B2B companies are a tough audience. Creating content targeting different B2B audiences requires a strategic approach that considers the unique needs and interests of each persona. Since businesses are familiar with the old playbook of successful content marketing hacks, you need to rise above the ordinary and take your game up a notch.
Content creation for B2B audiences requires a more thought-out approach than for a B2C audience. Business demands can be extremely diverse in terms of their domain, scale of operations, type of customers they serve, budget, and so forth. So, understanding your audience and accordingly catering to them assumes key importance because you want your content to reach the audience that needs it.
So what can you do to strike the right chord with different B2B audiences? And how can you emerge as their go-to choice from a pool of competitors? .
7 Steps to Create Content for Different B2B Target Audiences
Define Your Audience
There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to B2B content marketing. As mentioned, different B2B audiences have different needs, goals, challenges, working styles, and preferences. They will not purchase your products or pay for your services if you do not pass their checklist of requirements.
To this end, you must clearly identify the different B2B audiences you want to target and create customer personas for each audience based on details, such as demographics, job titles, pain points, interests, and goals. By doing audience segmentation on the basis of individual buyer behavior, you can deliver more company-specific results. You will be in the know of the lead stage an audience segment is in and ensure maximum satisfaction.
Research Your Audience
Conduct research to understand the challenges, priorities, and interests of each audience. This can include reviewing industry publications, attending trade shows and conferences, and conducting surveys and interviews with your target audience. By being involved and up to speed with your audience, you show that you are the best fit for their unique needs.
Eyeing the analytics is a great idea to discover your potential customers, but conducting surveys and attending conferences tell you what your audience wants from the horse’s mouth. This keeps the guesswork away, informing you precisely what you must do to have them purchase your products and services.
Develop a Targeted Content Strategy
Different B2B customers prefer different content formats. For example, research shows that over 70% of B2B buyers watch videos to complete their product research.
Therefore, based on your research on separate customer personas, develop a content strategy that outlines the types of content that will resonate with each audience. Some prefer short video content, and others prefer text-based blogs. Other forms of content can include blog posts, podcasts, case studies, whitepapers, videos, and webinars.
Create Tailored Content
Creating content that speaks directly to the needs and interests of each audience establishes an instant connection with them. For example, if you’re targeting executives, create high-level content that highlights the benefits and ROI of your product or service. Or, if you’re targeting technical buyers, create more detailed and technical content that explains how your product works.
Tailoring your content is important to capture the essence of an individual business and do justice to what they stand for.
Per a study conducted on 380 B2B customers, 45% of the audience consumes a B2B company’s content to stay informed about them and the industry trends, 19% to know more about the company’s services/products and 20% to make informed purchase decisions.
Use the Appropriate Tone and Style for Each Audience Segment
The tone of your content goes a long way in keeping your audience engrossed in your content. Corporate companies seek content with a professional and concise tone sans unnecessary fluff. However, some small-sized companies may prefer a friendly tone as the way to go with a casual audience, especially a younger audience.
You must also heed the language when creating content for different audiences. Try ensuring its comprehensibility and readability for a greater impact. Some businesses with formal requirements choose concise, articulate, and crisp language. Conversely, other businesses may want a language that caters to a specific audience segment, like Gen-z or boomers, and so on, bypassing a long-winded and grandiloquent language.
Leverage the Right Communication Channels
Leveraging communication channels your target audience uses most often to yield favorable results.
For example, if a B2B company targets younger audiences, they most likely focus on social media platforms, such as Instagram and Twitter. Establish your presence on such platforms in collaboration with them. Similarly, when targeting more senior executives, consider using communications channels like LinkedIn or email.
You can also make the most of your B2B company’s website to communicate with different audiences. For example, you can have different landing pages that cater to different audience segments.
Per MarTech research, 70% of B2B buyers find content directly on a company’s website.
Measure the Results
By tracking the performance of your content, you can make adjustments based on what is working with each audience. Using analytics and metrics such as page views, shares, and the overall engagement, you can gauge the success of your content strategy for different target audiences. If something is off, you can level up your strategy with the help of direct or indirect feedback.
By following these steps, you can create content that resonates with different B2B audiences and helps you achieve your marketing goals.
If you need help developing content for your audiences, whether for blogs, email campaigns, sales letters, social or presentations, please reach out!
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