6 min read – 

The term Content Marketing has been around for a few years now, but for many industrial B2B companies it remains a bit of an enigma. So what exactly is content marketing and how important is it to your business?

As a simple definition Content Marketing is producing and promoting written or verbal online material (articles, blogs, tips, social media posts etc) that appeals to your audience, to engage and stimulate them, without overtly advertising your products or services.

There are 3 golden rules to producing great content:

• Make it useful to your audience so they learn something

• Make it engaging so they are attracted to it, and encouraged to read/listen to the end

• Make it high quality so it performs well across various platforms
  

Let’s explore these 3 in a bit more detail…

If you are a B2B company, and particularly if you operate within industrial sectors on an engineering or manufacturing level, your audience is a tough sell. The chances are they are at a senior management level with plenty of industry experience, and so making your content useful to them needs some thought. The good news however is that they likely have similar industry interests as yourself, so if you find something useful there’s a good chance they will too.

Don’t be afraid to state the obvious sometimes (it might not be obvious to all your audience) and try and vary your content so you’re not talking about the same topic over and over again. Tools such as BuzzSumo and LinkedIn Content suggestions are a great way to identify what people are talking about in your industry, to which you can then prepare content that perhaps gives an alternative perspective or even a counter-argument. Your ultimate goal is to become the leading resource for professionals in your industry; the go-to expert.

Content needs to be engaging. Use of visual stimuli such as pictures, infographics, video etc can all help to impart the message more clearly. Always post on social media with an image or video. Break up your copy with headings, bullet points, numbered lists – anything that helps to keep the reader engaged to the end. And everyone loves some top tips that they can take away with them.

High quality content will perform better across different platforms and will rank higher within Google’s algorithms on your website. You can’t always come up with completely original copy, so if you are using an existing concept or methodology as a basis, always do your research and add your own thoughts, opinions and examples. If, for example, you produce widgets, put yourself into the shoes of your customers and produce content that addresses as close as possible the exact questions and concerns you would have.

Why is Content Marketing important?

Content Marketing generates new business leads and improves conversions. Statistics indicate B2B companies with blogs generate over 60% more leads than those without. So good content marketing is extremely effective. In addition, your content can move a potential customer along your sales funnel, so they are more likely to reach a buying decision having been encouraged and persuaded by the information you have given them.

Content Marketing will improve your website ranking and help potential customers find you on Search Engines. When you post relevant material, this makes your site more reputable as you have an increased number of indexed pages and links. The more reputable site you have the higher you will rank on the organic listings when someone searches using keywords relevant to that topic.

Content Marketing improves your customer retention. Existing customers will be encouraged when they see good quality, informative content being posted by you. In particular, your content marketing activities need to include a personalised aspect where appropriate and updating your current customers with great content aimed directly at them can only be beneficial for your long-term customer retention.

Content marketing establishes trust with your audience. Done correctly, it provides evidence of your competence without overtly promoting your products and services, so your audience don’t feel they are being sold to. When your content shows up in the right place, and at the right time, this establishes credibility for your brand and creates positive associations with your customers and contacts.

Here are 5 quick tips to take away with you, to make your content marketing work for you:

• Identify your audience – be clear about who you are producing the content for

• Make it easy to remember – your content should stick in the mind of your audience

• Keep it simple and valuable – you are talking to your peers and colleagues so just be yourself and make the content easy to read

• Make it engaging – use video, images etc to attract and retain your audience’s attention

• Ensure the content can be shared – remember the plan is to get as many people to see your message as possible.

If you would like a no-obligation chat about content marketing, please get in touch simon@thecollectivegroup.co.uk or telephone 01202 682322

If you are a B2B company that has recently established a presence on social media – first of all ‘brilliant, well done’, and secondly if you are thinking ‘now what’ then hopefully help is at hand. 

It may be you have set up a LinkedIn company page or opened a Twitter account. You might have established a YouTube account. Or you might have created a Facebook Business page. Whichever one you have done, there are some Do’s and Don’ts that it might be wise to look at. I’ve picked out half a dozen that I think are key and can at least get you up and running in ‘social media’ world.

DO complete your profile
Your branding and image is as important on your social media platforms as it is on your website. First impressions are crucial, so take the opportunity to create an impression and give your audience some information about what you do. The banners for all your platforms can be designed, so consider a graphic or select a photograph that sums up your business as succinctly as possible.

DON’T just sell yourself
You’ll soon switch off any followers if the only content you put out there is about yourself. It needs to be balance of content that will engage your audience, encourage interaction and inform them. If you have a new product to launch, or you have invested in some new machinery, then by all means tell the world. But that needs to be countered with industry news, relevant technology information, helpful tips, local news, customer and supplier re-posts and the occasional humorous/random bit of content that gives you some personality. If you can get that mix right, your audience will engage.

DO be visual
With such recent stats as:

• Tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images
• Articles with an image once every 75-100 words received double the social media shares as articles with fewer images
• 54% of consumers wanted to see more video content from a brand or business they support (all stats courtesy of HubSpot)

it’s no wonder images and videos are a vital ingredient to your content. You literally cannot afford to post on social media without an image or a video.

DON’T repeat the same message
It will get very boring for your audience if you just repeat the same thing over and over again. Be creative with the content – if you need to mention something again use a different context and change the image. Remember, social media is all about engaging with your audience not boring them to death.

DO post regularly
How regular is regular? Good question… and there isn’t one easy answer. As a B2B company a good balance we have found is try and put new content out there once a week, or even once a fortnight is ok. In addition, also make sure you check your feeds perhaps twice a week to interact with your followers, repost/share relevant content, comment on posts etc. The impression you are creating is one of engagement and interaction – so if you don’t look at your social media platforms for 3 months you are missing out on a tonne of opportunities to talk to your audience.

DON’T worry about the numbers
Whilst the number of followers or likes is an indication of engagement, it is at a very superficial level, so don’t get too stressed about chasing numbers. Your social media activity is aimed at brand awareness and growing your network which is a long-term strategy. So the focus needs to be on quality over quantity and delivering content that is central to your audience.

Hopefully the above gives you a foundation to get you started on your social media journey.

We all know marketing is an integral tool for any business. It’s a vehicle for self-promotion and can boost growth and sustainability. But going it alone can be daunting, and one of the first questions we are asked is ‘where do I start’?

Start strong

The answer is… start strong, with a marketing plan.

Define the markets you’re targeting, the key benefits your customers are looking for and what your competitors claim to be doing. You can write a marketing plan on the back of the proverbial cigarette packet if you wish… we wouldn’t advise that as a) you’ll probably lose it, and b) there isn’t going to be room for a whole lot of substance. The point is of course that in writing something down you are beginning to think and plan your future marketing activities, rather than take the approach of ‘let’s just wait and see what crops up and see if we can get a good deal.’

Not the dreaded SWOT analysis

Well yes, because it works! In your marketing plan, however you develop it, identifying your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) gives you a foundation to build your messages on. Decide on the appropriate message for your target audience and develop marketing objectives – these will guide your future activities and ensure you maximise your strengths and opportunities. They will also allow you to set benchmarks and KPI’s, that enable you to measure the success of your marketing over time.

Quantity over Quality

Talking of measuring success, in the world of B2B marketing it is clear that traditional methods of measuring success – click-through rates, impressions, cost per click etc – are not the panacea they once were. Just because you get hundreds of new visitors to your website, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will translate into new sales, as it very much depends on your target audience. So, measuring success is shifting towards quality over quantity. We will explore some ways of how you measure success in a future blog – stay tuned.

Momentum

Once you have gained some momentum, keep it going; develop a communications plan that highlights marketing tools that enable you to achieve your objectives. Produce a plan for a 6 to 12-month period to outline when your marketing activities will occur, and then refer to it and keep it updated and fresh.

Marketing planning isn’t rocket science, but it is genius and a great way to get you thinking.​

If you are at that starting point, and would like a no-obligation chat, please get in touch simon@thecollectivegroup.co.uk or telephone 01202 682322

Lockdown is continuing and no one really knows how long for. But in this brave new world, as business owners quite rightly worry about employees and turnover, one of the positive things we have been gifted with is time. Time is a precious commodity which is usually in short supply and we need to spend it wisely.

Commitment

With many of our clients, one of the biggest obstacles to making things happen is their time. We will almost always need a level of commitment from them, whether it’s for a website project, a new company video or some technical support on new content.

Like many agencies, our business model focusses on helping our clients to grow – if they grow we succeed, which reflects positively on us – so in theory it’s a win-win for both parties.

Be careful what you wish for

At the moment, there are many businesses cutting back on key activities as they come to terms with furloughing and reduced demand. That I guess is the price to pay for wishing for more time. And in their case, it seems the old adage is true…be careful what you wish for!

However, for companies that are in a position to take stock, revisit their long-term strategy and perhaps have cash in the bank, now is a fabulous opportunity to use some time to get ahead of their competition. Life WILL return to some kind of norm, and you need to be ready… but your chance is now.

We have had prospects we have been in discussions with for literally years say to us in the last few weeks, ok, let’s get this going, as they have realised there is an opportunity to capitalise on.

Nothing to pay

If you want a new website, or need to revisit your content, or it’s time for you to jump on the video steamroller, why not get in touch. All our projects start with a discussion, so there’s no commitment and nothing to pay.

Like many others, we’re uncertain about the months to follow. But confidence in the future is what will get many businesses through. And to have confidence you need a plan and that most precious of commodities – time.

​

If you’d like to talk to us about your changing marketing requirements, please get in touch simon@thecollectivegroup.co.uk or telephone 01202 682322

Filming at home – we’re all doing it at the moment! Admittedly no-one expects you to be an expert, and to be honest, it’s the content that people are interested in. However, the viewer does need to be able to hear what you say and at least watch your video without feeling seasick!

So, here are a few tips to making sure you get the best results you can:

And if you’d like to talk to us about your filming requirements, please get in touch simon@thecollectivegroup.co.uk or telephone 01202 682322

We are delighted to confirm we have signed a partnership deal with Iracroft Ltd, to provide them with marketing support for the next 12 months.

The partnership will see us undertake all of Iracroft’s marketing activities at an important time for them, as their company continues its growth and development. We have recently produced a marketing strategy for Iracroft, and the conclusions from this will shape future marketing activity.   

The marketing arrangement will be conducted through our innovative credit-based support initiative, whereby companies have the option of using credits against any of our marketing services. This provides the flexibility of choosing the right marketing activity at the right time and allowing the cost to be spread over a 12-month period.

Iracroft, which has manufacturing facilities in Blandford and Poole, was recently included on the list of Dorset’s top growing companies. The company manufactures metal pipes and tube fabricated products for a wide range of industrial applications. As part of the longer-term business strategy, the company has decided to increase its marketing activities to reflect its development into new markets, and its strengthening position within the construction and mining equipment sectors.          

Our MD James Howes is excited with the partnership, and commented:

“At such a challenging time for all businesses, we are thrilled to be able to start helping Iracroft with their marketing. It’s so important for companies to understand that now is the time for them to be working on their marketing ready for when life returns to normal, and we have already got an action plan in place to help Iracroft raise their profile, and hopefully steal an advantage on their competitors”.     

Darren Colley, Iracroft’s Managing Director, is looking forward to developing new marketing material, in line with the marketing strategy The Collective recently produced for Iracroft, and commented:

“We are focused on delivering on our ambitious growth targets, and marketing will play a key role in how we achieve this. The Collective have proven themselves already to be a key partner and I am confident in their ability to deliver the level of support we require to achieve our objectives. I am excited to be working with Simon and the team.” 

If you’d like to throw some ideas around on what you could be doing with your marketing right now, or just talk through your thoughts on preparing your company for when the lockdown is over, please don’t hesitate to contact us at team@thecollectivegroup.co.uk or telephone 01202 682322.