Case Study: How B2B Content Marketing Goes Far Beyond Content

Sometimes, a B2B company may feel that “content marketing” is all about writing a blog post and getting it up on their site.  That, however, isn’t B2B content marketing.

While important, the writing of any content asset is only a fractional part of B2B content marketing.  We, for instance, don’t write all of the content involved in the programs we mount. Very often, the client’s own SME or technical specialist provides the copy draft.

Theirs is a key part, for sure, but the value they create by writing that particular chunk of content should be promoted and extended in a lot of ways.  That’s how you maximize B2B content ROI.

The many moving parts of a B2B content marketing project

Take a post like this one, where we were involved from end to end.  We wouldn’t presume to write the first draft, because the writer is a top-flight consultant in that space and it has to be technically accurate.

We did everything outside of that initial draft, though, to create an effective B2B content marketing campaign:

• First, we brainstormed the idea for the campaign behind this post and other assets, including press outreach, a webinar, and white paper, during content strategy planning with the client; we wondered, how much overall impact would the lack of their type of application have for businesses? Could we cite the magic number “trillion” to get media attention?  This way, we’d show they had market insights and a thought leadership position nobody else could claim.
• We took his initial rough draft and edited it for grammar, readability, and SEO, and to make sure it followed content writing best practices: Brief paras, short sentences, scannable subheads. judicious use of bolding and italic, internal and external linking.
• Our team designed the graphics in the post.
• We managed their blog, so we were the ones to lay out the actual post in WP following online stickiness best practices, ran another SEO pass on it, designed the SMM card and meta title/meta copy for it, and did internal/external linking.
• We provided the copy for social posts in LI, FB, Twitter, both organic and social.
• We managed the organic leg of the social promotion and syndication.
• You’ll see a link to a white paper based on this theme: We edited and project managed it, too, and created promotions around that asset.  For some clients, we handle the actual design of the ebook/white paper or other content assets.
• We co-wrote the press release for the overall “Trillion on the Table” campaign.
• We wrote the email campaigns promoting the white paper and the associated webinar and wrote their landing pages.
• This program would have spawned a great infographic, but they didn’t want to go that route.
• In some cases, we’ll be the ones to take webinar videos and turn them into “snackable” video for use in promotion, or into the on-demand version of the session.

For smarter content campaigns, add scope!

The lesson? Don’t think of content marketing as being limited to creation of an asset.  Often, there’s little love given to the parts and pieces involved in optimizing and promoting that asset.

But they’re key to maximizing the returns you get on the good work a content writer or SME has put into the original blog post draft or ebook manuscript.

Beyond the technical aspects of optimizing content, like SEO and design?  Think about how you can find other channels and other formats to leverage it.  Where the solid thinking involved in a good thought leadership or luminary asset can be expanded and extended in different ways.