Use “3D” Content to Position Your B2B Brand and Attract the Customers You Desire

As content writers we have to be careful not to focus too heavily on words, when sights and sounds might communicate more effectively.

In trying to build a website that reflects your B2B brand, think of how you might utilize “3D” content.

When a customer walks into your office or place of business, what do they see and hear? What does it reveal about the brand?

I think for service firms, this is especially important. Décor and dress can say more about the company’s culture and working style than text. If you walk in and the business owners are young, dressed casually, and working in an open space, it says something quite different than seeing employees dressed in a suits and ties in a wood paneled office.

If you’re a construction equipment dealer whose shop is clean and well organized, with state-of-the-art equipment, why not show it off in a video tour?

Instead of traditional headshots, photograph employees in an environment that offers a sense of how and where they work. If they are often in the field, working with customers, show them there.

Choose a webinar format over a whitepaper and evaluate how customers respond. Add a moderator or interview a customer to make the tone more conversational and friendly.

If you provide instructions for completing a task, consider if a video demonstration is likely to be clearer and more compelling than written instructions.

Don’t overlook an opportunity to use music to convey mood and emotion. What do you want people to feel when they visit your website?

Little things do matter to your potential customers who are going to your website to find out more about you. People want to do business with people and brands they like. Copy alone won’t be enough to convey all that is unique about your business and the people you employ.

When words, pictures, sound and video work together, your B2B brand’s personality will shine through, attracting the customers you desire.

Writers Need Answers Before Content Creation Begins

What happens before and after content creation may be just as important as the act itself. Content creation is a process. Below are questions a content writer needs answered at the beginning of that process. I will address what’s needed during and after content creation in upcoming posts.

Who is your audience?

Writers write for people. They want to know how familiar your audience is with your brand, product, or service. Share what you know about your customers’ preferences, interests, behaviors, and demographics. Knowing this, the writer can create content that best serves your audience’s needs and wants.

Content targeted to existing customers is different than that for prospects or first time visitors. The writer can help you decide if segmenting audiences is a good content strategy.

What are your business objectives?

If you want to expand revenues, sensitivity to the purchasing cycle is necessary. If your objective is to widen your reach to global markets or narrow it to a region, content can be customized to reflect that. Increasing brand awareness requires lots of relationship building through multiple channels including social networks.

What do you want your audience to do?

Think about it. Your answer determines content prominence, priority, and navigation. Each piece of content serves a purpose. Don’t confuse your intent (educate, influence) with audience action. The latter is measureable.

Who are your competitors? Or, what websites do you like?

Oftentimes companies avoid the question about competitors. I add the “Or” question for those squeamish or uncertain about competitors. Market research is important for content writers. Not so they can emulate your competition, but so to differentiate your company.

A favorite website can give a clue on what you like and the tone of voice you may be receptive to, if you haven’t already determined that.

Who will act as sources for information?

Finally, I ask for the names of subject matter experts within the company and whoever interacts most with customers. I also ask for the names of two or three satisfied customers who are willing to share their stories.

Not until I have the answers to these questions do I begin the tangible aspect of content creation. Do you need help getting the content creation process started?

Six Things You Can You Learn from B-2-B Publishers

You’ve heard that everyone is a publisher now, so what can you learn from successful publishers.

B2B publishers have made a living off their ability to deliver audiences, initially through print and now online. Long before there was SEO, publications knew that great content would bring them loyal readership. Publishers continue to be go-to sources for information on industry trends, news, leaders, research and best practices. And with more competition for a reader’s time from all sorts of sources, today’s leading publishers are working harder than ever . The draw is still great content. However, many magazine websites have been transformed from online versions of the print product, into rich sites that fully embrace multimedia and social networks.

Now that you are trying to win over your own audience online with content, it makes sense to try and learn what you can from the pros.

1) Keep the needs of the customer/reader first and foremost.

It’s not about you and your company, it’s about your customer. What are their problems and how can you solve them.

2)Be fair and factual.

Your audience knows you are trying to sell something, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a credible, reliable, source of information. Stick to the facts and avoid “ad-like” promises and sales jargon.

3)Hire professional writers.

Subject matter experts who can also write are few and far between. They are usually too busy with other jobs to write. Instead of trying to rely on them, hire a professional writer who knows how to pull the information from your sources and present it in a useful, usable and interesting format.

4)Keep a schedule.

As a reader, I know when my favorite industry publication will arrive each month, and I look forward to it. The same is true of my InBox. Whether you decide to publish content on a daily, weekly or monthly frequency, stick to a schedule. Be aware that there’s a direct correlation between frequency of content and website visits.

5) Look for the best way to tell a story.

Does the story lend itself to video, radio or text? PMQ’s Pizza TV is used to demonstrate a technique for rolling a pizza crust over the shoulder. It just wouldn’t be the same in print.

6)Add value with social sharing.

Today’s publishing websites include more ways for audiences to connect and share ideas with each other. PMQ Pizza Think Thank forum is a reminder that your customers and prospects can create your content. On techrepublic.com, social stats are front and center, helping the audience find useful content fast.

As a content marketer you need to know how to succeed in publishing. Examine your favorite industry magazine websites with a fresh eye. What do you like about them? How can you use that information to engage your audience? What do you see on consumer magazine websites that could translate to B2B?

Do You Have What it Takes to Succeed in Social Media?

You can read all the articles you want about social media marketing for B2B companies, but until you jump in and do it, you probably won’t realize what you need to succeed. As many have found out, hiring a college-age daughter or son to set up your Facebook page or your twitter account isn’t the answer.

If hardly anyone is reading your blog, visiting your Facebook page or following you on Twitter, there is a good chance you may be lacking in at least one of these three success areas.

Success Factor No. 1: Content

You don’t have the foggiest idea what your customers would find interesting or engaging. You find it hard to think beyond what you sell, and you probably don’t enjoy staring at a blank page.

A content strategist can help you plan what you want to say and how you are going to say it. Content strategists know how to find engaging stories about your business or topic area that people actually want to read. And the best part … they never run out of ideas.

Content creators get the work done, creating blog posts, videos, and slide shows. Crafting messages that sound like you or your brand, only better. Content curators select the “best of the best” information and ideas, creating value for your B2B audience.

Success Factor No. 2: Technology

Words like “meta tag,” “API” and “robots” scare you. You’ve never seen or even attempted to find the traffic statistics for your website or blog. You aren’t interested in learning a whole new language.

Without knowing the technology behind social media, the best content in the world can remain lost. And without reviewing your website analytics, content opportunities will be lost.

Boosts in website traffic require link building and that means knowing where on the Web you need to be. Each social media network has its own characteristics. Do you have the patience to listen and learn?

Social media training will shorten the learning curve and let you know where you need to focus first. Mastering the technology skills can help your social media efforts deliver a better ROI from the get-go.

Success Factor No. 3: Time

Once you engage your B-2-B business in social media, you quickly understand the tedium of it all . Day after day, week after week, you need to participate, create content, and promote content. Conversations aren’t all in one place. Information needs to be posted in a lot of places with thoughtful messages targeted to the audience. It’s downright time consuming.

However, the more you are involved in social media, the greater the benefit you are likely to receive. Do you have the time? Do you know the tools that can help you best manage and monitor your efforts? Do you have someone who can do the “grunge” work for you?

Some businesses and business owners want to do social media themselves and they have everything they need to succeed: Content, Technology and Time. That’s terrific. Some may have the content, but lack the time and energy. Others may have the technological skills, but lack content.

The important thing is to not get hung up on what you don’t know.Recognize it and get some help. Hire someone to get you started. Build a team and share your knowledge. Sign up to receive some social media training. Move on. Don’t give up.

What has held back your social media efforts? What kind of help does your business need?

Collecting, Creating and Distributing B2B Content That Matters

Knowledge workers spend 2 ½ hours a day searching for information to do their jobs. That’s what Ardath Albee, author of E-Marketing Strategies for the Complex Sale, said at the ConFab content strategy conference a few weeks ago. Scott Abel, who blogs at The Content Wrangler showed how efficient the content curation process can be using social networks. Steven Rosenbaum, author of Curation Nation, discussed how human choices are not made with algorithms.

Because the B2B buying cycle is long content must include depth, diversity and dimension according to Albee. Here is my practical 3D view on what these speakers were talking about. Good content writers who know how to curate can lessen a prospects search time by creating content that matters.

Add Depth by Collecting

The call for focused, edited, or filtered information is important from one end of the buying cycle to the other. We need to create meaning. Some ways of doing this are to talk with your own subject matter experts. Every company has them. You can also search the deep Web using the word “database” after your subject topic. For example, I am working with product developers in the functional foods industry. My search term would be: “Functional Foods database.” My search results lead me to information from PubMed and other credible sources. Another entryway to the deep Web is using “site: edu” in your search. The term “Functional Foods site:edu” brings me to sources at UC Berkley and the University of Michigan. Try searching your topic term followed with the words “white paper.” For good industry sources look at the bibliography of the white paper you find. That’s what brought me to Food Business News, Nutrition Business News, and Nutritional Outlook – all aggregators of good content for manufacturers, suppliers and distributors doing business in the functional foods industry.

Create & Diversify With Context

Content writers don’t create content in a silo. I often include the sales force from the beginning. I ask them what they know and what they need. Start collecting and creating information from within the company. What can the Human Resources and Engineering Departments add? Ask them.

Content writers sometime write for a persona, but we are aware that the audience is often made up of thousands of people with their own questions and concerns. We anticipate what they are looking for. I like the conversational tone on the Nutritional Outlook site: “Here’s where you’ll find information on.” It lists ingredients, market coverage, manufacturing know how, regulatory information, and research updates. Very simple, friendly and clear.

Here is another example at New Hope 360.com, that describes itself as a “digital marketplace that connects the healthy lifestyle industry from supply to shelf.” “Don’t see your product? It’s a big world of products, but we can help you cut through the clutter. List your company today to ensure that decision makers can find you!” They also have an “Editor’s Pick” column with a listing of relevant articles.

As content writers we know how to move site visitors from problem to solution. The buying process begins with the status quo and moves to a priority. Research is required. They ask: “What are the options?”We help them validate, then make a choice. We also monitor responses along the way.

Be Multi-Dimensional and Distribute

Content should be integrated through multi-platform channels including social media, blogs, articles, mobile and email. Your audience has an audience too. Ask them to share.

Deep content engages in different ways. It educates, offers expertise in the form of trends or methods, and adds ideas. Evidence can come from customer stories or your own. I found an article on the New Hope 360 site that included an interview with Shawn Parr, CEO of Bulldog Drummond, a branding and innovation consultancy in San Diego. He shares this advice: “Think about your origin story—not only about how your company was started, but also where your ingredients come from and the relationships you have with your suppliers.”

Scott Abel shows the efficiency of a content curation process using his own twitter account as an example. He sets up an RSS feed to gather information, then reviews and approves what goes out for distribution. By carefully choosing what is distributed, he reduces the noise and adds value to the conversation through social networks.

The master at video curation is Steven Rosenbaum, author of Curation Nation and CEO at magnify.net. He says in the book that discerning quality is a human task, not to be allocated to search engines. Content curation needs qualitative judgment. Since there are no longer gatekeepers, access to an audience will come from gathering, creating and distributing the best and most relevant content. He was kind enough to sign his book for me at the Confab conference. In it he wrote: “In a busy world on the move – curation will make us trust again.”

How are you creating more efficient ways of creating and collecting information that matters?