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March 13, 2023 Content Chat Recap: The Future of B2B Content

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A Content Chat header image that says today’s topic is The Future of B2B Content with guest Phyllis Davidson, who is @PhyllisMusings on Twitter.

B2B content is notorious for being product-centric, jargon-heavy, and impersonal—so how can teams create more engaging content for specific personas across the buyer’s journey?

In this #ContentChat recap, Erika joins Phyllis Davidson (@PhyllisMusings), VP and principal analyst at Forrester covering content strategy and operations, to discuss the future of B2B content and ways that teams can build a better content strategy.

Read through some brief highlights from the conversation below, and listen to the full recording below.

Do you want to help Phyllis with her upcoming research on content experimentation? Phyllis is looking to speak with content leaders at organizations of all sizes—regardless of if you are a Forrester client—to understand how you are experimenting with your content strategy (with a particular focus on AI), your learnings, and tangible results. Reach out to Phyllis on Twitter or LinkedIn if you’d like to share your story.

Q1: What are some common criticisms about B2B content?

Audience centricity is a common issue with B2B content, and teams are challenged in tailoring messages toward new customers and keeping existing customers engaged.

Portfolio marketing is one way to address this, which is the idea that you should organize your messaging and value exchange around your unique audiences (much like you’d sell different products to different audiences in a unique way).

Instead of dwelling on the criticisms, Erika and Phyllis discuss the challenges teams face and potential solutions below.

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How To Empower B2B Marketing Consultants To Deliver On Your Brand Needs

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The most successful B2B content marketing teams outsource a portion of their work, according to the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs. Some marketers could even argue that outsourcing is an essential part of growth—looking at large enterprises from the research, nearly 75% partner with marketing agencies and consultants.

Outsourcing makes sense because there are clear benefits and many content marketing tasks ripe for outsourcing. But to reap the advantages of outsourcing, you must prioritize onboarding.

Failing to prepare your outsourced marketing support through an effective onboarding approach costs your team time, money, and patience. Here is how you can help your consultants thrive, based on our team’s decades of partnering with B2B brands.

How To Effectively Onboard a B2B Marketing Consultant

No matter what marketing task you’re outsourcing, start your working partnership on the right foot and help your consultant deliver on your brand needs by following these tips, including insights from a few of our friends in the #ContentChat community:

Establish A Marketing Strategy Before Engaging Consultants

Tod Cordill, principal of Moderno Strategies, says “a common problem is that nobody is driving the ship. Companies that don’t have a documented content and digital marketing strategy will not achieve desired results by hiring contractors specializing in content writing, SEO, design, and digital advertising. Be sure that someone on the team, either internal or contracted, can define the overall go-to-market plan and help prioritize the individual tasks.”

Create, Discuss, and Sign a Working Agreement

Before starting any work, meet with your consultant to document an agreed-upon scope of work. Explain everything they need to know about their project, including payment terms, invoicing, and whether their work must remain confidential. Talk through any questions or concerns. Once everyone understands and agrees with the conditions, you can both sign the contract. Rocket Lawyer’s independent contractor agreement template is a solid base to customize for each project.

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The Top Marketing Tasks to Outsource to Give Yourself the Gift of Time

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Content Marketing Institute’s B2B Content Marketing research found that nearly 70% of teams expect to do more with the same resources in 2022, which raises the question: How can content marketing teams, especially those with just one or two team members, create more content without any additional budget?

An initial step is to adopt marketing tools that streamline tasks and boost your efficiency, but that will only get you so far. In many cases, outside resources like marketing consultants, freelancers (or “stringers”), or support agencies are an ideal way to offset your growing list of to-dos.

To help you overcome the common challenges of outsourcing B2B content marketing tasks—like finding partners with the right topical expertise and who can understand and empathize with your audience, all in a cost-efficient manner—let’s explore how marketers can find and partner with outside help and why it’s the smart thing to do.

Why Should Marketing Teams Outsource Work?

Hiring external marketing support may seem counterintuitive as a more efficient use of your existing resources. However, outside expertise can provide lesser-known benefits that will drive lasting value for your brand.

The following are just a few reasons why marketing teams should outsource some of their work:

  • Outside perspectives inspire innovation. You don’t know what you don’t know. An expert consultant can view your brand and marketing strategy from a neutral perspective, meaning they will likely spot room for improvement. This outside thinking could overcome your team’s mental roadblocks and uncover vital insights that will fast-track your success.
  • Access to specialized resources and tools. Many agencies and consultants use tools that your team does not have access to. Instead of licensing a new marketing tool that your team will need only for a few projects, it is smart to partner with an agency or consultant with access to specialized tools.
  • Better time management. By providing clear expectations and mutually agreeing on the scope and timeline of work with your marketing support, your team can better coordinate resources to meet your campaign deadlines (especially if you’re in a time crunch).
  • Overworked teams lead to burnout and poor results. If your marketing team does not receive some support, they will likely need to work late hours or rush through tasks. This will detract from the quality of their work, despite their best efforts or intentions. Many of us have personally felt this fatigue or seen it happen. Strategic content marketing outsourcing means your team can focus on what matters, where they perform the best, and without the avoidable burnout of juggling too many things at once.

What B2B Content Marketing Tasks Are Smart to Outsource?

Before you race to offload your least-favorite work activities, remember that not every content marketing task should be outsourced.

The key to content marketing success is understanding where outside resources are most helpful and cost-efficient, balanced with your internal team’s skills and your business goals. This also involves understanding the best way to approach and manage your content marketing support (which we explore in the next section below).

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May 3, 2021 Content Chat Recap: Lessons Learned in Multichannel B2B Marketing

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To be successful in marketing, you must understand your brand’s ideal buyers and the multitude of channels that they engage on and seek resources to help with their work. In this #ContentChat, we’re joined by Shruti Deshpande (@Shruti12D), a marketer with 10+ years of experience executing multichannel B2B marketing campaigns, to discuss lessons learned in multichannel B2B marketing. Check out the full chat recap below, where we discuss how to identify your ideal buyer persona, ways to optimize your multichannel B2B marketing campaigns, and pitfalls to avoid along the way.

Q1: What is a buyer persona, and how is it useful for content marketing?

A buyer persona is a mold of your ideal customer. This persona should describe the person’s role, challenges they face, how they define success, where they fit in the buying process, and much more (which we’ll discuss in Q2).

Marketers use buyer personas to create more personalized content that will actually resonate with their ideal customer. A brand will have multiple buyer personas, but each piece of content should focus on just one. It is easier to spark an emotional connection with your reader if you understand and address their unique needs.

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