just yet
  • User-generated content to inspire users to make the right decision with customer reviews and authentic content
  • Short and long-form videos to engage with users who prefer visual content 
  • Podcasts for building thought leadership and reaching highly targeted audiences
  • Lead magnets to create the right offer that pulls in prospective customers while ranking on search engines
  • Webinars and virtual events for lead generation with informative content
  • Thought leadership content to position yourself as an expert and gain trust from potential and existing customers 

With those overviews on the table, let’s get into the ins and outs of each marketing idea. 

1. Content optimization and repurposing

Smaller content teams often lack the bandwidth to create new content, and that’s where content optimization and repurposing can be your best friend. Putting a fresh coat of paint on your existing content saves your team time while helping you double-down on revenue-generating content pieces already live. 

“It should be a top priority of B2B brands to focus on their wealth of existing content before pouring resources into new content. Repurposing and optimising existing content is one of the least resource-intensive yet effective ways to get quick and impactful results.” – Leah Alves, Content SEO Lead at Skale

Content optimization works well because search engine crawlers continuously scan the web to deliver authoritative, helpful, and relevant content to users. A study by Semrush shows that 53% of marketers updating old content experience higher engagement rates, whereas 49% observe an increase in traffic or ranking. 

Also, consider content repurposing to convert:

  • Long-form videos into short-form clips and publish on socials 
  • High-performing videos into blog posts
  • Original research into engaging infographics and downloadables
  • Expert insight-driven articles into social media posts or wrap ups

Not sure where to start? At Skale, we create content briefs based on competitor research and expert inputs before updating high-ROI content, meaning every optimization comes with a strategy behind it—not just a date change! We also monitor the metrics after making changes so you know if our changes are on the right track. 

Here are some of the things that Leah and the team at Skale focus on when optimizing:

  • Identifying quick-win pages: Look for pages positioned around 20th to 5th. Check how you could improve their rankings for both head terms and secondary terms.
  • Ensuring that the page satisfies user intent. The intent may have changed since the page was first produced; new information may now be applicable or outdated, and new subtopics may have arisen. Does the content answer the user’s question and support transformation?
  • Checking internal links and internal backlinks – are there links present on the page and pointing to it? Is the anchor text relevant?
  • Adding visual elements: Are there visuals and graphics that can be added to enhance the page experience and make the content more memorable? Only add valuable visuals that help users understand concepts better.
  • Considering UX and formatting: Is the content visually appealing and easy to scan? How can it be improved to support a better page experience?
  • Refreshing meta titles and descriptions: The meta title should include the target keyword; is it better than the competitors’? Does it answer the user’s intent or question? Is it up to date? Should it include numbers?

It’s best to start this process off with our B2B content marketing audit guide to help spot and update best-performing topics or evergreen articles. Let’s supercharge your search engine optimization efforts together. 

2. Interactive content to build an audience relationship

B2B buyers today don’t want a sales pitch. A study by ignite80 and Front shows that buyers prefer intelligent connections and insightful collaboration over anything else. Creating two-way, non-intrusive conversations with interactive content is a great way to give them what they want. 

Interactive content is dynamic. Examples include calculators, pop quizzes, interactive webinars, image sliders, and animated videos. Dwelling, a US-based company that helps people buy their first home in Texas, has found interactive content works so well for them they use a calculator on their homepage. 

Dwelling Homepage

Source

What makes interactive content different is its ability to encourage readers to click, hover, answer questions, all while engaging one-on-one with your brand. Done right, B2B interactive content offers buyers a glimpse of your product without spending money, making them more confident in you.

According to a study by the Content Marketing Institute, 75% of people think that non-gated interactive content provides a sample of a brand, which in turn improves lead nurturing. 

3. User-generated content for a relatable edge

Gone are the days when you could visualize the B2B content marketing funnel as a linear, top-to-bottom journey. Today, potential customers go through multiple touchpoints to evaluate a brand’s credibility among peers and fellow users. That’s where user-generated (UGC) content comes in. 

Look to gather consumer-generated content on social media channels, Q&A forums, or business software review sites like G2 to share their product experience. Then, you can put the user testimonial in various content formats, like listicles. Attest does this really well, and here’s how you can do it too.

Attest Review

Source

  • Set a reasonable UGC campaign goal: Nothing is set in stone, but always start with a goal in mind. It can be anything from boosting brand awareness, driving website traffic, and creating a highly engaged community. 
  • Start by gathering UGC content: Use hashtag contests on social media and review sites to get customers to share their experience with your product. Consider keeping the entry barrier low so all users can participate in your UGC campaign.
  • Ask for permission: If you plan to share user-generated content on social media or marketing materials, it’s best to get permission first. That way, you won’t run into copyright problems and will also build better relationships with your followers. 
  • Track brand mentions and optimize UGC strategy: By using a brand monitoring tool, you can keep tabs on brand mentions, respond to user questions, and interact with them online. Once you’ve checked how your UGC campaign is performing, you can make adjustments to improve CTRs, conversion rates, and how customers feel about your brand.

A survey of over 2,000 consumers across the USA, UK, and Australia shows that buyers trust UGC 8.7 times more than influencer content and 6.6 times more than branded content. Moreover, UGC signals experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EEAT) to search engines and improve your reputation—so if you can thread this content into your own web content then you’re on to a winning recipe.

4. Short and long-form video content

A shorter buyer attention span has been a problem for marketers across industries. Yet, consumers worldwide spend 19 hours on average watching online video content. Do you see the opportunity? We do. In fact, 93% of companies acquired new customers using social media video. You don’t want to miss out on video content’s potential. 

Short and long-form videos present a unique opportunity for B2B brands to capture buyers’ attention throughout the funnel and leave them asking for more. 

Including video in your content marketing strategy lets you:

  • Engage potential customers and loyal fans alike
  • Rank higher on search engine results pages for relevant queries
  • Create memorable content that keeps your brand on buyers’ minds
  • Develop a sense of community among potential and existing buyers

For example, Leapsome, the intelligent People Enablement platform, peppers their LinkedIn page with engaging video shorts that help build trust, authority, and employer branding.  

5. Podcasts

If you aren’t using podcasts in your current content marketing mix, what are you doing!? 44% Of C-suite executives listen to podcasts to access business-related content. Moreover, branded podcasts increase purchase intent by 14% and brand consideration by 57%. 

Podcasts work well because relevant conversations make it easy to pair information with emotion and gain new learning experiences from industry thought leaders. Besides the ease of entry, podcasts let you reach new audiences, build trust, encourage word-of-mouth marketing, and organically showcase your product. 

The best thing about podcast marketing is that you build a listener base that keeps returning for valuable insights. Moreover, you can create individual pages for each episode, add meta descriptions, relevant content, and optimize them for specific keywords. The result? Improved visibility on search engine results and more citations from other sites over time.

UserTesting does this strategy very well, and each Podcast page is optimized for SEO too. 

User Testing Podcast

Source

6. Lead magnets: guides, ebooks and downloadables

Getting visitors to your website is only half the battle, and it doesn’t count unless they become paying customers. That’s why you need lead magnets like ebooks, downloadables, white papers, free trial subscriptions, or interactive demos — anything that lets you collect prospect names and email addresses for future nurturing. 

Take a look at Attest, who follows a gated content strategy very well. 

Attest US Q4 shopper trends report

Source

As a marketer, you know buyers — and all of us! — want to avoid irrelevant and spammy emails, which is one reason they avoid sharing email addresses. But here’s what you can do to combat this:

  • Create relevant content with high perceived value: Can you help leads do their job better with insider knowledge and defined steps to a JTBD? 
  • Ask only what you need: Whether you’re trying to build an email list or get more sales-qualified leads, ensure your forms are simple and easy to fill out. For example, you don’t need a street address, ZIP code, home phone, or cell phone to offer a virtual solution. Using less than four form fields in sign-up forms results in a conversation rate of up to 10%

Attest goes on to keep the sign up form as simple and clean as possible. 

Attest Sign Up Form

When done right, lead magnets can attract the right leads, show value to potential customers, and grow business sales.

7. Infographics and engaging visuals

Infographics are a no-brainer for simplifying complex ideas and showing data visually. They’re great for raising brand awareness, improving content shareability, or improving existing content. You can also use them in email marketing content to educate subscribers. 

Debbie Moran, Marketing Manager at RecurPost, says, “When analyzing data, I noticed visual content consistently outperforms text-based posts. We launched an array of eye-catching infographics showcasing the benefits of Recurpost on our blogs. The engagement metrics surged, indicating a successful optimization strategy aligned with our audience’s preferences.

Take a look at the Recurpost blog, you’ll find all of their visuals are annotated, making them more engaging and useful for the reader. 

Recurpost Blog

Source

Debbie is right. The best part of creating engaging visuals is that they engage visual learners and make it easier for them to find information. Infographics have a 30x higher chance of being read than an article. Plus, websites that include infographics get 12% more traffic. 

If you’re looking to win the battle of attention with infographics that convey new concepts or reveal mind-boggling data, here’s how to start:

  • Pick a topic: Making an infographic is more than just throwing together random illustrations, data, and copy. Start by finding a topic you think your target audience will enjoy. Consider telling a visual story and making it interactive when possible.  
  • Use branding and add social sharing buttons: When your target audience finds an infographic valuable, they’ll be happy spreading the word. Make it easy to share by adding social buttons and your brand name in the infographic.
  • Boost content marketing efforts: Infographics can work wonders for your content strategy, whether you want to spice up blog posts, explain a complex process, or share infographic snippets on social media. Consider putting more effort into distributing the infographic after creating it. 

8. Webinars and virtual events

Webinars are a game-changer in content marketing because they boost brand recognition, connect companies with target audiences, and drive sales. 73% of marketers believe in webinars’ ability to generate quality leads that convert at an average rate of 46%. 

Webinars are effective in B2B content marketing because they let you:

  • Reach audiences beyond borders: Business-to-business companies conducting webinars and virtual events can reach global audiences with minimal effort and investments. 
  • Support lead gen efforts: Webinars delivering informational content attract and convert high-quality leads with targeted messaging. 
  • Build authority and trust: Sharing your expertise and knowledge is key to presenting your brand as a thought leader in the market and building trust among potential buyers. 

Emilija Kovačević, Marketing Lead at Skale, says, “Webinars usually bring 50 to 150 registrants and only 30-40% people actually attend. Consider creating titles with hooks and actionable phrases to get more sign-ups. Also, it’s worth noticing that webinars with examples and visionary speakers tend to have a higher conversion rate.

At Skale, we help SaaS brands leverage SEO for maximum visibility– here’s an example of us using a webinar to help our target audience understand the importance of quality content.

9. Thought leadership content and case studies

66% of marketers consider B2B thought leadership content a top organizational priority. In contrast, only 26% believe their current program will succeed. You get it — every brand wants to be a thought leader in their industry, but how can they pull it off? 

Publishing thought leadership content or case studies like we do at Skale means delivering authentic, research-driven, and insightful content that provides educational value and inspires your target audience. When done right, these content formats help you establish brand credibility, attract clients, and generate backlinks from reputed websites. 

Start by generating content ideas based on the experiences, opinions, and insights of thought leaders in your organization. Also, consider collaborating with partners, customers, subject matter experts, and opinion leaders to create content that matters to your readers. 

Get more from your B2B content marketing strategy

Sometimes, marketers can’t afford to build on new content marketing ideas. If that’s you, here are some tactics you can use with your existing content library.

Targeting zero-volume keywords relevant to your audience

Many businesses ignore zero-volume keywords, thinking no one is searching them. However, these hyper-focused long-tail queries often have less competition, meaning you can quickly rank for them and bring high-intent traffic to your website. 

Here’s how you can find these keywords:

  • Google autocomplete for a keyword shows you top questions and long queries that other content pieces may not frequently discuss.
  • Ideal customer persona interview reveals valuable insights about the pain points of your target audiences, features they want, what they know and don’t, and surprising ways they can use a product. 
  • B2B content marketing tools with keyword research functionality aid you in discovering low-volume keywords as well. 
  • Sites like Reddit and Quora, as well as industry-specific forums give insight into the questions your ICP is asking. Sub-forums make it simple to find relevant discussions in your niche and collect low-volume, highly relevant ideas from the pulse of your industry.

Ultimately, the goal is to find and produce content for zero-volume keywords that the ready-to-buy target audience will likely search for. Adding these topics to your content marketing strategy can bring you the most bang for your buck. 

Create content that shows user pain points without your solution

Can you remember the best thing that happened to you today? Probably not. You remember the worst thing that happened, right?

Humans tend to register negative stimuli more than positive experiences, and customers aren’t any different. That’s why talking about their pain points is essential to move them closer to a purchase decision. For example, can you create content that highlights what the user’s world would look like without solutions like your product? 

You can also analyze customer feedback and talk with the sales team to understand potential customers’ key pain points. Now, show them what happens when pain points go unanswered and challenges pop up without a solution. 

Research opportunities for content in the vertical that generates the most revenue

You can also adopt a vertical content strategy to ramp up revenue from an already profitable audience. Start by diving deep into B2B content marketing metrics like traffic and conversions to understand what type of content brings the highest ROI for a vertical. Now, perform keyword research to find content ideas and create content that resonates with this specific audience segment.

Imagine running a CRM platform that generates most of its content-generated ROI from blogs about CRM for real estate. Realtors using CRMs are one of your key target audience segments. Consider researching their pain points, finding relevant keywords, and creating content to increase revenue from this audience segment. 

Don’t market a product, market a lifestyle

No marketers want poor-fit leads because they waste time, and the result is almost always a dead-end sales funnel. That’s why it’s essential to research and define your ideal customer persona based on customers’ budgets, maturity, geography, pain points, and industry.

Understanding your customers’ needs, blockers, and motivations enables you to create unique content that doesn’t just force fit your product’s benefits but also shows how your product can change the user’s life

Also, consider using ICP to create tailored content campaigns along different phases of user journeys. For instance, if someone needs a quick fix for their problem, can you make content that skips the basics and gives them the solution? When you do that, you minimize customer frustrations and increase customer lifetime value. 

Go beyond the basics with your B2B content marketing ideas

Innovation is crucial for creating content that makes a difference. That’s why you need to go beyond the basics to engage with business customers and keep them returning for more. Consider using data-rich research and subject matter expertise to create your company’s interactive content, lead magnets, podcasts, infographics, webinars, and thought leadership content.  Done right, this approach will take you beyond ranking- it will generate demand and drive SQLs.
Struggling to improve the number of sales-qualified leads you get every month? Check out these B2B content marketing tools essential to delivering jaw-dropping results. If you need some helping hands, don’t hesitate to give us a shout- we launched a content creation service to help you out.

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18 B2B Content Marketing Metrics & KPIs (+ How to Measure & Improve Them) https://skale.so/b2b-content-marketing/b2b-content-marketing-metrics/ Tue, 29 Aug 2023 13:30:14 +0000 https://skale.so/?post_type=b2b-content-marketin&p=3406

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In the ever-changing world of digital marketing, content is indeed king. But for content to really deliver results, it must be consistently tracked and its performance carefully analyzed.

Understanding which content marketing metrics to track is essential: accurate measurement means companies can optimize their content marketing strategy, make more informed decisions, and boost organic traffic. 

These metrics also provide valuable insights into areas such as audience engagement, conversion rates, and overall campaign performance. 

In this guide, we’re going to explore the best metrics to help your content marketing strategy properly take off. 

Are you ready? Let’s go. 

What are the most important B2B content marketing metrics?

Good question. With all the potential metrics you could be keeping an eye on, it can feel overwhelming trying to identify the most significant ones. 

To keep it simple, here are the three key areas where B2B companies should be focusing their content-tracking efforts: 

  1. Conversion rate: the overall goal of marketing is to produce conversions (of your target audience into paying customers) and drive revenue.   
  2. Organic website traffic: monitoring the traffic to your website gives an overall view of what’s happening on your website, and the general performance of your SEO marketing efforts. Organic search constitutes 53% of all traffic to business websites, establishing it as the primary source of measurable web traffic.  
  3. Social media engagement: this will give valuable insights into your target audience: what they find helpful, what drives them to explore your website, and what solutions they’re looking for. 

Why track content marketing KPIs?

B2B marketers use content marketing metrics to understand how their content is performing. You might think of your content as high-quality, but if it’s not attracting the right users, it might not be worth it. Many companies choose to work with a specialized B2B content marketing agency to ensure they’re not just effectively tracking their content marketing metrics, but acting on them.  

Bonus Read: Check out these SaaS Content Marketing Agencies

Track your content KPIs without wasting time or resources

Save your team time when you partner with a B2B content marketing agency- we’ve listed the best in the UK.

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18 B2B content marketing metrics & KPIs marketers need to track 

B2B Content Marketing KPIs

1. Conversion rate

Your conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to a company website that performs a conversion action. Put simply, a conversion is anything a visitor does that will get them into your customer database. For B2B companies, conversion can refer to several different actions: downloading a white paper, clicking on a ‘request a demo’ link, signing up for a monthly newsletter, filling in a contact form, or any other action that the user might take to indicate interest in your product or service. In short, more engagement drives revenue generation.  

2. Engagement rate

Engagement rate is a highly useful B2B content marketing metric: in fact, B2B Content Marketing Insights for 2022 named website engagement as the metric offering the most insight into content marketing performance. In short, it’s the number of ‘engaged’ visits divided by the total number of visits. An engaged visit is any session that lasts at least ten seconds, involves more than one-page view, or leads to a conversion

B2B Content Marketing Insights

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3. Time on page 

This metric indicates whether people are actually consuming your content—and how engaging it is. It’s relatively straightforward: the time from when your visitor arrives on a page to when they move to the next.

You can find out the average time on page using Google Analytics: a low average time on page is under 20 seconds, but this will range from page to page. For example, a landing page will have a lower average time on page than a detailed how-to guide. A consistently good time on page for your blog posts means that you’re creating content of value. 

4. Session time 

Following on from time on page, session time measures how long a visitor stays on your site, not just a single page. This often gives much more important insights. For example, a user might only spend 30 seconds on a long blog post, but then they may move from the blog to a contact form, and then request a demo. 

B2B companies should be aiming for a session time of around two minutes. Your average session duration can also be found on Google Analytics. 

5. Bounce rate 

Your website’s bounce rate refers to how frequently visitors to your website leave after only viewing one page. This metric can be very telling about your site’s quality: a high bounce rate could indicate poor user experience, long load times, or content that’s simply missing the mark. 

However, the bounce rate you aim for might differ from page to page. A high bounce rate of 90% is almost meaningless for a blog page, as an article can be read without clicking through to another page.

6. Click-through rate 

Also known as CTR, click-through rate is a measure of the performance of your SERP-ranking pages. CTR is determined by dividing the total number of clicks by the total impressions.  It will tell you how many people visited your sites out of the total number of SERP users searching for a specific query. 

Click-through rate is important for keeping your website top-of-mind for target customers, as it directly affects your quality score. It’s a great indicator of what’s working and what isn’t when trying to reach your target users. 

7. Keyword rank

Keyword Ranking Page

Probably the most straightforward metric, keyword ranking is a direct measure of how successfully you’ve optimized a page for SEO ranking— an important part of any B2B content marketing strategy. Keyword ranking shows how well (or badly) your target keywords are performing in SERPs (search results pages). The higher the ranking, the more visitors your website receives.

8. Organic visits 

Organic visits refer to the number of website visitors reaching your website via organic search. Keeping a close eye on organic visits (using a tool like Google Analytics) is one of the most effective ways to measure the success of your content marketing efforts. 

9. Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) 

An MQL, or marketing qualified lead, is someone who’s interested in your products or solution. It can be an individual or organization, who has engaged with your content marketing efforts and has the potential to become a customer. 

10. MQLs to SQLs

Measuring the number of marketing-qualified leads which become sales-qualified leads (SQLs) is another way to track the quality of the leads you’re generating. This is the moment at which a lead moves from the marketing team to the sales team: each type of lead requires different ads, outreach, and brand messaging. 

“Lead quality is an indicator of a lead’s propensity to become a paying customer that fits within desired criteria. It is an essential consideration in B2B content marketing, as generating poor-quality leads offers no value and can result in wasted time or resources.

This is why we need to look deep into the funnel, rather than purely relying on shallow metrics like ‘leads’. 

We can ask:

  • “Which content pieces are actually generating SQOs and closed/won deals? (or paid signups for product led)”
  • “Which content pieces are generating plenty of leads or MQLs (free trials/accounts for product led), but not converting to paying customers?”

Answering these questions can keep us from being distracted by red herrings, which could otherwise throw us off the scent and inflate low-quality leads without moving the needle.”

Alistair Pike, Growth Strategy Lead at Skale

11. Backlinks 

Link building is a significant part of any B2B content marketing strategy. Whether it’s via guest blogging, social media links, or any other route, it’s a brilliant way to strengthen the relevance of your website and boost your position on SERPs. One of the easiest ways to measure your website’s backlinks is by using the Semrush Backlink Analytics Tool. 

Backlink Analysis

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12. Email open rate 

First up in email marketing metrics is open rate. When it comes to focusing on the right email marketing metrics, this is an important one. Open rate is the percentage of subscribers who open an email out of the total number of recipients. 

13. Email unsubscribe rate 

In addition to email open rate, you should be looking at unsubscribe rate to get an overall picture of email marketing performance. It indicates the percentage of campaign recipients who unsubscribe from emails. A high rate points to weaknesses in your strategy, and can help to identify your target audience’s preferences and pain points. 

14. Email CTR and bounce rate

Just like with your main website, the click-through and bounce rates of your emails are extremely helpful in signaling the health of your email campaigns. Click-through rate is the percentage of subscribers who click on a link in your campaign, while bounce rate refers to those who haven’t received your email due to their email addresses being invalid or undeliverable

15. Brand mentions 

When it comes to social media content metrics, exposure is key. A brand mention is when your product or service is mentioned in a unique piece of user-generated content on social media. A successful brand mention can be either tagged or untagged, simply reflecting the number of people talking about your brand. In short, it’s an indicator of your relevance and reputation

16. Brand search volume 

Brand search volume is a highly useful metric: it’s the number of times people have typed your brand name into search engines as a keyword. Accessible through Google Search Console, brand keyword search volume and clicks can indicate the success of your website or social media campaign. 

17. Reach 

Reach is an indicator of the size of your audience, and audience growth rate. This which can be accessed through each social media platform (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter all offer possibilities to track your reach/impressions), shows the total number of people exposed to a social media post within a period at least once

18. Returning visitors

Applicable to both your website and your social media channels, monitoring the number of returning visitors is one way to determine how much value users are finding in your content. It’s particularly important within the B2B sales funnel, where providing helpful information is crucial to driving organic traffic and increasing conversions. To increase your reach, you may want to consider implementing interactive B2B content or updating existing content to better suit user preferences. 

What are vanity metrics?

Vanity metrics can be nice to have, but they can also be big-time-wasters. 

So what are they

They’re metrics that make your business seem impressive but don’t actually provide any insights of real value. They don’t bring much to the table when you’re looking to understand your own performance—they’re not much use when it comes to developing a marketing strategy. 

However, they’re not necessarily bad, and some may be relatively informative (e.g. rank and traffic). 

Here are a couple to be aware of: 

  • Total website visits: the size of your fishing net doesn’t matter if the net is full of holes. 
  • New leads: reflects potential rather than real results 
  • Social media impressions: tempting but uninformative. Social media users are a dime a dozen nowadays, and many companies are even buying followers to bulk up their social media channels. 

Prioritize the right metrics to receive the best results

When it comes to measuring the right content marketing metrics, it’s quality over quantity. You need to go in with an idea of the information you want to get hold of, obtain it, and then develop your content marketing strategy to reflect this new data. Content marketing metrics have vast potential to help you bring in new (paying) customers, and with this knowledge, you should be better able to use them to your advantage! 

“​​Ultimately, revenue is the most important metric, though it’s not always the most useful for decision making and forecasting. Increased revenue is a lagging indicator of successful content marketing efforts.

While tracking revenue is essential, it’s important to track leading indicators as well. For sales-led businesses, keep eye on SQLs / SQOs and MQLs as signals that your efforts are on the right (or wrong) track, and as predictors of possible future revenue. For product-led businesses, metrics like free trial signups and qualified signups can offer similar insights.” 

Alistair Pike, Growth Strategy Lead at Skale

Interested in further streamlining your content marketing strategy? Get in touch today and book a call. 

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11 B2B Content Marketing Tools to Boost SQLs in 2024 https://skale.so/b2b-content-marketing/b2b-content-marketing-tools/ Tue, 29 Aug 2023 13:02:23 +0000 https://skale.so/?post_type=b2b-content-marketin&p=3409

Boost SQLs with expert-led SEO content

There are some things a tool can’t do- but our expert content team can, like create a bespoke strategy to increase your revenue.

Schedule a call

If you’ve ever found yourself grappling with the frustrations of limited SEO know-how, struggling to find efficient marketing channels, or simply juggling time constraints that hold you back from giving your strategy the attention it deserves, fear not! Because we’ve got the perfect solution to skyrocket your campaigns to new heights.

Say hello to these handpicked 11 best content marketing tools, carefully curated to unleash your marketing team’s full potential. With their unique powers of valuable insights, streamlined workflows, and data-driven strategies, they’ll help you get more Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)–and increase your revenue. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a bright-eyed newcomer, these tools hold the key to optimizing your efforts and delivering jaw-dropping results.

B2B Content Marketing ToolKey featuresBest forPricing
ClearscopeAI-powered content analysis and keyword suggestions
Competitor content insights
Real-time content optimization recommendations
Medium and large size businessesStarting at $350/month
ContentKingReal-time website auditing and SEO monitoring
Keyword tracking and content performance analysis
Website change tracking and version history
Businesses of all sizesStarting at $39/month
CanvaDrag-and-drop design editor with a vast library of templates
Customizable graphics and illustrations
Collaborative team features
Businesses of all sizesStarting at $14.99/month
AhrefsExtensive backlink analysis and competitor research
Keyword explorer for SEO-optimized content planning
Rank tracking and site audit tools
Businesses of all sizesStarting at $20/month
SEMRushIn-depth keyword research and competitor analysis
Social media scheduling and monitoring
On-page and off-page SEO analysis
Medium and large size businessesStarting at $129.95/month
SurferSEOOn-page SEO analysis and optimization recommendations
Content editor for real-time optimizationSERP analysis and competitor comparison
Businesses of all sizesStarting at $69/month
HubSpotContent management and marketing automation
Lead capture and nurturing toolsRobust analytics and reporting
Businesses of all sizesFree tools with more options starting at $18/month
ContentStudioContent discovery and curation from various sources
Social media post scheduling and automation
Performance analytics and reporting
Businesses of all sizesStarting at $25/month
MozKeyword research and rank tracking
Link building and domain analysis
On-page optimization and site health checks
Medium and large size businessesFree with premium plans starting at $99/month
GrammarlyGrammar and spelling checks
Style and tone suggestionsPlagiarism detection
Businesses of all sizesFree with premium plans starting at $12.50/user/month
SparkToroComprehensive audience research and insights
Social media audience profiling
Metric-based audience behavior analysis
Medium and large size businessesFree with premium plans starting at $112/month

1. Clearscope

clearscope Best Travel Credit Cards Page

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Clearscope is an indispensable content and search engine optimization tool designed to enhance your content marketing campaigns. By leveraging AI-driven insights, Clearscope empowers you to create highly relevant, SEO-friendly content that resonates with your target audience. This powerful platform analyzes top-performing content on search engines for your desired keywords, allowing you to identify gaps and opportunities to improve your content’s visibility.

“Clearscope is the game-changer for SEO content optimization. The user-friendly text editor and AI-powered content reports provide real-time recommendations and valuable search insights. The content grading scale and writer-friendly insights boost content quality. A must-have for driving search traffic.”

Babita C., G2 review

Key features

  • AI-powered content analysis and keyword suggestions
  • Competitor content insights
  • Real-time content optimization recommendations

Pricing: Starting at $350/month

Average G2 rating: 4.9/5

2. Content King

Content King Webpage

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ContentKing is a cutting-edge SEO and website monitoring tool that keeps a vigilant eye on your website’s performance and search engine rankings. By providing real-time alerts and actionable insights, ContentKing ensures that you can promptly address any SEO issues that might arise, thus improving your content marketing efforts and maintaining peak website performance.

“ContentKing isn’t a traditional content marketing tool but it’s a complete lifesaver for catching issues on your website before they become catastrophes. It crawls your site and looks for on-page SEO problems and proactively sends them to you over email or Slack so you can fix them asap.

Creating content is only 50% of the work, the other 50% is maintaining and updating the content to make sure it continues to rank well.”

Nick Lafferty, ex-growth and content marketer at Loom

Key features

  • Real-time website auditing and SEO monitoring
  • Keyword tracking and content performance analysis
  • Website change tracking and version history

Pricing: Starting at $39/month

Average G2 rating: 4.8/5

3. Canva

Canva Homepage

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Canva is a versatile graphic design platform tailored for content marketers who seek to create stunning visual content without the need for extensive design skills. With its user-friendly interface and an extensive library of templates and assets, Canva enables you to craft captivating social media posts, graphics, infographics, blog post images, and much more, thus elevating your content marketing efforts to new heights.

“The content marketing tool that I use most regularly is Canva. I use to make images, graphics, icons, social media posts, posters, and even invoices and proposals. Images do wonders for content marketing and Canva has really made it super easy to put the design from your mind to paper. When there is a need for high-level design, I can quickly draw a rough version and give it to a professional designer.”

–Faizan Fahim, content marketer at InfraCloud

Key features:

  • Drag-and-drop design editor with a vast library of templates
  • Customizable graphics and illustrations
  • Collaborative team features

Pricing: Starting at $14.99/month

Average G2 rating: 4.7/5

4. Ahrefs

ahrefs Content gap webpage

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Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO toolkit designed to boost your content marketing strategy through comprehensive keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitor insights. With Ahrefs, you can uncover valuable keywords and track their rankings, analyze your competitor’s strategies, and identify link-building opportunities, resulting in a robust and data-driven content marketing approach.

“Ahrefs is a B2B content marketing tool I use the most mainly because of its ability to help me understand my competition. There’s nothing more important than knowing who your competitors are and how your content stacks up against theirs.

I’ve found that Ahrefs is the most effective tool for this because it allows me to see where I am ranking for my keywords and how my competitors are ranking for theirs. It also helps me to identify which websites are linking to my competitors and which ones are linking to me. This allows me to understand where my competitors are getting the most traction, and where I can improve my own content to catch up.”

Matthew Ramirez, entrepreneur, Forbes 30 Under 30

Key features

  • Extensive backlink analysis and competitor research
  • Keyword explorer for SEO-optimized content planning
  • Rank tracking and site audit tools

Pricing: Starting at $20/month

Average G2 rating: 4.6/5

5. SEMRush

SEMrush SEO Content Template Webpage

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SEMRush is a powerful digital marketing toolkit that empowers content marketers with valuable insights and tools to enhance their campaigns. From detailed keyword analysis and content optimization recommendations to social media management and competitor research, SEMRush equips you with everything you need to drive targeted traffic to your content and maximize its impact.

“Features related to Content Marketing are top-notch. IMO topic research based on a seed keyword and SEO content template are the best features Semrush provides. It has immensely helped us design our content calendar and helped writers with content generation.”

–Jainam D., G2 review

Key features:

  • In-depth keyword research and competitor analysis
  • Social media scheduling and monitoring
  • On-page and off-page SEO analysis

Pricing: Starting at $129.95/month

Average G2 rating: 4.5/5

6. SurferSEO

SurferSEO Webpage

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SurferSEO is a content optimization tool that uses data-driven analysis to help you create content that aligns perfectly with search engine algorithms. By examining top-ranking landing pages, and providing detailed guidelines, SurferSEO assists content marketers in crafting highly relevant and search-optimized content that boosts organic traffic and engagement.

“SurferSEO is a great tool for building out SEO-driven work. With a bit of human manipulation, you can make the strict SEO measures it lays out work for a human audience.”

–Jessica McKeil, strategist, content manager & writer at Sea to Sky Content

Key features:

  • On-page SEO analysis and optimization recommendations
  • Content editor for real-time optimization
  • SERP analysis and competitor comparison

Pricing: Starting at $69/month

Average G2 rating: 4.8/5

7. HubSpot

Hubspot Marketing Webpage

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HubSpot is a powerful all-in-one inbound marketing and sales platform that empowers content marketers with tools to attract, engage, and delight their audience. From content creation services and distribution to lead generation and other analytics tools, HubSpot centralizes your marketing efforts and allows you to create personalized and data-driven campaigns that yield significant results.

“HubSpot’s software and services provide an array of tools that help me optimize and measure the success of my content marketing efforts. From keyword research to email campaigns to social media promotion, HubSpot helps me develop a comprehensive B2B content strategy tailored for each customer segment.”

–José Moya, Outreach Manager at Capicua Full Stack Creative Hub 

Key Features:

  • Content management and marketing automation
  • Lead capture and nurturing tools
  • Robust analytics and reporting

Pricing: Free tools with more options starting at $18/month

Average G2 rating: 4.4/5

8. ContentStudio

ContentStudio Webpage

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ContentStudio is a versatile social media and content marketing platform that streamlines content discovery, curation, and publishing. With its intuitive interface and advanced automation features, ContentStudio simplifies your social media sharing and content marketing efforts, allowing you to focus on creating engaging content and maximizing its reach across various social media platforms.

“ContentStudio is a comprehensive content marketing and social media management platform that offers a range of features to help businesses and individuals streamline their content creation, curation, and publishing processes. Its content discovery feature is particularly impressive, allowing users to find and curate relevant content from a variety of sources with ease. […] Overall, ContentStudio is a powerful tool for anyone looking to improve their content marketing and social media management efforts.”

–Andrew W., G2 review

Key features

  • Content discovery and curation from various sources
  • Social media post scheduling and automation
  • Performance analytics and reporting

Pricing: Starting at $25/month

Average G2 rating: 4.6/5

9. Moz

Moz Webpage

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Moz is a comprehensive SEO platform that equips content marketers with valuable insights and tools to improve their search engine rankings and visibility. From keyword research and link building to on-page optimization and site audits, Moz provides a suite of features that help content marketers craft data-driven and successful SEO strategies.

The best thing about Moz is how complete it is. It has tools to begin a campaign (like keyword research or backlink figures) or information to monitor or improve rankings (ranking positions and visibility). I really like not needing to navigate to different tools constantly.”

–Chris C., G2 review

Key features:

  • Keyword research and rank tracking
  • Link building and domain analysis
  • On-page optimization and site health checks

Pricing: Free with premium plans starting at $99/month

Average G2 rating: 4.4/5

10. Grammarly

Grammarly Preview Webpage

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Grammarly is an intelligent writing assistant that elevates your content marketing campaigns with impeccable grammar, style, and tone. This powerful tool integrates seamlessly with your writing process, offering real-time suggestions to improve your content’s clarity, correctness, and engagement, ensuring that your audience receives polished and error-free content.

“Grammarly is the holy grail of content marketing tools. Whether you’re creating a TikTok video and need to write a script, blog article, or social media caption, Grammarly catches all the mistakes that go over your head. Further, as they incorporate new AI capabilities, like Grammarly GO Beta, it remains a marketing staple, despite the release of other AI-related programs.”

–Lyudmyla Dobrynina, head of marketing in North America at Optimeal

Key features

  • Grammar and spelling checks
  • Style and tone suggestions
  • Plagiarism detection

Pricing: Free with premium plans starting at $12.50/user/month

Average G2 rating: 4.7/5

11. SparkToro

SparkToro Webpage

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SparkToro is an audience research tool offering exhaustive insights into your buyer behavior and expectations. It offers comprehensive data about your audience, including their demographics, location, interests, and online activities. By delving deeper, you can uncover audience profiles on social media platforms, analyzing attributes such as hashtags, bios, followers, and engagement levels. Utilizing metric-based audience behavior, SparkToro enables you to precisely understand and identify the specific audience segments you are targeting. 

“SparkToro helps identify what your audience is reading/watching/engaging with … and where. Useful for better understanding the audience you’re marketing to and identifying channels you want publicity in (which helps with what content to develop).”

–Caleb Rule, founder at Rule Marketing Group

Key features

  • Comprehensive audience research and insights
  • Social media audience profiling
  • Metric-based audience behavior analysis

Pricing: Free with premium plans starting at $112/month

Average G2 rating: 4.5/5

These are the top B2B content marketing tools being used by pros to make their content marketing strategy work like a well-oiled engine. Now let’s take a look at the pros and cons of having all the best tools in your books or if you’d be better off with the experience, expertise, and content marketing stack of a specialized content marketing agency.

Do you need a B2B content marketing tool or an agency?

Are you looking to supercharge your B2B content marketing efforts and achieve remarkable results? The decision between using B2B marketing tools or partnering with a specialized agency can significantly impact the success of your campaigns. While both options offer unique advantages, it’s crucial to understand which approach best aligns with your specific needs and goals.

When using a B2B content marketing agency, like Skale, you unlock the potential to amplify the power of your content while saving your internal marketing teams’ precious time and resources. These agencies boast a wealth of experience and expertise, providing you with access to a dedicated team of content marketing professionals who have honed their craft. By collaborating with seasoned agency experts, you can benefit from their vast knowledge, creative strategies, and data-driven insights, ultimately leading to more effective and impactful campaigns.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of each option so you can make the best decision for your business goals and budget. 

Pros and cons of B2B content marketing tools

Pros

  • Streamlined efficiency: B2B content marketing tools are designed to optimize and automate various tasks, reducing manual effort and saving time for your internal teams.
  • Data-driven insights: These tools provide valuable analytics and performance metrics, helping you gain a deeper understanding of your content’s impact and audience engagement.
  • Accessibility: With user-friendly interfaces, B2B content marketing tools are accessible to marketers of all skill levels, enabling seamless adoption and implementation.

Cons

  • Learning curve: Implementing new software may require time and training for your team to fully utilize the tool’s features effectively.
  • Limited customization: While versatile, content marketing tools may not offer the same level of customization and tailored strategies that a specialized agency can provide.
  • Resource management: Maintaining and managing multiple marketing tools can become cumbersome and may result in scattered data and inefficient workflows.
  • Lack of human touch: Content marketing tools lack the personalized touch and creative insights that come with human expertise, potentially limiting the uniqueness of your campaigns.

Pros and cons of working with a content marketing agency

Pros

  • Specialized expertise: Content marketing agencies bring a wealth of knowledge, experience, and creativity to the table, empowering your campaigns with innovative and effective strategies.
  • Faster results: Leveraging agency expertise can expedite your business growth and revenue generation, as experienced teams can navigate challenges more efficiently.
  • Customization: Agencies tailor their approaches to suit your specific business objectives, ensuring that your content marketing efforts align perfectly with your goals.
  • Scalability: Partnering with an agency allows you to scale your content marketing efforts without the need to expand internal teams, making it more adaptable to business fluctuations.

Get more SQLs from a content marketing agency

Our expert content marketing team can do everything a tool can’t; like create a full SEO strategy with your customers in mind.

Schedule a call

Cons

  • Communication challenges: Collaborating with an external agency requires effective communication and coordination to ensure that your brand message remains consistent.
  • Onboarding period: Integrating an agency into your workflow may require some onboarding time and adjustment for seamless collaboration.
  • Dependency on external support: Relying on an agency means that you are dependent on external expertise, and in some cases, you may have less direct control over your content marketing strategies.

Considering both options, take into account your budget, timeline, and internal capabilities to make an informed decision that aligns with your business needs and long-term objectives.

Visit Skale’s SEO Content Writing services page to explore how we, a specialized agency, can help drive your content marketing success.

Get the best results from your content marketing strategy

No matter which path you choose––a content marketing software solution or a dedicated agency––the potential for remarkable results lies within your grasp.

By embracing the capabilities of these cutting-edge tools or partnering with a specialized agency like Skale, you can overcome your content marketing struggles. Benefit from data-driven insights, streamlined workflows, and creative approaches to propel your brand to new heights and attract SQLs in abundance.

It’s time to reignite your content marketing strategy, unlock its true potential, and witness the impressive results that await you!

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How to Perform a Content Audit for SaaS Brands (and See Real Results) https://skale.so/b2b-content-marketing/b2b-content-marketing-audit/ Tue, 15 Aug 2023 14:52:19 +0000 https://skale.so/?post_type=b2b-content-marketin&p=3400

Drive more SQLs with SEO content

Our SaaS SEO experts will partner with your team to exceed your revenue goals.

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So, first things first. What is a SaaS content audit and why is it important?

It’s pretty much what it says on the tin: a systematic evaluation of your SaaS content. Its goal is to gather the data necessary to provide valuable insights about how to move forward. 

A full content audit for SaaS businesses is a chance to step back and analyze the quality and results of your existing website in order to determine your future content marketing strategy. 

Think of it as a type of review: an essential step to move forward and grow, indicating what’s working well and what isn’t.

In this guide, we’re going to walk you through the ins and outs of a SaaS SEO content audit: from where to why to how—we’ll leave no stone unturned. 

Let’s get started. 

What is the purpose of a SaaS content audit?

From blog posts to landing pages, a SaaS content audit will help you develop up-to-date, quality content for your target audience. It will trawl your site’s content to identify gaps, outdated content, and duplicate content. It may be an undeniably time-consuming process, but it offers exceptional ROI in terms of optimizing content and increasing site visitors. 

Creating content—especially effective, engaging content—is no mean feat, and it certainly helps to look at the bigger picture every now and then. From meta descriptions to keyword research, a SaaS content audit is designed to boost a site’s search engine optimization (SEO) in order to drive up organic traffic and increase those conversions.

Let’s look at some of the key benefits of conducting a SaaS content audit. 

  • Increased engagement from users: better content means more interest. Helpful, up-to-date content will not only attract new leads to your SaaS website but will keep them coming back for actionable tips and practical advice. 
  • Better site performance overall: renewing content quality will, in turn, attract more traffic to your website, which has a positive knock-on effect on brand visibility and reputation. 
  • Indicates outdated content: conducting a content audit will bring to light the content that is no longer of value. Remember, when it comes to a SaaS content marketing strategy, quality reigns supreme over quantity. One good blog post is worth 100 low-quality posts. 
  • More insight into what content works best: the content audit process yields important data for developing a future content strategy. If you discover a blog post is performing particularly well, you can dive further into the factors that make it successful and apply them to future content marketing efforts. 
  • Identifies gap’s in a buyer’s journey that you haven’t covered: effective SaaS content will cover all stages of the sales funnel, from initial interest to paying customers. Due to the longer nature of the SaaS buyer’s journey, it’s essential for SaaS businesses to provide all sorts of actionable content on their website. 
  • Whether your content matches your current marketing strategy: this information provides valuable insight into your positioning, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of your existing content. 
  • Identifies content that can be updated: over time, blog posts tend to slip down the rankings. Analytics tools can help discover content that needs to be improved or updated. Refreshing old articles by boosting their content quality is a particular benefit of a content audit, as it requires minimal effort. 

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When should you conduct a content audit for SaaS?

Carrying out a content audit every 3-6 months is a great way to make sure your content is consistently fresh, exciting, and engaging with your target audience. Auditing your content every 3-6 months gives you time to respond and adapt to shifts in users’ behavior and market trends. It’s a step-by-step process that can take time, so it’s worth scheduling some time to prepare for it. 

“The frequency of content audits for SaaS businesses depends on various factors such as the size of the content library, frequency of content creation, and industry dynamics. Regular monitoring of content performance and user feedback can help identify the need for more frequent audits and updates.”

–Nathan Clark, Co-Founder at Gate2Ai 

Here are some questions to ask yourself before a content audit:

  • Who is our target audience? What are their pain points?
  • What do you want to achieve with your blog content? What are your long-term and short-term goals?
  • How do you want to position your brand?

Remember, it’s not necessarily about how long the content audit itself takes, but the actions you take based on the data it yields. So, what might come out of your content audit? 

  • A need to optimize your content 
  • Delete certain webpages 
  • Find a content gap that could be filled with new content 

How to conduct a content audit for your SaaS business

Let’s go through the stages involved in a content audit, step by step. 

1. Define your ICPs 

First things first. In order to carry out a content inventory it’s crucial to know who your site is aimed at. This will ensure you maintain a consistent voice and tone throughout your entire website. 

It’ll also ensure that you collect data that are specific to your target audience, data that will define your future content marketing efforts. Remember that your website visitors will be at different stages of the marketing funnel, so it’s important to map out your customer journey and know at which stage each piece of content is aimed. 

2. Define your objectives 

Like Abhishek Shah, Founder at Testlify says:

“Start by clarifying the goals of your content audit. Are you aiming to improve lead generation, increase customer retention, or enhance brand awareness? Defining your objectives helps align the audit process with your overall business strategy.”

Clear priorities are key. Whatever your goals are, it’s essential to take the time to define them clearly. You need to know what you’re hoping to gain from your content audit: all the factors you need to inform your decisions. Ask yourself these questions: 

  • What are you hoping to achieve? 
  • Are there specific areas of your content that need improvement? 
  • Is your current content attracting the right audience? 
  • Are users coming back to your site? If not, why not? 
  • Does each piece of content encourage the user to take action? 

3. Crawl Your Website

This is the first step of collecting and categorizing your content. You’ll need to take a content inventory of everything on your website, including blog posts, articles, videos, white papers, how-to guides, interactive quizzes, and everything

4. Audit each URL 

There are multiple content audit tools available (such as Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and Semrush) to help you compile a list of all the URLs on your website. Once you’ve gathered your list, you’ll need to audit each one systematically, determining whether it needs to be deleted, updated, or redirected. This is your chance to root out any broken links or dysfunctional pages. 

5. Determine the correct action for each page

Whether it’s repurposing old content that isn’t performing well, adding new sections, or deleting an entire webpage, each page will need to be categorized to implement the corresponding changes. The data you gather will inform you about whether to remove, replace or redirect content. 

6. Monitor and measure key metrics

Now you’ve completed the first stage of your audit, you’ll need to take a deep dive into exactly how it’s performing. Ideally, you’ll want tangible KPIs that indicate the health and performance quality of your website content. Engagement metrics are central to successful SaaS content audits: they give an idea of how valuable your content is to those who are reading it. 

Here are some examples of SaaS SEO metrics to watch for (remember, what’s acceptable for you will depend on your specific area): 

  • Organic traffic: the number of visitors coming from search results. This is indicative of your content strategy, how you’re distributing it, and the content type. Examine the pages with the most traffic, and the least, to see which content is performing well and which can be optimized
  • Bounce rate: this is the percentage of website visitors navigating away from your web page without interacting. It can give you an idea of how helpful or engaging your content is. 
  • Backlinks: constantly changing, you’ll want to keep an eye out for the good quality backlinks created when a piece of content is promoted and shared. Backlinks can be a source of organic traffic when they appear in the right place. 
  • Unique visitors: essentially the number of views a piece of content gets. The higher the number of views, the higher the chances of content ROI. 
  • Time on page: this metric is a useful tool to determine how successful or engaging (particularly long-form) blog posts are. For example, for a 2000-word ‘how-to’ guide, an average time on a page of 30 seconds will demonstrate that it’s not providing value to users. The average person can read around 180 words per minute, so a 2000-word post should be engaging enough to keep them on your page for 11 minutes.
  • New vs. returning customers: with a SaaS-specific content strategy, it’s vital to nurture leads and keep them returning to your site, moving them further through the buyer’s journey. A website content audit will demonstrate how many users are returning and how many are new to your web pages. 
  • Conversions: you’ll need to determine your set goals for, say, a quarter, and then compare them with the statistics from your content audit in order to determine your web page’s success during that period of time. Careful monitoring is key. 

A spreadsheet containing all the metrics and important information about each piece of content is a great way to keep things simple. Like Sudhir Khatwani, Founder at The Money Mongers, says:

“One fundamental step I always advocate for is the comprehensive cataloging of content assets. This process involves documenting every piece of content—blog articles, eBooks, videos, web pages, etc., in a structured spreadsheet. SEO tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider can help automate this task, and Google Analytics proves invaluable for collating performance metrics.

Next, a non-negotiable step is content quality and performance assessment. Review each piece of content for its relevance, accuracy, and engagement metrics—traffic, shares, conversion rates, and so on. This analysis will illuminate what’s resonating with your audience, what needs fine-tuning, and what’s outdated.

Lastly, I always insist on a content gap analysis. By juxtaposing your content with your competitors, you can spot missing content types or themes in your current strategy and discover opportunities for novel content creation.”

7. Develop a content strategy 

Using the data from your content audits, you’ll need to update your current content marketing strategy. A helpful tip is to develop a content calendar that addresses your findings, by filling the gaps and finding new directions to satisfy the search engines. 

8. Keep monitoring your metrics 

The final stage goes beyond the content audit itself: you’ll need to keep a close eye on your metrics throughout the year, to monitor the results of your content audit, and to keep reaching your goals. It’s important to keep updating your ideal metrics as your company grows and your web page attracts more visitors over time.

Additionally, monitoring your metrics will allow you to optimize the right content. Failing to update outdated content on your website can make your company seem outdated and not a leading authority in your industry. Typically, updating and optimizing the content is enough to bring it back to life for visitors and search engines. However, if the content is irrelevant or underperforming, deleting it altogether can enhance the overall quality of your content library and potentially offer opportunities for repurposing or republishing. 

Best practices for a flawless SaaS content audit

There are multiple ways to do a successful content audit for SaaS companies, but here are some top tips to bear in mind while carrying out content analysis. 

  • Audit often: particularly for new or incomplete websites, it’s recommendable to audit more regularly than every 3-6 months. It might be a monthly practice when starting off, with the intervals between audits growing as your website takes off. 
  • Know when to delete a page: kill your darlings! You might be particularly attached to a piece of content for various reasons, but if it’s not performing well or contains outdated information, it could be detracting from your brand’s reliability and credibility. It’s better to delete these pages in the long run.
  • Work to identify gaps in current content: these could lead to opportunities for new content, which will keep your web page refreshed and attractive to new (and returning!) customers. 
  • Looking for opportunities to repurpose or merge pages: sometimes you’ll need to think outside the box. A bit of imagination can mean that old content isn’t totally wasted if you have to delete the page. You can always take sections out, and merge them with others to create new content. 
  • It’s worth doing thoroughly: content auditing isn’t the most glamorous or fun part of marketing, but the time put into it can really be worth its weight in gold. High-quality content can be the key to success for a SaaS business, so it’s well worth investing time in. Remember: your website’s content has the power to attract and turn away potential customers. 

And always remember what Daniel Chabert, CEO & Founder at PurpleFire, says:

“Unique to SaaS, understanding the user journey and aligning content accordingly is essential. SaaS products typically have longer buyer journeys; hence, content audits should carefully examine if material contributes to the evolution of a prospect into a customer. Furthermore, support and technical content should not be neglected as SaaS customers often seek help and instructions post-purchase.

Remember, even the most brilliant SaaS solution will struggle to sell if it isn’t backed by equally brilliant content. A thorough, well-conducted content audit is a cornerstone of achieving that synergy.”

Keep your business at the heart of your SaaS content audit

It’s all very well putting in the hours into optimizing your content marketing strategy, but at the end of the day it has to be the right content—the content that will generate the most impact for your business—that you’re putting first. 

A successful content audit will help you establish what content is working for you, allowing you to refine your efforts and ensure that the work you’re doing is really paying off. Every single page on your website needs to be geared towards attracting and retaining prospective customers, and a content audit will help you make sure this is the case. 

A strong SEO strategy is becoming ever more important for SaaS businesses around the world. It’s essential to keep your finger on the pulse, measuring SaaS content performance and continuously improving existing content. 

Working with a dedicated SEO content marketing agency with years of experience in the sector can help improve your chances of developing a highly effective, high-ROI website that generates the leads you’re looking for. Skale has helped multiple industry-leading SaaS businesses to make their entire content marketing processes easier for the user. It’s a crucial step in any marketing strategy: now’s the time to get started. 

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What is the B2B Content Marketing Funnel? (& How to Use it to Drive Revenue) https://skale.so/b2b-content-marketing/b2b-content-marketing-funnel/ Wed, 26 Jul 2023 13:27:37 +0000 https://skale.so/?post_type=b2b-content-marketin&p=3370

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In the world of B2B marketing, understanding the customer journey is crucial for driving leads and conversions–and revenue. And that’s where the B2B content marketing funnel comes in.

The B2B content marketing funnel is a powerful framework that allows businesses to strategically guide potential customers from the first spark of awareness all the way to confidently making that purchasing leap. It’s like a strategic roadmap to conquer the hearts and minds of your prospects and turn them into raving fans!

Let’s explore the benefits of using the B2B marketing funnel in your content strategy and give you a step-by-step on how to create content that drives leads and revenue.

What are the benefits of using the B2B marketing funnel in your content strategy?

Using the B2B marketing funnel in your content strategy offers numerous benefits that can have a significant impact on your business’s success.

Let’s dive into some of these benefits:

1. More organic traffic & a lower reliance on paid advertisement:

By creating content for each stage of the funnel, you can attract organic traffic from search engines and social media. As users progress through the funnel, they become more engaged and interested in your offerings. This organic traffic not only reduces your dependency on paid advertisements but also increases the chances of driving quality leads.
As you can see in the image below, it’s organic search traffic the one that will get you a higher CTR compared to PPC ads. For SaaS and B2B businesses, PPC can mean a lot of wasted budget since most people will be aiming for high-traffic keywords––the ones that are usually not meaningful for B2B or SaaS businesses. So, the best way to go forward is through organic traffic and that means high-quality content marketing.

Source


Businesses that have a blog (and put in the work to keep it updated!) have 67% more sale leads than those that don’t have one.

2. Increased brand awareness and authority:

Through the B2B content marketing funnel, you have the opportunity to establish your brand as a thought leader and industry authority. By consistently delivering valuable content that educates and solves the audience’s pain points, you build trust and credibility. This, in turn, leads to increased brand awareness and positions your business as the go-to resource in your niche.

It’s important to understand that when users look for something online, whether it is looking to understand their pain points, or already searching for a solution, they are in an active state. In this active state, they will be much more open to hearing out what brands have to say. This is different from usual outbound marketing where users get sent marketing resources when they’re not really looking for them. Seizing this receptivity of an active searcher/user with thought leadership content is the best way to position your brand as an expert in the subject, one user will most likely trust and even look up to when deciding on a solution.

3. Long-term results:

The B2B content marketing funnel focuses on building relationships and nurturing leads over time. By providing value at each stage of the funnel, you can create a lasting impact on potential customers. This long-term approach results in a higher lifetime value of customers and sustainable business growth.

Frederick Reichheld, the inventor of the net promoter score, of Bain & Company found out that increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%. And truth is, a solid and effective B2B content marketing strategy will increase your customer retention.

Why?

Well, because once a customer has started using your product or service and is experiencing success, it’s crucial to ensure that they feel acknowledged and valued––not forgotten. To maintain their interest, you should provide them with a variety of content that caters to different stages of their buying journey––a.k.a. the B2B content marketing funnel. By employing retention marketing techniques and strategies, you can leverage content to boost customer retention rates.

It’s important to note that just because someone becomes a customer doesn’t mean they only want to consume whitepapers and case studies. Ideally, you want your customers to be actively engaged with your content and have even subscribed to your newsletter, which should offer a diverse range of resources for them. Additionally, you can enhance customer engagement by implementing targeted initiatives on various social media platforms.

By incorporating and fully understanding the B2B marketing funnel into your content strategy, you can leverage these benefits to drive leads, conversions, and ultimately business growth.

What are the stages of the B2B content marketing funnel?

The B2B content marketing funnel consists of four stages, each representing a different mindset and action of the consumer. Understanding these stages and their corresponding actions is crucial for creating effective content that guides users through the funnel.

B2B Content Marketing Funnel

Let’s explore each stage in more detail:

1. Awareness

At the awareness stage, users are looking for information. They have identified a problem or a need and are seeking answers. Their mindset is focused on understanding the issue and exploring possible solutions.

As a business, your goal at this stage is to attract the attention of these users and provide them with valuable content that educates and creates awareness about your product or service. This can be achieved through blog posts, social media content, infographics, and videos that address the pain points and challenges your target audience faces.

In this stage brand awareness is key. You want to be at the top of results and have potential customers read your brand’s name everywhere they go––you achieve this through link building strategies.

2. Interest & Evaluation

Once users have gained awareness and a better understanding of their problem, they move into the interest and evaluation stage. Here, they are actively looking to solve their problem and are considering various options available to them. Their mindset is centered around finding the best solution that meets their specific needs.

As a business, your content at this stage should focus on providing in-depth information about your product or service, showcasing its features and benefits, and offering evidence of its effectiveness. Case studies, whitepapers, webinars, and product comparison guides are effective content formats to engage users and help them evaluate your offering.

In this stage, you’ll need to showcase your expertise and experience in the topics they’re looking for so they can trust the solution you’re providing.

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3. Purchase

In the purchase stage, users have moved beyond evaluation and are ready to make a buying decision. Their mindset is focused on finalizing the best solution and taking action.

Your content at this stage should be geared towards providing the necessary information to help users make a confident purchasing decision. Product demos, free trials, detailed pricing information, and testimonials from satisfied customers can be effective content elements to influence users at this stage.

The goal at this stage is to showcase your product or service as the ideal solution and address any remaining concerns or doubts they may have.

4. Retention & Loyalty

The B2B content marketing funnel doesn’t end with the purchase. Retaining customers and encouraging repeat business and referrals is essential for long-term success. At the retention stage, your focus shifts to nurturing existing customers and turning them into loyal advocates.

Content that emphasizes customer success stories, ongoing support, exclusive offers, troubleshooting content, and other valuable resources can help foster customer loyalty and encourage repeat business. By maintaining engagement and delivering exceptional value even after the purchase, you can maximize customer satisfaction and generate referrals.

By understanding the mindset of the consumer at each stage of the B2B content marketing funnel and aligning your content accordingly you’ll effectively guide users through the funnel, driving conversions, and increasing the bottom line.

How to use the B2B content marketing funnel to create posts that convert

To effectively use the B2B content marketing funnel, it’s important to understand what content is most suitable for each stage and how it aligns with the user’s mindset. Let’s explore the content types and their purposes at each stage of the funnel:

  1. Top of the Funnel (TOFU) content:
    At the awareness stage, the goal is to attract attention and build awareness. TOFU content should focus on educating the audience about their pain points and possible solutions. Examples include blog posts, social media content, explainer videos, podcasts, and infographics. By providing valuable information and insights, you can establish your brand as a trusted resource and capture the interest of potential customers.
    For instance, a B2B SaaS SEO agency––like Skale ––could create a blog post titled “The 9 Best B2B SEO Tools You Need Right Now,” targeting professionals seeking tools to use for their B2B SEO needs.
  1. Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) content:
    In the evaluation stage, users are actively seeking solutions and comparing options. MOFU content should help them make an informed decision by providing more detailed information about your offerings, case studies, and customer testimonials. Whitepapers, webinars, and product comparison guides are effective content formats at this stage. This content should showcase how your product or service solves the user’s problem and highlight its unique value proposition.
    For example, since we also offer B2B content marketing agency services we’ve compared ourselves to 14 other UK B2B content marketing agencies to show where our services might be similar to the competition but also to highlight where we’re superior. This way potential customers have more and more reasons to choose us over our competitors.
  1. Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) content:
    When users reach the purchase stage, they need final reassurance and information to make a buying decision. BOFU content should focus on showcasing your product or service and providing compelling reasons to choose your business. This can include product demos, free trials, detailed pricing information, and testimonials from satisfied customers. Case studies that demonstrate measurable results are particularly effective at this stage.
    For example, we have a dedicated page called “Stories & Opinions” where we showcase all our case studies. It serves as a valuable resource for those who are curious to learn about the successes our past clients have achieved with our service. The key objective is to demonstrate the effectiveness of what you offer by providing real-world examples.

To apply the B2B content marketing funnel effectively, consider the following tips:

  1. Create content based on a strong user persona: Tailor your content to address the pain points and challenges of your target audience. To do this properly, you need to really understand their needs, preferences, and motivations to create content that resonates with them––they want to know you are an expert on their pain points.
  2. Use internal linking and calls to action: Guide users through the funnel by strategically placing internal links within your content. Encourage them to explore related articles, sign up for newsletters, or download additional resources. Well-placed calls to action can nudge users toward the next stage of the funnel.
  3. Measure and analyze: Use analytics tools to track the performance of your content at each stage of the funnel. Identify what works best and refine your strategy accordingly.

By implementing these strategies, you can create content that effectively guides users through the B2B content marketing funnel, increasing the likelihood of conversion, driving leads, and increasing revenue and retention for your business.

Tying the B2B content marketing funnel together

To maximize the effectiveness of the B2B content marketing funnel, it’s crucial to tie it all together with internal linking and strong calls to action––a thorough, integral, and effective SaaS content strategy. These elements ensure a seamless user experience and provide clear pathways for users to progress through the funnel.

Internal linking: Incorporate relevant links within your content that lead users from one stage of the funnel to the next. For example, within a TOFU blog post, include links to related MOFU content that offers more in-depth information. This helps users navigate through the funnel and discover the content most relevant to their needs.

Strong calls to action (CTAs): Place compelling CTAs strategically throughout your content to prompt users to take the desired action. Whether it’s subscribing to a newsletter, requesting a demo, or making a purchase, well-crafted CTAs guide users toward conversion. Use clear language, create a sense of urgency, and emphasize the value users will gain by taking the desired action––always place the user at the center of your strategy.

By implementing internal linking and strong CTAs, you can effectively nurture users through each stage of the B2B content marketing funnel, increasing the chances of converting leads into customers.

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B2B Content Marketing Funnel FAQ

What is the B2B content marketing funnel?

The B2B content marketing funnel is a framework that guides businesses in creating content tailored to each stage of the buyer’s journey. It consists of four stages: awareness, interest & evaluation, purchase, and retention & loyalty. By aligning content with the user’s mindset at each stage, businesses can attract, engage, and convert potential customers.

Why should you use the content marketing funnel to create B2B content?

The content marketing funnel offers several benefits. It helps businesses attract organic traffic, establish brand awareness and authority, and achieve long-term results. By creating content that addresses the user’s needs and pain points at each stage, businesses can nurture leads and drive conversions effectively.

What is the best way to create content that converts?

To create content that converts, it’s important to understand your target audience’s pain points and motivations. Develop a strong user persona and tailor your content to address their specific needs. Use the B2B content marketing funnel as a guide and create content that aligns with each stage. Incorporate internal linking and strong calls to action to guide users through the funnel and prompt them to take the desired action.

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SaaS Content Writing: How to Drive SQLs with 1st Class Content https://skale.so/b2b-content-marketing/saas-content-writing/ Wed, 05 Jul 2023 11:30:54 +0000 https://skale.so/?post_type=b2b-content-marketin&p=3273

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SaaS content marketing is one of the most powerful marketing strategies available to SaaS businesses. In addition to boosting brand awareness and reliability (two factors that are essential to growth in the SaaS industry) it’s cost-effective and offers a very high potential ROI. SaaS content writing has the potential to bring numerous business benefits, but it has to be done right. It’s a skill that involves many different factors, based on providing helpful content and increasing your brand’s visibility. 

In fact, over 75% of the organic traffic for SaaS companies comes from their SEO efforts, which is the most important means of bringing in new customers. Content marketing is the most common form of inbound marketing, attracting prospects and turning them into paying customers. For SaaS companies, content marketing is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have: a whopping 92% of SaaS marketers say that their companies see content as an important business asset––with businesses that have blogs generating 126% more leads than those who don’t

So, let’s find out what all the hype is about and kickstart your SaaS content creation journey! 🚀

What makes SaaS content writing different?

Content writing has become essential to SaaS marketing strategy. What sets it apart from other forms of content writing is its purpose. SaaS content writing is about creating helpful and educational content that will attract leads to your website. You might also get your readers to complete an action that will keep them engaging in your content—this might be registering for a weekly newsletter, signing up for a free demo, or downloading a free how-to guide.

Being a successful content writer in the SaaS industry involves combining: persuasive writing, technical expertise, and search engine optimization (SEO). The SaaS content creation process demands thorough planning and research—and ideally expert insights—if you want to be at the top of your game.

The characteristics of SaaS content are particularly emphasized in B2B SaaS. In the B2C world, consumers are mostly aware of what they need, whereas a large part of B2B SaaS content writing is explaining what the product is, how it works, and how it could help companies address their specific pain points.

What questions should your SaaS content answer?

SaaS content presents a valuable opportunity to educate potential users about a product by answering questions like:

  • What challenges will be solved when they sign up? Your content must clearly outline the pain points that your SaaS product or service will solve. Explain how you can provide a solution to these challenges and the benefits customers can expect to experience. Using real-world examples and case studies will further demonstrate the effectiveness of your solution. 
  • What makes the product unique? Your SaaS content must highlight the unique selling points of your product. How do these features set it apart from your competition? Focus on developing in detail what makes your solution innovative, efficient, and superior in meeting the needs of your target audience. 
  • Why is the product better than competitors? It’s really important to address the competition and to explain why your product comes out on top. Walk through the benefits your solution offers—these could include factors such as better performance, scalability, user-friendliness, personalization options, customer support, pricing models, or integration capabilities. Remember to provide concrete evidence, testimonials, or statistics to bolster your claims and build trust with your potential customers. 
  • How does the product align with specific business goals or industries? Tailoring your content to your niche is a vital part of your SaaS content strategy as it enables you to demonstrate how your SaaS product meets the specific needs of your target audience. 
  • What results or ROI can customers expect? Address the outcomes and potential return on investment (ROI) that customers can expect when deciding to pay for your SaaS product. Benefits might include increased productivity, cost savings, revenue growth, time savings, or enhanced customer satisfaction. Back up all your claims with customer testimonials, or case studies, which showcase tangible results that other customers have achieved by using your product. 

How to write SaaS content that generates qualified leads: 7 Tips every marketer should know

How to write SaaS content that generates qualified leads, 7 tips every marketer should know

1. Understand the SaaS sales funnel and tailor your content

At the top of our list is the importance of understanding where your content fits into the SaaS buying journey: you must have a strong idea of exactly what your blog post, guide, or interview is trying to achieve. 

SaaS content writing maps content to different stages of the sales funnel, which typically consists of three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. Content tailored to each stage helps move prospects through the funnel and supports their decision-making process.

Let’s have a look at the three key stages:

  • Awareness Stage: at this stage, the content writing process should be geared towards generating interest, providing basic information, and generally creating brand awareness. Blog posts, social media content, and industry reports can be used to address your target audience’s pain points, provide valuable insights, and introduce your SaaS solution.
  • Consideration Stage: where potential customers are evaluating different options. Content such as white papers, case studies, comparison guides, and webinars can help showcase the benefits and unique features of your specific SaaS product or service. The overall goal here is to establish credibility, build trust, and position your SaaS business as the top solution to customer problems. 
  • Decision Stage: at this stage, your content should focus on persuading prospects to choose the SaaS solution. Free trials, demos, customer testimonials, and pricing information can be effective content types to help prospects make a final decision. Clear calls-to-action (CTAs) are crucial to encourage conversions. 

2. Showcase your technical expertise

Since SaaS content is geared toward company decision-makers, it needs to demonstrate a high level of technical expertise. Top-quality SaaS writers simplify complex concepts, explain technical jargon, and provide clarity to prospects.

Writing for SaaS companies means having a strong grasp of your subject. It’s not just about increasing brand awareness, but brand reliability. Avoid generalizing blanket statements, and remember to fact check, fact check, fact check. Every blog post must build trust with potential customers, providing helpful and informative content that can help leads make informed decisions about where to invest their money. With each potential customer you attract with useful advice, you’re one step closer to winning them over—game, set, and match. 🏆

3. Include expert advice where possible

In addition to having a solid base knowledge of your topic, SaaS content can always benefit from expert insights. It’s important to remember that SaaS content writing goes beyond the acquisition phase and includes content that supports customer success and retention. Create content that’s customer-focused, such as onboarding material, how-to guides, and video tutorials, to ensure your target audience gains maximum value from your SaaS solution. A SaaS content strategy should include the EEAT principle. That is, content should demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness, as these are often used by Google’s search ranking system to evaluate content quality.

Using media like how-to guides and recommendation listicles, you can show your prospects that you’re an expert in your field—and that you’re truly dedicated to providing them with valuable advice.

“Listicles bring value to potential customers by helping them make quick and accurate decisions about items they would like to purchase. Potential customers are often bombarded with options to choose from and it can get mind-numbing trying to figure out which option is better than the rest. A listicle usually presents a limited number of options that meet certain criteria, and then quickly evaluates the pros and cons of each option. Now, the potential customer can easily pick the option that they feel best aligns with their needs, empowered with the knowledge they need to make better purchasing decisions.” 

– James Wilkinson, the CEO, and co-founder of Balance One Supplements 

4. Publish content regularly  

If you want your target audience to find your SaaS product organically, it’s important not just to create high-quality content, but to publish it regularly. For a content marketing strategy to work, consistency is key.

A solid flow of articles and guides is essential to sustainably driving traffic, creating awareness, and turning readers into leads. SaaS giants like HubSpot and Mailchimp produce a ton of content and tend to dominate search engine results pages (SERPs) when it comes to their particular topic.

“Posting regular online content is also crucial for SaaS businesses. Not only does it help drive organic traffic, but it also helps establish a consistent brand presence and keeps customers engaged. By posting regular updates, SaaS businesses can stay top-of-mind with their audience and build a strong community of supporters.”

Matthew Ramirez, serial entrepreneur and investor, Forbes 30 Under 30 Alumni

For example, when we worked with SaaS king Nathan Latka and helped him increase his organic traffic by 568%, we developed a 12-month content SaaS content marketing plan to ensure that top-quality content was flowing consistently – building momentum and attracting site traffic. 

5. Optimize your article structure  

From well-placed calls-to-action (CTAs) to striking titles, optimizing your format is crucial to successful SaaS content creation. Your ideal word count will depend on the format and topic, but it’s advisable to aim for a minimum of 1,000 words for standard blog posts, 2,000 for long-form content, and concise 300-500 word pieces for news or product pages.

6. Don’t forget about search engine optimization (SEO)

When it comes to creating content for SaaS businesses, remember it’s just as much about ranking as it is about marketing your software and demonstrating technical expertise. Keyword research is essential to produce high-quality content, which will then boost organic traffic, and help you stay on top of search engine rankings. And being on top of search engine rankings will not only improve the visibility of your content but also of your brand. The higher you show up on your niche keywords, the more top of mind your brand will be for your potential customers.  

Including relevant keywords can really bring up your content game—but a successful SEO strategy is about a lot more than that. Check out our guide to keyword research, which explains how eight different SaaS brands have started ranking higher thanks to a holistic SEO strategy. 

Other factors, such as establishing an ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), should determine your approach. An ICP is a detailed outline of your target customer profile—not to be confused with a buyer persona. An ICP helps SaaS businesses understand the unique characteristics of their prospects, helping you develop a laser focus in your SaaS-specific marketing campaigns, which can then inform your content creation process. 

SEO is an evergreen solution– meaning that the efforts you put in today will continue to work throughout longevity, unlike PPC which as soon as you stop paying, it will stop working. Whether it’s analyzing existing content or planning future content, it’s essential to prioritize high-intent keywords and link building opportunities where possible. For example, when we helped Attest increase their organic product signups by 8.5 x year-on-year, we kept detailed keyword research and strategic planning at the heart of our SEO content services

7. Set goals and stick to them

Writing content is all very well, but it’s important to make sure your content is making a difference. Measuring results and optimizing existing content, ideally through a site audit, is a great way for you to come up with feasible yet aspirational goals for you to meet with your SaaS content.

Results tracking, using key metrics as benchmarks, is the best way to monitor the success of your SaaS content efforts. To get started, familiarize yourself with measuring ROI – specifically in the SaaS world – which you can do with Skale’s free guide.

Examples of great content for SaaS products

Product-led content

As the name suggests, product-led content is based on the product. It’s content that successfully places a product at the center of its narrative, whether that’s by illustrating a point or providing a solution to a customer’s need. It tends to focus on a particular pain point (a pillar of SaaS content marketing strategy) and offers an answer. 

Below you can see how Ahrefs popular blog is a great example of product-led content. In almost all of its blogs, they will show how their tool can solve customers’ pain points. For example, in their ‘What Are SEO Benchmarks, & Which Ones Actually Matter?’ blog post, they show the SEO benchmarks with using–and how an user can track them with their tool.

Ahrefs: what are SEO benchmarks & which ones actually matter blog post

Leading with the product works well for many reasons. It’s a popular SaaS go-to marketing strategy, driving customer acquisition and conversion and boosting customer lifetime value. In fact, SaaS companies with a product-led content strategy have, on average, a 25% higher growth rate than those who do not.

Informational content

Educational media is crucial to a successful content marketing strategy in the SaaS world. In B2B, three in four buyers want to self-educate: it’s your job to provide your target audience with the necessary tools and resources via accessible, compelling content.

In addition to specialist written content, it’s important to cover a few basics in your SaaS blog. You may have a clearly defined target audience, but making your content human and approachable with thorough explanations and careful wording is the priority.

How-to guides

How-to content is about teaching readers to do something. Walk-through guides are popular: they bring a reader with them as they give the rundown. From How to Conduct an Insightful SaaS SEO Competitor Analysis to How to Calculate SaaS Marketing ROI, these guides offer something of value to potential customers, boosting both brand loyalty and credibility.

Thought leadership content

In the oversaturated B2B SaaS industry, thought leadership is slowly making its way into SaaS content across the sector. It’s a highly effective way to win the attention of your target audience, which in the SaaS world is essentially an entire company, not just a single customer.

Thought leadership helps spread word of mouth about your SaaS company: it’s a valuable strategy drawing on the combination of experience, marketing, and opinion, helping you solidify both brand awareness and reliability. Remember to narrow your focus to a particular topic, ideally one with a high search volume, and come up with various content ideas that demonstrate your expertise. There are three key ways to achieve this:

  1. Take a hard stance on an industry belief (or myth)
  2. Work with new data and analytics to create innovative content in the form of reports or white papers
  3. Address and explain a complex, commonly misunderstood issue specific to your industry

Industry news and commentary

Writing SaaS content can be as simple as commenting on new updates and developments in your field. These pieces tend to be shorter, unless, for example, you’re interviewing an expert, up to about 500 words. With these, remember quality over quantity! 

Whether this takes the form of a newsletter or an expert-led roundup blog post, creating SaaS content that follows trending topics and news is increasingly likely to receive shares and links. When it comes to the content creation process, software such as Google Trends and BuzzSumo can help you track breaking news and stay on top of any updates, so you can be first on the scene.

Case studies

Case studies are all-rounders. They showcase your company’s previous successes, demonstrate customer satisfaction, and aim to both inspire and educate readers. Having a dedicated page of detailed articles on your SaaS website makes it easy for prospects to have a look at your greatest successes, and understand your product or service in great detail. They provide real-world evidence of the effectiveness of your SaaS product—so statistics and metrics are vital to showcase your success. 

Below you can see an example of our Stories & Opinions page where we showcase all of our case studies. 

Skale's Case Study: How Rezi Increased Their Revenue by 176% in Just Four Months landing page

Case studies also provide an opportunity to highlight the specific challenges or pain points that your SaaS product solves. This may resonate with potential customers who are experiencing similar challenges, making your SaaS offering more relatable and relevant to them. A detailed case study enables prospects to envision how your product can be applied to their own business scenario. They’re shareable, serve as social proof, and enhance your brand’s reputation, ticking many boxes on your SaaS content criteria list. 

The benefits of SaaS content writing: beyond rankings

Drives brand awareness

Increasing visibility is key to any business—especially SaaS businesses. For people to buy your product, they first need to know that your product exists. By writing content that’s relevant and helpful to their target audiences, SaaS companies can attract prospects, who may eventually become paying customers. 

For example, you might own a SaaS startup that’s offering brand-new project management software. You’re confident of its ability to effectively streamline workflows and boost productivity, and you’re eyeing your target audience, but they don’t know about you—yet. 

This is where search intent comes in. Someone belonging to the target audience might type into Google search “How can I complete projects more efficiently?” Ideally, a product-led blog post from your website content will appear high in Google search results. It might outline ways of boosting productivity while mentioning the potential benefits of your product. 

The tips and expert advice you give will provide value to your readers, and now they know about your product. 

Builds trust with potential customers

SaaS content marketing is all about building credibility. Potential SaaS customers are much more likely to buy from a brand they know they can trust—and one of the most effective methods of establishing trust is by providing helpful information and free tools without expecting anything in return. 

This gives the impression that you care about your readers: you want to see them succeed. When people see that you’re an expert in your field, with plenty of useful tips and advice to give out, they’re more likely to return (and keep returning) to your website. Organic traffic is the first step to gaining paying customers. 

It’s cost-effective 

SaaS content writing is one of the most cost-effective SaaS marketing strategies. When the search engines start playing ball, you’ll notice increased traffic to your website, more leads, and better engagement. 

Not only does it offer high ROI, but SaaS content marketing also works well with other strategies, for example, social media marketing or email marketing, which you can use to share your content with a wider audience. Additionally, once you’ve created your content, it’ll continue to produce results, driving up traffic and leads long after you’ve published it. 

Discover how Skale doubled Rezi’s monthly signups

Skale’s expert team created an aggressive content growth strategy that increased Rezi’s revenue by 176% in just 4 months- how did we do it?

Get the full story

Do you need a SaaS content writer or a full-service agency?

If you’ve decided to look into SaaS content writing services, you’ve got two options: hiring a SaaS content writer directly or working with a full-service SaaS content agency

SaaS content writers offer expertise and specialization. They understand the nuances, challenges, and trends specific to the SaaS industry. Working with a dedicated writer enables direct collaboration and communication, and they can be cost-effective, depending on your content needs. However, in order to work with a freelance SaaS content writer, you’ll need a clear content strategy in place already. If you don’t have one established, a full-service agency may be a better choice. 

Specialist SaaS agencies such as Skale offer a full team of writers, editors, SEO experts, and strategists, providing a wider range of services and all-around support––exactly what you need. Agencies can scale their efforts much more easily than freelancers, and it’s easier to accommodate workload changes or priority shifts. Additionally, agencies can provide strategic guidance and a broader perspective, bringing in industry insights, best practices, and creative ideas for you to use to shape your content strategy. 

Ultimately, the best options depend on your specific needs, resources, and preferences. If you are interested in finding out more about the potential benefits of working with an agency, book a call with us today

Seriously scale your content strategy with a specialist agency

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The Key to a B2B Thought Leadership Content Strategy (+ Examples) https://skale.so/b2b-content-marketing/b2b-thought-leadership-content/ Wed, 05 Jul 2023 10:03:47 +0000 https://skale.so/?post_type=b2b-content-marketin&p=3271 DemandConf 2024 - By Skale

In the rapidly evolving world of B2B marketing, establishing a strong thought leadership presence has become crucial for organizations aiming to stand out from the competition and cultivate trust among their target audience. At the heart of this strategy lies B2B thought leadership content, a powerful tool that defines industry authority, provides valuable insights and generates innovative ideas. However, creating effective thought leadership content comes with its fair share of challenges.

B2B thought leadership content encompasses the creation and distribution of high-quality, authoritative content that positions a company as a trusted industry leader. It goes beyond promotional messaging, focusing on sharing valuable insights, expert opinions, and forward-thinking concepts. By offering educational, informative, and inspiring content, businesses aim to establish themselves as reliable sources of industry knowledge and expertise.

However, crafting thought leadership content presents various obstacles that organizations must overcome:

  • Quickly becomes outdated: To stay relevant and credible, thought leadership content must be continuously updated and aligned with the latest industry trends and advancements.
  • Controversy potential: Presenting innovative ideas that resonate with their target audience must  be done tactfully, since taking a strong stance on industry topics can invite controversy and potential backlash.
  • Differentiation from competitors: To remain ahead of the curve, businesses must continuously innovate and differentiate their content, ensuring they maintain a unique perspective and stay one step ahead of the rest.
  • Maintaining consistency: Building a thought leadership reputation requires sustained effort, commitment, and the ability to deliver value consistently to the audience.

Addressing these challenges requires a well-crafted B2B thought leadership content strategy that not only overcomes obstacles but also harnesses the full potential of thought leadership to drive business growth and industry influence.

By exploring successful examples and implementing best practices, here we’ll learn how companies can position themselves as trusted thought leaders in their industries.

What makes great B2B thought leadership content?

Great B2B thought leadership content can do wonders for your business. Take Neil Patel for example:

“Neil Patel publishes tons of thought leadership content, and it vastly improves brand awareness for his marketing agency. His platforms – from his YouTube channel to his podcast and website – are hubs offering free, niche marketing and SEO content, successfully positioning Neil Patel as the go-to expert in the industry.

When listening to his podcast, for instance, you may think, ‘I wish I had someone like this on my team!’ and collaboration with his agency is available – that’s why thought leadership content is valuable.”

– Joshua Host, Founder of Thrivelab

To write and create thought leadership content, it’s important to have a solid understanding of its key characteristics: 

  • It should offer original insights and perspectives that haven’t been extensively explored before. By providing fresh ideas and solutions, it distinguishes itself from the competition.
  • Relevance is crucial, as the content should directly address the pain points and challenges of the target audience, providing valuable information or solutions to help them overcome obstacles or achieve their goals.
  • Establishing credibility is essential. Thought leadership content should showcase the author or organization as a trusted and knowledgeable source in their industry. This can be achieved through expertise, industry experience, research, case studies, and data-driven insights.
  • Thought leadership content should also be in-depth and detailed, going beyond surface-level observations to provide comprehensive information and actionable insights.
  • It should be written in a clear, engaging manner, avoiding jargon and technical language to ensure accessibility.
  • Thought leadership content should be thought-provoking, challenging conventional thinking, and stimulating new ideas and discussions.
  • It should prioritize delivering value to the readers, providing practical advice or strategic insights that positively impact their businesses.

Besides this, it’s important to keep in mind two additional factors. One is implementing effective distribution and promotion, which are essential to reach a wider audience and boost your content’s impact. And lastly, your content should show a touch of personality:

The biggest mistake I see in thought leadership right now is people using AI to write their pieces! When it comes to thought leadership, your personal style and distinctive, recognizable tone are everything! People expect that what you’ve written is going to be congruent with the personal brand you’ve cultivated. If it’s not, it at best sounds bland and boring and at worst, hurts the trust you’ve established with your ideal audience. 

Personal anecdotes and specific examples are much better than fluff for a few reasons. It demonstrates your authority and what makes you unique. It also will likely help with SEO as Google increases the priority it places on helpful content and personal perspectives.

– Sara Bodner, Digital Content Manager at Conklin Media

Why create thought leadership content?

Creating thought leadership content offers numerous benefits for businesses. Here are some key advantages of thought leadership content:

  • Increased brand awareness
  • Enhanced credibility and trust
  • Customer loyalty and retention
  • Lead generation and sales
  • Competitive advantage
  • Industry influence and partnerships

When done well, thought leadership does a few things that are important to attract new clients. It demonstrates your expertise, highlights your tone of voice, and gives an indication of what it might be like to work with you, and finally, if you’re addressing your perfect client’s challenges in an authentic and helpful manner – leading to business!” 

– Charlie Southwell, Marketing Director of Let’s Talk Talent

By leveraging thought leadership content, businesses can enjoy these benefits, ultimately driving growth, establishing industry influence, and building strong relationships with their target audience.

The advantage of building thought leadership content is multi-fold. First of all, you become the conversation starter, which gives you the best position in marketing communication. The beginners perceive you as an expert in the field, giving you credibility in the existing as well as the next generation. The thought leadership content is also copied by other people, and they link the original B2B content as a reference, which gives the business website a word-of-mouth promotion.

– Faizan Fahim, Content Marketing at InfraCloud

How can you create content that converts?

We’ve taken a deep dive into 15 customer acquisition strategies that increase revenue (hint: they all involve quality content!) 

Read the full article

How to create an insightful B2B thought leadership content strategy

Now, the time has arrived to start producing your own insightful B2B thought leadership content strategy. We’ve made it super easy for you by putting together nine key steps to follow:

Step 1: Understand your customers: their key questions and pain points

The main mistake I see in thought leadership is that it becomes too self-promotional. The content should be about the challenges your audience has, not you. If you can avoid that pitfall you will demonstrate your expertise and become trusted automatically without a pitch.

– Charlie Southwell, Marketing Director of Let’s Talk Talent

Before diving into creating thought leadership content, it’s crucial to understand the challenges, questions, and pain points of your target audience. Conduct market research, engage with your audience through surveys or interviews, and analyze industry trends to gain insights into their needs and interests.

One of the biggest mistakes in creating thought leadership content is not understanding your target audience well enough. Whether you want to generate brand awareness or leads, it’s important to know who the content is targeted towards. Without this perspective, it’s impossible to create truly helpful content. A lack of audience understanding can prevent you from covering the right topics and themes, meaning your content will keep missing the mark.

–Shivani Maheshwari, Content Specialist at WrittenlyHub

Step 2: Set goals for thought leadership content

Define clear objectives for your thought leadership content strategy. Determine what you want to achieve, whether it’s establishing your brand as an industry authority, generating leads, or increasing customer engagement. Setting measurable goals will help you track the success of your strategy—and allow you to spend your marketing budget wisely.

Get a general understanding of your business goals and refine them into focused aspects that you can work on. These focus points should best represent your business’ brand through your strength, interest, subject matter expertise, and market trends.” –Chiam Canda, Jr. Marketing Director at Evolv Branding, Advertising, and Marketing

Step 3: Utilize expert insights and your own data

Incorporate expert insights and opinions into your thought leadership content to provide valuable and unique perspectives. Collaborate with industry influencers, thought leaders or subject matter experts to contribute their expertise through interviews, guest blog posts, or quotes. This will enhance the credibility and depth of your content.

B2B thought leadership material, defined by me as a sales director, is high-quality, intelligent, and authoritative content that positions a firm or individual as a trusted industry leader and expert. Thought leadership content is intended to educate, inspire, and influence the intended audience, making the creator a go-to resource in their industry.” –Derrick Hathaway, Sales Director at VEM Medical

Step 4: Develop a consistent brand voice and tone

Your thought leadership content should reflect a consistent brand voice that aligns with your overall brand image. Establish a distinctive, recognizable tone that resonates with your audience. Avoid generic or AI-generated content and instead focus on personal anecdotes, specific examples, and a human touch that adds value and builds trust.

Another mistake is using a tone that’s perhaps too casual for the purpose. When it comes to thought leadership content, it’s important to have a confident, affirmative, and sincere tone of voice. If your thought leadership content sounds too conversational or informal, your audience may have a tough time taking you seriously.” –Shivani Maheshwari, Content Specialist at WrittenlyHub

Step 5: Choose relevant content formats

Thought leadership content can take various formats such as blog articles, whitepapers, videos, podcasts, webinars, infographics, or case studies. Choose the formats that resonate with your target audience–after all, by now your market research should give you this information–and align with your objectives.

Remember you can always repurpose content across different formats to maximize its reach and impact. For example, an insightful case study can be turned into a podcast episode, a colorful infographic, or the prime data for a blog article.

A common mistake in thought leadership content is relying solely on text without utilizing engaging mediums like videos and podcasts. Limiting content to written articles lessens your chance to connect with audiences in more dynamic and immersive ways. 

Videos can capture attention through visuals, body language, and storytelling, while podcasts create an intimate and conversational experience. These formats allow for greater authenticity, personal connection, and the ability to showcase expertise in a relatable manner.

Incorporating videos and podcasts into your thought leadership strategy amplifies your message, reaches a broader audience, and stimulates deeper engagement. It also caters to different learning styles and enhances the impact of your thought leadership efforts.”

Milo Cruz, CMO at Freelance Writing Jobs

Step 6: Share thought leadership content on your blog and beyond it

Create a dedicated blog section on your website to publish and showcase your thought leadership content. Ensure your content is easily accessible and well-organized. Additionally, you can leverage social media platforms to amplify your reach and engage with your audience. Share snippets, teasers, or key takeaways from your thought leadership content on platforms where your target audience is active.

“Choose the right platforms to publish thought leadership content based on your target audience. For example, if you want to reach Gen Z, TikTok is an excellent choice. Find out which social media channels your audience spends their time on and for what purpose, finalize your account, and start creating!” Lyudmyla Dobrynina, Head of Marketing in North America for Optimeal

Step 7: Promote thought leadership content effectively

To maximize the impact of your thought leadership content you need to ensure you’re promoting it effectively. For example, by partnering with influential websites and industry publications for content republishing. Alternatively, you might expand your reach through guest blogging, active participation in conferences and webinars, and effective email marketing. You can also increase your social media reach by linking and sharing expert insights— most will be more than happy to share them on their social channels.

Here are some ways to promote your content effectively:

  • Email
  • Social media
  • SEO and link building
  • Paid advertising
  • Public relations and networking
  • Partner marketing
  • Online reviews
  • Webinars
  • Conferences
  • Guest appearances
  • Speaking engagements and events

Step 8: Always focus on relevance and quality

Stay updated on the latest developments to keep your content relevant and timely. The digital age is characterized by rapid changes, and it’s crucial to be aware of-and adapt to-them. Your audience relies on you as their go-to resource, so make sure your content is always up-to-date, relevant, and of high quality.

Quality should always be prioritized over quantity–especially in thought leadership content. Focus on meeting and producing high-relevance and quality content and you’re looking at a successful thought leadership strategy.

Step 9: Measure and refine

As with any B2B strategy, once it’s been working for a bit, you’ll want to measure and see how it’s doing. Are your goals being met? If not, can you find out where the problem is? Then address it. Always be on the lookout for where you can improve and what your audience is telling you.

It’s crucial to track and evaluate the effectiveness of your thought leadership material. Missed opportunities for improvement might result from failing to monitor essential indicators or collect audience input. Measure engagement, website traffic, conversions, and other vital data with analytics tools. Pay close attention to audience response to spot potential improvement areas.”

–Krupa Trivedi, Digital Marketing Manager at On-Demand Ninja

Want more? Here are 10 tactics that you can use to level up your overall content marketing strategy.

Examples of excellent B2B thought leadership content

Now that we know why it matters and how to create it, let’s see three real-life examples of excellent B2B thought leadership content.

Sona: when creating high-quality reports is your way to the top

Sona Thought Leadership Content Webpage

Sona, a workforce management software for Social Care, is a great example of thought leadership content done well. Besides their popular blog and webinars, they are well-known in their industry for creating high-quality and relevant reports. Their Appreciation Matters report was so valuable that it has been cited by leading industry experts like The Care Home Environment and UK Care Week. This shows that to become a thought leader in your industry, you need to show your expertise and bring something new to the table.

Grow by Acorns and CNBC: when focusing on your target audience’s pain points is your way to lead

Grow by Acorns and CNBC website homepage

Acorns, the micro-investment app, teamed up with CNBC in 2019 to create a blog where consumers could find answers to their financial queries.

Named Grow, the blog covered a wide range of financial wellness topics, featuring interviews with billionaire investors and experts. While the focus was not solely on investing (Acorns’ industry), it offered valuable information to potential future customers. This partnership started in 2019, and in June 2022 the chairman of CNBC released a statement saying the editorial project will be coming to an end. However, CNBC still offers a financial wellness website called ‘Invest in You.’

Although a thing of the past, this project between these two corporations is an excellent example of thought leadership and what focusing on your target audience can do: “When we began producing Grow content in 2019, the site had 105,000 unique visitors and this year, we hit a record 6.5 million.” –Mark Hoffman, Chairman at CNBC

Grow your business with quality content

Discover how other brands are scaling their business with this list of key insights from real case studies.

Read the list

B2B Growth by Sweet Fish: when showing your human side is your way to your future customers

B2B Growth Podcast On Apple Podcasts

B2B Growth is Sweet Fish’s podcast, which discusses all things B2B marketing and growth are discussed. With more than 1,000 episodes, and a 4.9-star rating with 393 reviews, you know this podcast is giving people what they want.

Not only do they ensure to provide valuable information to their listeners, but they also make sure their personalities shine through. Hosts James Carbary and Benji Block have now made a name for themselves, boasting 30,000 and 3,000 LinkedIn followers respectively.

The best thing is that this podcast discusses all the things related to B2B marketing, even though Sweet Fish is a media production company. So, they talk about topics that might not necessarily have to do with what they do, but that future customers will be wanting to know and learn more about.

Position your business as an authority by creating the right content

“The main benefit of thought leadership content is that it gives credibility and authority to your brand. When you say something that resonates on an intellectual level, that offers truly insightful commentary, it raises the quality of your reputation. You become the go-to source for information. And in turn that increases how much trust people have in everything you do, including your products.” –Jinwoo Park, Content Writer, Chameleon

As Jinwoo says, B2B thought leadership content is essential for standing out in the competitive B2B marketing landscape and building trust with your target audience.

However, to create exceptional B2B thought leadership content, it is essential to provide unique perspectives, address audience challenges effectively, establish credibility, foster innovation, and ensure clarity and engagement throughout the content creation. We get it, it’s not always easy—which is why we’ve put together a step-by-step on how to create an effective B2B thought leadership content strategy.

Here are the steps:

  • Understand your customers’ needs
  • Set clear goals
  • Leverage expert insights and data
  • Establish a consistent brand voice
  • Choose relevant content formats
  • Share content on your blog and social media
  • Promote it effectively through various channels
  • Prioritize relevance and quality
  • Measure and refine your strategy over time

However, all of these steps can be easier when you have a specialized B2B content marketing, like Skale, by your side.

Unlock the potential of your B2B content marketing journey with the unrivaled expertise of Skale. It’s time to turn your aspirations into reality and set your brand apart with Skale’s expert content marketing services by your side. 

Choose the right content marketing agency for you

Looking for a B2B content marketing agency that delivers? We’ve narrowed it down to a list of your top 15 choices.

Read the list

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7 Types of B2B Interactive Content to Grow Your Strategy (With Examples) https://skale.so/b2b-content-marketing/b2b-interactive-content/ Fri, 16 Jun 2023 14:45:06 +0000 https://skale.so/?post_type=b2b-content-marketin&p=3158

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Ready to revolutionize your marketing game? Power up your B2B interactive content, the latest and greatest weapon in your marketing arsenal. Gone are the days of static blog posts and whitepapers, it’s time to up your game and turn your audience into active participants that keep them coming back for more. 

B2B interactive content is immersive, interactive media that can be clicked, explored, and personalized. It creates a connection between the user and the brand, fostering engagement and generating positive results. Think virtual tours, interactive webinars, quizzes, and interactive infographics — it’s a vibrant and engaging addition to your B2B marketing strategy

Although interactivity enhances your content, it must, above all, be informative. For every piece of content, ask yourself whether it’s providing valuable information or analysis to potential customers. It’s essential to offer something of genuine value. 

This guide will help you kickstart your interactive content journey. We’ll cover the basics, and run through the top B2B interactive content examples to inspire you to up your marketing game. 

Let’s dive in!

Bonus: Check out these innovative B2B Content Marketing Ideas to create a memorable campaign.

Generate SQLs with B2B content- get the guide

Learn how you can scale your marketing ROI using SEO for lead generation- our guide takes you through, step-by-step.

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7 Types of B2B interactive content to level up your content marketing game

Let’s now look at the seven types of B2B interactive content that you’ll need to include in your content marketing game if you want to see the best results possible. 

1. eBooks and guides

Interactive eBooks and guides are essentially an enhanced version of the paper copy. They contain clickable links that optimize the reading experience, adding to the potential for learning and exploring the topic. There’s a long list of features included in interactive eBooks and guides, for example: 

  • Audio narration 
  • Text highlighting
  • Videos
  • Charts
  • Maps
  • Hyperlinked endnotes 
  • Additional resources 

Example: Skale

Skale’s downloadable guide to Link Building Tactics allows prospects to gain valuable information for free. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it means that satisfied users are more likely to return. 

SaaS Link Building Tactics Ebook

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2. Trackers & calculators

Interactive calculators can be an invaluable tool for your target audiences, helping them determine useful information such as processing speed, cost of pricing options, or even potential ROI. It gives instant results, it’s personalized, and it offers your prospect a service—for free! 

Example: Hubspot 

A top example of a B2B calculator is HubSpot’s version. Describing itself as a go-to “data-driven advertising budget planner,” it appeals to B2B companies as its personalized results can help them answer questions like whether advertisements are worth the money. Using metrics such as target conversion rate, expected CPC, projected monthly budget, and more, this calculator builds loyalty among users who gain valuable insights from it.

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3. Quizzes and assessments 

Whether you’re aiming to infuse your B2B marketing strategy with fun and entertainment or looking for a serious way to engage and inform your audience, quizzes showcase some of the top benefits of B2B interactive media. The B2B buying process being longer than B2C, quizzes can help decision-makers feel more confident about their decisions—and your brand. Quizzes should be short and quick, providing a clear and actionable answer. 

Example: Paychex

Paychex, which provides payroll and HR solutions, offers several top-quality interactive quizzes to help prospects identify pain points. With question titles such as “How do your hiring and retention practices rate? Take our quick assessment to learn what works and where you can improve,” these seem like attractive resources to businesses looking to up their recruitment game. You can be sure that, whatever the quiz results, Paychex will offer to help optimize your strategy. 

Paychex Long Quiz Template Landing Page

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4. Virtual tours and product demos 

Virtual tours and product demos permit your audience to fully immerse themselves in an experience that best showcases your product. You can offer virtual tours with interactive features that allow prospects to explore your offerings from the comfort of their screens, in their own time. 

Example: Citrix 

Citrix, a workspace software business, demonstrates how to use an interactive tour to show, not just tell prospects the value of your product. The Citrix product tour encourages users to become more familiar with their service, with interactive buttons, pop-up windows, and detailed labels. It’s educational: users will learn how machine learning assesses user behavior to detect and resolve security threats. It’s a step-by-step guide to leading prospects further along the buying journey. 

Citrix Demo Landing Page

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5. Webinars and live chats 

Interactive webinars are an increasingly popular example of B2B interactive marketing: prospects can participate, ask questions, provide feedback, and engage with industry experts in real-time in a two-way communication channel. B2B webinars need to be unique, in-depth, and targeted, addressing specific points rather than broader topics. 

 Webinars are usually associated with the top-of-the-funnel marketing stage, but interactive content means they can be tailored to prospects at any stage. They’re a highly effective lead generation tool, and even more effective when adjusted to match the buying stage: 

  • Early stage: webinars should be educational, addressing common pain points
  • Mid stage: webinars can focus on providing solutions to hot-button issues 
  • Late stage: the opportunity to expand on key product features and case studies, directly answering specific questions and engaging individually with the participants. 

Example: SEMRush 

SEMrush, a highly popular SEO tool, uses an original approach to create interactive content. They offer live audits in webinar format: companies can nominate their website for the chance to be drawn, and then SEO experts will conduct a live audit (for free!) of the selected websites. Informative, engaging, and personal, this is a prime example of leveraging B2B interactive content to convert leads into paying customers. 

Semrush Webinars Landing Page

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6. Interactive infographics 

Infographics are becoming more and more central to marketing strategies across all industries. They’re visually appealing, add color to any website or social media page, and make complex information easy to read and digest. They’re highly effective tools for boosting brand awareness and demand generation and educating your target audience. 

Interactive infographics take it one step further. From simple modifications, such as hovering over elements to reveal additional information, to more complex ones, like a real-time, AI-driven Q&A feature, they encourage people to further explore your content. 

Example: Kapost 

Kapost is a brilliant example of harnessing the power of interactive infographics. They use an informative, visually-appealing timeline of marketing technologies while persuading a user why it’s essential to have a concrete understanding of where to invest their marketing budget, which (you guessed it!) leads straight to their eBook. Genius. You’ll also notice in the screenshot that their ‘Request a demo’ and interactive chatbot are never too far away. 

Upland eBook Landing Page

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7. Gamification

Games are great. They offer an unparalleled level of engagement and can combine education with entertainment. Developing them means that they’re definitely on the pricier end of the scale, but there’s a very high potential ROI, helping you meet multiple goals with one piece of marketing content. From simulator games to loyalty programs and contests, it’s a surefire way to convert prospects. 

“With gamification marketing, B2B leaders can use and gamify their digital assets to share their expertise and insights on emerging industry trends through crossword puzzles, video quizzes, trivia games, personality tests, etc. Giant tech companies like IBM, Apple, and Microsoft deploy their gamification thought leadership content, successfully attracting millions of B2B prospects and clients worldwide.”

Simon Bacher, CEO and Co-founder of Ling App

Example: LinkedIn 

Visuals or gimmicks that provide even a small degree of user satisfaction can make all the difference. LinkedIn’s profile strength indicator offers an instant reward to members sharing more and more personal information, relying on the user’s desire to meet the goal of 100% completion. It’s a much more effective strategy than explicitly asking for personal information and instead turns this exchange into an engaging interaction. 

LinkedIn Profile Strength Indicator

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Is interactive B2B content marketing effective?

Simply put, yes. Let’s justify our answer with a breakdown of the reasons why B2B content marketing will bring tangible results to your business. 

Bonus Read: Check out these B2B Content Marketing Metrics.

Benefit 1: Higher customer engagement and conversion rate

Content with interactive elements generates almost twice as many conversions as passive content. By encouraging participation and interaction, you create a more memorable and immersive experience for decision-makers. Increasing engagement often leads to more time on your website or landing page, boosting the chances of conversion. 

Benefit 2: Increased brand loyalty

When you provide content of value, you create a stronger emotional connection with your audience. By offering content that is not just informative but also fun and interactive, you start building a loyal customer base, which drives both sales and customer retention. Over 84% of B2B buyers say they’re much more likely to choose vendors who prove they clearly understand the buyer’s needs and objectives—which is why your informative content is worth its weight in gold. 

Benefit 3: Additional data for enhanced customer personas & journey mapping

With more interactions comes more usable data to help you understand your target audience. This data can be used to refine and enhance your target audience, enabling you to create more effective marketing campaigns. Additionally, the insights you gain from interactive content interactions can help you map out the buyer’s journey more accurately, identifying touchpoints and areas where you can further optimize your marketing efforts. 

Boost your content marketing strategy with Skale’s expertise

Start seeing real results from your content strategy when you follow our 10 expert tips, outlined in this guide.

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How can you use B2B interactive content marketing?

You can start incorporating interactive content into your B2B marketing strategy today, by following these simple steps: 

  1. Identify your goals: what do you want to achieve with interactive content? Are you looking to increase conversions, drive engagement, or gather more extensive data for persona development? 
  2. Understand your audience: conduct research using polls or surveys to determine your target audience’s preferences, pain points, and interests. 
  3. Choose the right formats: use this new information to choose the types of interactive content formats that align with your goals and audience preferences. 

And then it’s simply a question of creating interactive content that’s engaging and compelling. You can then use it to analyze to refine your strategy, further develop your content, and engage your audience. 

There it is. We hope you’re feeling more confident about kickstarting your B2B interactive content strategy, but if you’d like an extra pair of hands to help you start strong, you know where to find us. Learn more about Skale’s B2B marketing services here. 

B2B Interactive Content FAQs

1. What is B2B interactive content?

B2B interactive content can be engaged with. It’s the opposite of passive content, for example, static online blogs or white papers, and invites users to interact with it. Quizzes, assessments, calculators, and virtual tours are designed to capture the attention of B2B prospects and educate, entertain, and foster customer loyalty. 

2. How can your business use B2B interactive content?

There are numerous ways of leveraging B2B interactive content, for example educating your target audience using interactive webinars or downloadable guides. You can also showcase your product using interactive virtual tours and demos. Additionally, you can create valuable tools, such as personalized calculators, to encourage users to return to your site. 

3. How can you make B2B content interesting?

When it comes to creating interactive content, it’s essential to focus on engaging your specific audience, and providing information of both value and interest to them so that your company stands out. Make it concise, personalize it, incorporate social proof, and tell stories with it.

 

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