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The amount of tasks a b2b content marketer must address on a daily basis is no doubt overwhelming. Whether it’s keeping up with search engine algorithms, researching buyer personas, or sorting through dozens of blog posts for an evergreen jackpot, there is a lot that goes into content marketing. In the midst of all these tactics, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and make a few errors along the way.
To stay on track for the new year, here’s how you can overcome some common b2b content marketing challenges.
Challenge #1: There isn’t enough focus on each stage of the buyer’s journey
There’s more than one stage in the buyer’s journey, but it’s often easy to lose sight of which area your content falls into. As a result, you may end up publishing content in the same stage each week; and even the most well-written content can be ignored if it isn’t relevant to your audience’s current needs.
This is where your buyer persona research will be tested. Remember, your personas need to be updated over time; they won’t always have the same needs or challenges. As much as you want to attract new readers to your content, you should also be sharing content that’s helpful to existing leads and customers.
Ultimately, you want to be aware of what your audience is looking for and the specific topics they will benefit from. It helps to conduct some keyword phrase research and pay attention to the content a lead is engaging with the most. Then, you can work on developing your topic clusters, which help you categorize your content and link common topics together through a shared pillar page.
Challenge #2: Blogging and content distribution rate isn’t consistent
Committing to a blog schedule can be challenging, but your readers will be grateful to have a consistent supply content to view. It’s recommended to update your blog at least once, if not twice, a week. This means you’ll want to spend enough time researching the latest trends and challenges in your industry and creating a content calendar with topics to address. For example, a SaaS blogger may write about the high rate of competition in their industry, or how to educate an audience on the services they offer.
However, managing a blog on a weekly basis, while juggling numerous other marketing tasks, is easier said than done. To avoid falling victim to content fatigue, here are some strategies you can follow for consistent content distribution:
- Don’t stress about a weekly deadline. No, this doesn’t mean you should neglect your due dates and skip your blogging. Instead, ensure that you’re spending enough time planning ahead and carefully looking over your drafts. Odds are, the first draft you work on isn’t going to be the one your readers will view when you hit publish. Much like the terrifying essay due dates we all experienced back in school, worrying about getting a blog out each week will make you either put it off until the last minute or rush your writing altogether.
- Repurpose old content that's still relevant. Evergreen content is a huge asset that more content marketers need to start using. This also helps prevent fatigue from writing, as it is less strenuous to spruce-up an old piece of content instead of developing one from scratch.
- This won’t always be possible for smaller b2b marketing businesses, but it helps to have more than one writer on hand. Pushing all of your content development on one person is strenuous and can lead to content fatigue that’s far more difficult to overcome without some additional assistance.
Challenge #3: Not enough time is spent measuring and analyzing content metrics
Once your content has been published, this doesn’t mean it’s time to move on and forget it. In order to understand which pieces of content are performing well, reaching a specific audience, and generating leads, you’ll need to analyze some key metrics. However, even if you have been observing your content analytics, you may not have a solid understanding of what that information actually means.
Here’s what you need to know about several metrics in your b2b content marketing:
Bounce rates: typically these will be higher for blog posts, since there aren’t as many interactions for a reader to make. If you’re linking to third-party sources, it’s recommended to have links open in a new tab. This will prevent a user’s session from ending early if they were to leave the webpage.
Time spent on page: it’s difficult to hold a reader’s attention for long, but there are some strategies you can take. Whitespace keeps readers from feeling overwhelmed with the amount of text on a page, headers help to break up sections, and bolding certain text can easily point out key information.
Interactions such as CTA clicks: if your webpage interactions are low, it likely means you’re not giving enough incentive for a visitor to click your links or call-to-actions. To encourage interactions with your CTAs, offer exclusive content—such as white papers or downloadable ebooks—that provide enough value to the viewer. You should also place a CTA at the end of your content and one above the fold, so there are multiple opportunities to click that don’t get in the way of the content itself. For individual links, try bolding the text or using a different color to help it stand out more than just having an underline.
Overcoming these challenges will be a major step toward developing a strong b2b content marketing strategy in the new year; but the foundation for great marketing also needs a solid lead generation strategy. In thinkdm2’s ebook, you’ll learn how to generate quality leads from your website. You can download the free ebook below.
