Effective B2B content starts before the creative work. There are a number of key questions to answer, which should set you on the right path to delivering effective content.
What is the purpose?
Or another way of putting it is: What does success look like?’ It doesn’t matter if it’s a panel event, video, podcast or piece of writing, you need to be clear about the aim.
Success is unlikely to be just one thing. Getting attendees along to an event or downloads or clicks might be a short-term goal.
Longer-term success might be building trust and authority so that it leads to more business or earned media as an industry expert or speaker invites.
It will take time and consistency in delivering good quality content.
Who is it for?
Who is this for, and why would they care?
Purpose means diddly flip if you don’t know who your audience is. I’ve written before about being specific, so I won’t repeat that.
Why would they care?
Once you’ve identified them, you need to determine why they would care – what’s in it for them? Why should they invest the time?
Will your B2B content help them save money or time? Will it educate? Will it enable them to do something they didn’t previously know how to do? Will it stop them from doing something they don’t need to do?
How do you want people to feel?
If you’ve nailed the answers up to this point, the final question is: How do you want people to feel after reading, watching or listening?
Do you want them to feel positive: happy/inspired etc? Or negative: Worried, concerned etc.
How they feel is important because it can help forge connections and/or drive action.
How your content makes someone feel will influence brand association. What do you want to be associated with? Think of ‘know, like and trust’.
Answering these questions will then shape the angle/approach and tone of your content, making it more effective.
You can’t deliver on your purpose if you don’t know who your audience is, why they might care and how you want them to feel.
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