Implementing content marketing strategies as a small B2B business can be frustrating and daunting. Entering the social sphere and seeing the likes of Hewlett Packard already dominating can make smaller players (say 10-99 employees) feel like giving up before even starting. After all, how will you ever be heard above such big noises with hefty budgets behind them?
We understand your frustration. We also know how to guide you along a content marketing strategy that will get your message in front of the right people. A useful starting point is the realisation that the challenges your business faces are not unique. Major reports, such as the Content Marketing Institute’s recent B2B Small Business Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America, reveal that B2B marketers face similar issues globally.
Challenge #1: Engagement
Over half (54%) of small businesses feel challenged by producing the type of content that engages people, with 21% citing this as their single biggest challenge. Encouragingly, this suggests that marketers are prioritising quality over quantity, and rightly so; prospects who engage with a company’s content are far more likely to go on to initiate a relationship with the organisation.
Solution: Initially, you’ll need to work on your company’s definition of engagement, then go on to create a set of metrics around that. For instance, some businesses value email subscriptions, as subscribers often go on to attend events and convert, while others will have found that LinkedIn interactions generate leads for them. Measure your defined metrics continually to determine which types of content, and placed where, yield the best results.
Challenge #2: Volume
A significant 64% of small businesses are challenged by producing enough content, while around a quarter (26%) perceive quantity as their biggest challenge.
Solution: Of course, more does not equal better. As mentioned in the point above, quality is key in the realm of content. That said, there does need to be a consistent flow of content to achieve results. As such, there are ways to be clever around content that will both free up marketing resources and maximise the value of each piece produced.
These are: producing evergreen content (ie. perennial themes that can be swiftly updated), curating content (sharing great stuff already put out there by your own organisation or other valued content creators) and thirdly, repurposing content (reworking existing content into new formats to extend its lifecycle).
Challenge #3: Budget
Interestingly, nearly half (48%) of marketers at large/enterprise businesses feel challenged by lack of budget, as compared to just 38% of small business marketers. This could well be because enterprise marketers have to work harder to get buy-in, often needing to jump through more internal hoops to get budgets approved and signed off. Furthermore, small business marketers may just be more familiar with having to be resourceful in their content efforts due to perennially tighter budgets.
Solution: Lack of buy-in and/or vision from the top is a common root cause of budget constraints. To tackle this thorny issue, draft up a coherent presentation to show the potential ROI of content marketing activity to justify the costs involved. Compared to PPC activity, content marketing yields high returns, and can become an organisation’s most efficient lead generation channel when planned effectively. While written for the US market, this ebook by Kapost and Eloqua on Content Marketing ROI usefully breaks down the cost per lead of content efforts to help make the case to the board.
Over to You
What is the greatest single challenge your business faces when it comes to content marketing? What approach do you take, if any, to overcome the issue?
Photo: Wetwebwork
