Tag: Content marketing

Content marketing, General

B2B Content marketing: Selling without the sell

Photo by Joe Yates on Unsplash

Do you read adverts? What about advertorials and promoted content? How about an article that helped you solve a problem or from which you learned something?

It is getting increasingly hard to sell to people. Ads are a turn-off, and content that whiffs of marketing can quickly lose the attention of a target audience and potentially damage the author’s credibility.

The problem with content marketing is it’s a long game. Building brand awareness, trust, and respect takes time and patience. It’s a subtle, slow-burn sell by positive association.

And that can be hard for those in the business used to ‘closing the deal’. Is it selling if it hasn’t got a direct sell or direct references to products and services?

The answer is yes, but measuring the results of content marketing can be tricky.

What good content market is

Good content marketing is at the top of the sales funnel. It’s about building a relationship and trust with potential clients, demonstrating your expertise and experience by offering something useful and valuable to them without seeking anything in return.

Put yourself in your potential client’s shoes for a moment:

💻 What can your content give them without you getting anything in return?

💻 Will they learn or discover something

💻 Will it make them think about something afresh?

💻 Will it change their mind on a familiar topic?

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Content marketing, Repurposing, Video

Video: Post-event content strategy – are you making the most?

Watch for examples of a post-event content strategy

I’m no stranger to events having been moderating panels and round tables for more than a decade (and doing event write-ups).

But there is one thing that organisers regularly miscalculate with their post-event content strategy:

How much content the discussion will generate.

Why is a write-up from a panel event or round table valuable?

💡 Bigger audience – content can extend your event’s reach beyond the people there.

💡 Longevity – your event lives on in your content beyond the ‘thanks for coming’.

💡Promotion – A good write-up can help build interest in your next event, maybe a bit of FOMO.

💡 Time-saving – It’s relatively easy content you don’t have to write from scratch.

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Audience engagement, Content marketing, Social media

What type of B2B content performs best?

Red neon speech bubble. Inside is a white neon heart shape similar to a social medial like button and beside it is a white neon zero. So the sign indicates zero likes.
Photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash

Which type of B2B content performs best was something I was asked recently, I guess because I put out content in different formats (written, video, carousels/sliders).

And, I work with clients on audio and events.

But it isn’t easy to answer because content analytics are complex and vary from platform to platform.

You will never know how many people read your online article all the way through, for example.

Some people might read a bit, some might skim-read, and some might click on the page and get distracted by something else.

It’s similar to a written LinkedIn post. A post will clock up ‘impressions’, but that doesn’t tell you if people have actually what you’ve written.

Impressions are the number of feeds your post has appeared in, not engagement.

The more likes/reactions your post gets, the more impressions it will likely get, but again it doesn’t mean people have actually read it.

Reacting without reading

*Shock warning* Some people hit react without reading the post or the whole post.

Video metrics are a little clearer.

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Content marketing, General, SEO, Writing tips

What makes a clickable headline

A piece of paper in a type writer which has the word 'news' written at the top.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

People will decide whether to click on a story or article based on the headline.

You could write a brilliant article, blog post or press release, but if the headline doesn’t ‘sell’ the content to your target audience, it won’t matter.

Think of all the headlines you scroll past vs what you click on to read.

Headlines are so important that some national newspapers and magazines have specialist writers called sub-editors to create them.

So what makes a clickable headline?

Different styles work for different types of content, but the key is creating some intrigue or tapping into an emotion or need.

Headlines also need to give enough information so that the reader knows what they’ll get from reading on.

Here are four headline examples and a breakdown of how they work:

1. Pique interest news headline

This headline, from the North West Business Insider, tells the reader enough, so they know what the story is about but leaves out certain information to help create curiosity.

It tells the reader that it is a development deal, the size of the deal and where it is. What it doesn’t say is who was involved in the deal, the type of development and the details of the transaction.

To find that information, the reader has to click through to the story.

News headlines are a balancing act. Reveal too much, and there is no reason to click through; reveal too little, and curiosity isn’t pricked.

2. Challenge or surprise headline

Presenting a statement in a headline that is incongruous with common thinking or trend is a great way of getting people clicking to read on.

This headline on a LinkedIn article by Daniel Paulusma creates different levels of intrigue depending on your views of hybrid working.

It appears to challenge the thinking of advocates of hybrid working, potentially highlighting something they’ve missed: Am I wrong? ‘What is the evidence?’

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General

People in business: How to add personality to B2B content

“We want our content to have a bit more personality” is something I often hear from clients, but when they see copy that reflects the individual, it can make them nervous.

Photo by Tengyart on Unsplash

It reads as more conversational and less formal than the traditional B2B content you normally see.

The built environment sector I work in is frequently described as a people industry, yet you wouldn’t guess that from the content that is regularly published.

A lot of it sounds quite similar, as if following a particular rule book about how you write to sound professional and authoritative.

To reflect personality in your business content, that rule book needs to be ripped up. It will read a little differently, but it can help your target audience get to know you and the people in your business. It can make you more relatable and approachable.

And content that is a bit different is good in the noisy world of the internet and social media.

You don’t have to completely change how you write or sound like an Innocent smoothie advert. There are small, subtle ways to add a sprinkle of personality to your B2B content that will make a difference.

Whether you are writing your own content or writing it for someone in your business, here are four ways of adding personality:

1. Particular word choice

Start with choosing words and phrases you would use in a real conversation with a friend, family member or peer. If you would naturally say you were ‘chuffed’ or ‘over the moon’, write that.

If you are writing a piece for someone in your business, listen carefully to the words they use. I like to record content chats and get a transcript (Otter.ai is the tool I use).

Are there any particular words or phrases they use? How do they explain their viewpoint or describe something when chatting about it?

Use these in the copy so that it sounds authentic to them.

A simple example is someone who works in the healthcare sector using the word ‘poorly’ rather than ‘sick’ to describe patients using a facility.

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