Selling to other businesses is not the same as selling consumer products to the general public.

In most cases, B2B sales take a little longer because there is no impulse buying as there is with consumer products such as clothes or gadgets.

B2B sales involve a more rational choice, taking into account various factors such as functionality, price or a company’s reputation.

Different offers are usually compared and a decision is made in a face-to-face or online meeting.

But in order to get to that meeting, you must first attract the interest of the person or persons who will make the decision to hire your service or buy your product.

And to capture the interest of your target audience, there is nothing better than content marketing.

While in the case of consumer products, advertising on platforms like Instagram or TikTok and influencer marketing work best, in the case of B2B, content and media are very different.

And that is what we are going to look at here.

Stay with me for a few minutes if you want to learn what content you need to create for your B2B business.

First step: educate and inform

Owning a business or running a department means having a lot of knowledge in different areas, and this can lead to feeling overwhelmed by all the information that is out there.

In addition, the speed at which technology is advancing forces business owners and managers to keep abreast of technological developments in their industries.

So one of your goals when creating valuable content for your B2B audience is to provide them with the information they need to be up to date, chewed and digestible.

There is nothing people value more than content that helps them quickly understand complex issues that they need to do their jobs.

Your target audience spends at least an hour a day consuming content related to their industry that provides them with valuable insights for their work.

Having a blog with informative articles is a very powerful weapon when it comes to making your brand known to your potential customers.

A well-written and well-researched blog will keep people reading, and the longer people stay on your website the higher up Google will place it on the results page.

Recommended reading How to increase organic traffic to your website

As well as raising awareness of your brand, you have the opportunity to educate your target audience about your solution.

Your prospects may not even know that a solution like yours exists for their problem, and when they read about it, they may realise that they need your solution.

But maybe they didn’t even know they had a problem!

Therefore, you need to know what stage of awareness your target audience is at and write a variety of articles targeting each stage.

For example, if your prospect has not identified a problem or need, talk to them about the consequences of that problem and the benefits of meeting that need.

Let me give you a real-life example.

I write content for a global pest control company.

It’s called Anticimex and it’s the first company in its sector to develop pest control solutions that minimize the use of toxic substances that harm the environment.

Most organisations today are very aware of the importance of sustainability in their operations, not only because customers demand it, but also because of increasingly stringent legislation.

Many companies are unaware that there is such a thing as “Integrated Pest Management” (IPM), which is a way of effectively managing pests by maximising new technologies to minimise the use of toxic substances.

For Anticimex I’m creating assets like eBooks, customer stories, LinkedIn posts and blog articles that talk about the existence of this system and the advantages of applying it, not only to protect the environment, but also to avoid loss of materials, product contamination or loss of reputation, which has an enormous economic impact.

In short, we are educating and informing our target audience about the options available when it comes to pest control, which is a huge and growing problem for many, many companies.

But not only can you provide information in the form of articles or e-books, you can also create videos.

Ann Hadley is the mind behind Marketing Profs, one of the longest running and most experienced B2B marketing platforms.

These are the findings of a recent study into the best formats for sharing B2B content.

So concentrate mainly on these 4 formats.

In the next point, we will focus on customer success stories, as these are the ones that will really help you differentiate your company.

Step 2: Differentiate

As well as informing and educating, you need to be able to differentiate your solution.

Once your prospects are aware that they have a problem and need a solution, they will compare several options before choosing one, so it’s at this point that you need to give them compelling reasons to choose your solution.

And a great way to demonstrate that your solution works is to create customer success stories.

You can create them in video or slideshow format.

The most important thing is the content, which needs to convey the transformation your client has experienced by working with you.

The structure is always the same and is very similar to those used in film scripts:

• Situation – who the customer is (sometimes you may not be able to mention the name, but you can mention their industry and size. “A pharmaceutical company with 5,000 employees“).
• Problem – Describe the problem they had in their own words. Don’t forget to mention if worked with other companies and they couldn’t help solve the problem.
• Your Solution – How you helped them solve the problem. Describe the key steps and progress if it was a long project.
• Results – Compare where they were at the start and where they are now. Make sure these results are desirable and relatable without exaggerating their benefits.

This structure is very similar to the transformation experienced by the protagonists in most commercial films.

In this article I explain in detail what elements should not be missing from your success story and analyse several real-life examples, so you can learn what to emphasise when creating yours.

Customers might not want to appear on video, even if that’s one of the best success story formats since we can hear and see the customer explaining that change.

If they don’t want to appear in the video, but don’t mind their company appearing, it’s also ok. You can use pictures of the workplace and a voice-over.

Another way to highlight your solution is to create posts on LinkedIn that gradually convince your target audience about your difference.

Keep in mind that this is a lengthy process, as posts that are directly sales-oriented will not normally get a lot of traction.

On LinkedIn, you need to gradually build your audience and gain their trust by showing them that they have a lot of good reasons to trust your company.

These are some of the posts that work best on LinkedIn:

• Presentations that explain a specific topic
• How-to videos that show how your tool or process works
• Fun videos from your workplace to show your company culture
• Longer articles to explain more complex issues that need clarification
• Images of you and your staff to show you are real people
• Success story presentations or videos

Do’s and don’ts of targeting B2B audiences

The person who watches your video or reads your e-book is just that, a person, not an entity.

Therefore, just as we do when creating B2C content, we have to imagine a specific person with a specific problem if we want to be convincing.

Imagine that vendor, HR or IT manager and talk to him or her.

To make sure that the message you want to convey reaches that person and is relevant, imagine your prospect asking you these three questions:

• What do you mean by this?
• Why should I choose your solution and not another?
• How does it benefit me?
• Really…?

Answering these 4 questions is crucial to differentiate your solution and gain your prospect’s trust.

Before you hit the “publish” button, stop for a moment and ask yourself if what you are writing is: clear, differentiates you, puts the customer at the centre and is credible.

Be transparent

Exaggerating benefits and talking only about successes is not going to bring people closer to your company.

Most of us don’t believe in meaningless miracles, but in coherent solutions.

Humility and honesty have been shown to be more appreciated than that business jargon that only talks about triumphs and say things like “we are proud to announce…”.

Communicate in a simple way, without resorting to those hip business jargon that ultimately say nothing and make messages sound empty.

Avoid overused expressions like:

“Holistic service tailored to our customers’ needs”.

“Market leader”.

“Customer satisfaction is our priority”

Surely you have much more interesting messages to convey than these clichés that do nothing to differentiate your brand.

Understand what your customers need and what they value most about your service and communicate it clearly and persuasively.

One example of a company that does it very well is Miro, a collaboration platform.

They do an excellent job of explaining the benefits of using their platform, and the advantages are clear from the moment

you start reading.

Give priority to clarity over originality.

Yes, you need to differentiate your business, but not at any price.

Let me explain.

If you’re thinking about a headline and you want it to grab people’s attention so they read on, don’t use a weird phrase that people will struggle to understand.

All content needs to promise value.

So that the investment of people’s time will bear fruit.

Either because they learn something new or because they satisfy their curiosity.

It’s true that the unusual attracts more attention, but people don’t have time to try to decipher riddles.

Clarity, above all.

Don’t forget the human component

The most common problem with B2B content is that there’s a palpable fear of being unprofessional and a preference to stick to the boring and trite.

Just take a look at LinkedIn and see what most companies are posting.

They robotically repeat formulas a thousand times over, business jargon and insincerity that make their content boring as hell.

So never forget that you are writing and creating for a real person, not an inanimate entity.

Most of us want human connection, emotion and entertainment.

And these 3 things aren’t necessarily at odds with professionalism.

As long as you use correct language, show that you know what you’re talking about and don’t lapse into cheesiness, your content will come across as professional without boring people to death.

The digital media that works best for B2B

LinkedIn is the quintessential B2B social network.

A company without a profile on it is a nobody.

If you don’t already have one, create a profile and publish regular posts that educate, inform, differentiate and entertain.

Your website also needs to be well maintained, as it’s your digital identity and the trustworthiness of your brand depends on it.

Keep it up to date and make sure the landing pages where you sell your product or service are really well written and designed.

These landing pages are extremely important for giving your prospects that final push they need to schedule a meeting or download a demo.

These pages give you the time and space to present all your sales arguments that explain why your solution is what your prospect needs.

You can include explanatory videos, customer testimonials, features, etc.

Finally, if you have an email list of prospects, you can gradually educate, inform and persuade them.

To grow your contact list, you need to create valuable downloadable content in exchange for an email address, or what we also call lead magnets.

If you need help with your B2B content strategy contact me and we will look at what kind of content works best for your business so you can finally start to see tangible results.