While your specific content challenges are unique to your organization, they likely also share a common foundational issue with other B2B companies — a good writer who “gets you” is hard to find. Let’s have a quick call to see if I might be that writer.
Content problems are business problems.
B2B companies need content that informs and engages — that’s a given. But buyers today behave differently than they did just a few years ago. They’re using AI to research and analyze more, and clicking through to websites less. So, while your content needs to be as useful and compelling as ever, it must now also be unique, authoritative, and structured to be surfaced by AI.
When your content falls short, it’s not helping you build your business.
Q: How can content build more credibility for our brand?
Write genuinely useful long-form content, such as blogs and white papers, that explains how to solve problems.
Buyers have Gen-AI to answer basic questions now — writing about overly broad topics won’t earn you credibility. Getting into the nitty-gritty of what really makes a difference for their businesses builds trust while making you more relevant. Delve into niche topics, address specific challenges, and demonstrate your unique expertise regularly, and your reputation as a valued resource will grow.
Focus on building trust.
- Share your deep knowledge by succinctly highlighting main points and including real-world examples.
- Articulate your insights with language and asset formats that are most likely to resonate quickly.
- Publish on a cadence that emphasizes your commitment to being a voice in your industry.
Have a point of view.
- Have an opinion (not just information) on the topical issues, trends, and concerns related to your industry.
- Explain how you arrived at your thinking, and, if appropriate, invite conversations about it.
- Take a position on ambiguities that sophisticated audiences can appreciate, even if they don’t agree with them.
Q: How can we get more ROI from our content investment?
Invest strategically and repurpose what you already have.
Make your content a workhorse. It can’t just sit there — it has to earn its keep. Performance is everything.
Start by knowing what you want your content to accomplish and all the steps, platforms, and people involved. Dozens of things can derail a project or campaign, from poor planning or messaging to a lack of team buy-in. A solid strategy turns your content into a business-building tool.
And if something isn’t working, why not fix it? Almost every piece of underperforming long-form content can benefit from a refresh (or even a complete transformation) that’s based on current data, buyer interests, and today’s preferred formats.
Evolve your approach.
- Know exactly what your audience cares about and write about that (and nothing else).
- Collect and incorporate the latest verified data points.
- Make sure there’s a consistent messaging throughline in each campaign asset, down to the social post captions.
- Collaborate with sales during planning and create a timeline and playbook that everyone agrees on.
Find hidden ROI.
- Modernize outdated formats into dynamic, interactive experiences that B2B prospects prefer by a 3:1 ratio.
- Find new value in your archives — rethink, restructure, combine, refresh, repurpose, slice, dice, and redesign your existing content.
- Get rid of jargon and passive voice.
- Strengthen the narrative structure and spice up your headers, callouts, and CTAs.
Relevant content is a business asset.
71 %
of survey participants said they downloaded and consumed multiple assets to help with decision-making
2024 Content Preferences Survey, DemandGen
83 %
of marketers say it’s better to focus on quality rather than quantity of content, even if it means posting less often
Demandsage (latest research)
Q: How can our content make a better impression?
If your message is dull or verbose, it’s hard to make an impact.
This is the most common problem I come across — boring content (sorry).
You can make even the most challenging subject matter accessible and engaging without dumbing it down. The trick is to make reading enjoyable. You can make even the most serious topic a pleasure to read by using storytelling techniques and rhythms that maintain attention and enable your message to come through in a way that feels natural.
Simplify the complex.
- Hook your readers and generate more interest with executive and technical “translations.“
- Clarify your ideas by using strategic messaging frameworks.
- Guide your audience through related concepts using examples, storytelling, and showing how elements connect.
- Drive audience engagement by using subtle visual techniques and interactive elements.
Speak with one (clear) voice.
- Update your main and supporting messages to align with your current objectives (messaging houses work well).
- Apply consistent messaging across your content hub assets to reinforce your differentiators and make you more memorable.
P.S. A word about AI
AI is not a substitute for a skilled writer. It’s a powerful research tool and sounding board (I use three AIs for these purposes), but AI is a boring writer that can tank your results if your audience believes your content is output from a prompt. Why? Because your audience uses AI, too. If they wanted AI-generated content, they’d be engaging with a chatbot instead of you. Your audience wants to know what YOU think because you’re the one they’re hiring.
Q: We have multiple audiences — how can the same content connect with each one?
Tailor your content so each person feels you’re talking directly to them.
Different audiences resonate with different messages, and sometimes different approaches altogether. The CFO, division manager, and person who will actually use your service all have different needs, problems to solve, motivations, time constraints, and more.
It’s easier than ever to personalize content using today’s technologies — every prospect and buying-team member should feel understood.
Tailor to truly connect.
- Use messaging aligned with each persona — just like you would if you were in the room with them.
- Create and store personalized, atomized content snippets so they’re ready to drop in.
- Customize formats and presentations to match how each audience prefers to consume different types of information.
Write for your pipeline.
- Fine-tune nurture flows to match each stage of the buyer’s journey — for example, start with infographics and end with case studies.
- Consider using dynamic, interactive content to personalize experiences down to the individual within a single asset, while also enabling sophisticated in-asset tracking.
Detailed content with supporting assets performs best.
72 %
of B2B buyers are most interested in content that drills down into relevant or specific topic areas
Content Preferences Survey, DemandGen
81 %
of tech decision-makers find short-form content more valuable when it links to detailed, up-to-date studies or white papers
B2B Content Guide, Forrester