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Blog Posts Most Valuable B2B Marketing Content [Data]

 

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 most valuable content types

The complexity of the B2B buying process, compared to that for B2C, often demands more of marketers. Because of the longer B2B sales cycle, marketers must diligently fill the sales pipeline and continuously support sales by keeping prospects engaged with the brand during the sales cycle through the use of multiple touchpoints, like email or campaign nurturing programs.

Marketers have an endless array of digital channels and choices for uncovering prospects, and MarketingProfs and Junta42 found 63% of B2B marketers in North America turn to content marketing as a key lead generation source.

More specifically, North American B2B marketers used articles (78%) and e-newsletters (61%) for their content marketing efforts. More educational and instructional forms of content, like case studies (55%), white papers (43%) and webinars (42%), were also used. These types of educational and instructional content were rated the most valuable for directly supporting B2B marketers’ objectives, according to Focus Research.

What types of content do you find to be effective in attracting prospects in the more research-oriented beginning stages of the buying process?

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comments Comments

Posted by Jeanne Hopkins on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 01:44 PM

COMMENTS

Good article. The B2B sales cycle is indeed a long process that is why many organization have good CRM and ERP systems to keep in touch with their prospects throughout the process. 
 
I like the way you the graph illustrates the various marketing catalysts in this article. We have been using the blog more so for our SEO efforts and believe that the blog will draw in more prospects and act as a trigger to bring our listing up in the search engines.  
 
The use of industry white paper has also been a great way to ascertain email leads in the business prospect work flow. I like articles like this where there are numbers to back up the analysis in question. 
 
I'm going to try and bridge webinars and virtual (live events) into the process somehow. This is a great take away for us to make our clients more successful. 
 
Jim Alamia 
Route 72 Systems 
 
Thanks

posted on Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 8:05 AM by Email List Dude

I believe that useful content in blog posts and email newsletters does more than provide valuable information to readers, but shows your company's knowledge base and emphasizes the fact that you are paying attention to and learning from industry changes. 
 
It seems to me that showing this is an important step in attracting clients who may or may not have a firm idea of what they need. For example, our interactive marketing and web design firm provides clients with services like SEO and social media monitoring that may seem somewhat foreign to them. Although they know SEO is important, they may not understand much about the why's or how's. Keeping a blog with tips and tricks and industry news is a good way of attracting clients who are searching for more information before picking a firm.

posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 9:55 AM by Bryn Adler

This survey asked it's question to the wrong stakeholder, and the proof is in the results. There's NO way the buyer universe would corroborate that whitepapers are the third most useful format in which to find helpful information. When is the last time you read 10 pages of anything in one sitting while at work?

posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 7:27 AM by Nolin @ BrainRider

Thanks for such a great article.........

posted on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 2:45 AM by Australia Directory

Comments have been closed for this article.