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When it comes to B2B content marketing there are three camps:
The good. The bad. The ugly.
Finding examples of B2B brands who get content marketing isn’t an easy task. We have TONS of examples of B2B brands who are doing things wrong, but very rarely do we find content examples that showcase the true potential of B2B marketing. And in this blog post, it’s my intent to change that.
I’m going to share with you some of the B2B brands that not only understand content marketing but back it up with great work of their own. Here are some of the best examples of B2B brands doing content marketing right:
Close.com: CRM Software For Inside Sales
Key Takeaway: Diversify Your Content
The thing I love about Close.com and their content strategy is the diversity of their content formats. It’s not just a bunch of listicles. It’s not just a bunch of how-to guides. And it’s not just a bunch of articles on how to write a cold email that will get opened (even though they have a great post on that topic).
Instead, you can see plenty of diversity in this screenshot alone:
- A roundup of advice from 16 thought leaders
- Part of an interview series called Women In Sales
- Two more traditional blog posts on targeted, valuable topics
It’s the perfect mix of content!
MindSea: App Development For Startups & Health Tech Companies
Key Takeaway: Invest In Great Research
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over my years of creating content and trying to get people to care, it’s that research is gold in B2B. Journalists love it when an organization provides interesting new insights backed by solid data.
The folks at MindSea nailed this by putting together a research piece all about the icons of popular apps—specifically, the colors that pop up most often in each app store category, from food apps to games. The article was filled with great insight and got picked up by BusinessInsider.
Proposify: Proposal Software For Service Businesses
Key Takeaway: Party Where Your Audience Parties
I’m not talking about a physical party here. I’m talking about using channels that your audience is spending their time on. The folks at Proposify recognized really early that their target audience had a thirst for information. And this thirst was often quenched by listening to podcasts.
So the company launched a podcast called Agencies Drinking Beers… It took off and was a huge hit amongst folks living the #AgencyLife. As the audience for their product grew beyond agencies, they shifted to Proposify Biz Chat, and it’s been a hit with both B2B customers and other professionals in the SaaS and service industries.
Drift: Conversation Marketing On Steroids
Key Takeaway: Celebrate Your Customers Like Rockstars
When you think about a B2B case study, you probably think about a painfully boring rundown of problems, solutions and results. On the other hand, when you check out the case studies being put together over at Drift, you get a clear sense that these folks care about their customers’ success and take pride in helping them achieve meaningful results for their business.
SaaStr Ventures: Venture Capital Focused On SaaS
Key Takeaway: Own The Channels Others Ignore
Jason Lemkin has pretty much established himself as the B2B king of Quora. I’m sorry, but at this point no one else is even close. Over the last few years, he’s answered 2,600+ questions and has been one of Quora’s top posters in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.
As a result, his answers have been seen more than 38 million times.
He simply finds content that he knows his target audience (SaaS professionals and founders) would be looking for and provides answers with TONS of value. Not only that, he plugs his company, SaaStr, blog posts in a subtle way that doesn’t make it seem like he’s blatantly attempting to drive more traffic.
Moz: SEO Software For Marketers
Key Takeaway: Be Consistent With Your Content
Since 2007 (maybe a bit earlier), Moz has been shipping Whiteboard Fridays, which are videos that combine an illustration on a whiteboard with a conversation/monologue about SEO or the state of the web. Started by Rand Fishkin, now CEO of SparkToro, the tradition has lasted more than 10 years (and counting!). The torch seems to have been passed to Britney Muller, who is keeping the Whiteboard Friday momentum alive.
A lot of organizations have grand ideas and even announce that they’ll be publishing something regularly—but then they don’t do it. Moz has embraced consistency in terms of frequency and quality with their Whiteboard Fridays, and as a result of their commitment, they’ve become a leader in SEO.
CB Insights: Data For Technology Professionals
Key Takeaway: Create Evergreen Content
There’s a short list of blog posts that have made my jaw drop over the last few years, and a few of them have been published on CB Insights. Not only does the company have a consistent and valuable newsletter that B2B marketers can learn from but they also create amazing evergreen content.
Evergreen content is relevant and valuable to a specific audience for a very, very, very long time. Some people would go as far as saying that evergreen content will live forever, but we both know that nothing lasts forever. That said, posts like this Amazon research report probably have more staying power than most university papers.
First Round Magazine: Venture Capital
Key Takeaway: Collaborate With Other Experts
In an AMA on Growth Hackers, First Round head of marketing Camille Ricketts shared a bit of insight into how the company created its content strategy. She writes:
We knew we’d be successful if we could grow First Round’s brand awareness among brilliant pre-founders. What do these people need? What would have a lot of utility for them? Clearly they’d love advice from people they didn’t have access to. So that became our aim … We started out writing articles based on what operators shared during speaking events like our summits. We determined there was an appetite for this type of exclusive, tactical knowledge, but that we could super-charge it even more if we based articles on interviews, where we could focus even more on eliciting specific advice.
The strategy has worked to perfection. Our research found that the First Round website has generated more than 70,000 backlinks to various blog posts, interviews and pages on their site. As a result, they’re a leader in the VC community despite a small content marketing team.
Wrapping Things Up…
You’ve now seen examples of B2B brands doing content marketing right.
It CAN be done.
In fact, we’ve worked with a few of the companies on this list to create content and shape their strategies. Are you ready to take some of these B2B content marketing examples and use them for inspiration in your work?
Maybe you’re ready to invest in research.
Maybe you’re planning to interview experts.
Or maybe you’re just going to make a commitment to consistency.
Whatever the case, leave a comment and let me know which examples grabbed you and which strategies you’re interested in trying! I’d love to hear from you.
