The last 2 years have been crazy for the B2B industry. With offices closing due to the pandemic and the work culture becoming completely different, the shift has been unexpected and unprecedented.
Most of us can't even remember how it was before the pandemic anymore. And it seems like the majority doesn't want to go back to how it was. In between all of this, the B2B marketers and writers have been struggling to create campaigns and content for this industry that's in flux.
It's been challenging and interesting at the same time. While the uncertainties are still not behind us, let's talk about how the writers can make the best out of 2022 in the B2B industry.
Challenges for B2B content marketing in 2022
2022 is going to be packed with challenges for writers. And here are the four major problems or challenges that they might face.
1. Uncertainty around the workplace
Fully remote? Back to the office? Or hybrid?
While there are various discussions regarding the pros and cons of working in a remote, hybrid or office setup, nothing has been confirmed so far. Some are leaning more towards fully remote work, especially the new coming businesses. While others are looking at hybrid or back to office scenarios.
Whichever it is, we are seeing a very different mix of B2B audiences. We can no longer assume that most of them are working from the office and share a similar lifestyle. So, determining the channels of content becomes more difficult. Figuring out the right time to send a message or post content also becomes hard since everyone is working in their own time zone.
This can pose a big problem when it comes to understanding your audience which is a crucial part of delivering impactful and relatable content.
2. Less data on the audience pain points
Understanding and targeting B2B audiences are in general more difficult than communicating with B2C audiences. The pandemic has only made it more difficult. Few employees know what's going on with their colleagues as they no longer see them regularly anymore.
So, what does the B2B audience care about? What are their business needs? How are they currently catering to those needs?
We do not really know the answers to these questions. But these are the answers we need as writers to make the most of the content we are creating.
However, a good starting point is to understand the four basic pain points of the B2B industry:
Productivity/efficiency
Cost
Support
Processes
3. Difficulty in analyzing consumption patterns
This is another crucial challenge that B2B marketers and writers face. The content consumption pattern has changed and we're not sure how.
Earlier the major chunk of conversions for B2B enterprises happened through white papers, webinars, and blogs which are like checklists or cheat sheets. Email marketing was another crucial channel.
What about now?
An employee gets way more emails now than any time before as almost all communication happens online. This means getting their attention through email is now more difficult.
If they’re working from home, there is less monitoring during work and way more time on the monitor. The distractions from the other forms of content can be higher. For example, the constant slack notifications from the team members can be a hindrance while reading long-form content.
4. More pressure on content to fill the gaps
With changing content consumption patterns and the reduced direct sales interactions, there is more pressure now on content to fill the gaps that have been created.
Information and building brand awareness has been the primary objective of B2B content. The selling was mostly done by salespeople through deals in person. Since that is no longer happening, should content be focused on sales too? Which parts of the sales funnel do we want the content to be responsible for?
In such cases, it is important to have a well-laid out plan for the activities and content that is going to be carried out for the different stages of the marketing funnel.
Tips B2B writers to make the most of 2022
Now that we've discussed the challenges, Let's talk about the best ways you can overcome them and make the most out of them.
1. Interact with the target audience
The amount of data we are getting from other sources like sales is reducing. It is high time that we find ways to interact with our customers as much as possible. This frequent contact is also essential to navigating the fast-changing environment.
Use any excuse you can find to talk to a customer. You can do a survey or a case study interview or even try co-creating content with the customers. The closer you are to them the more insights and useful information you can get.
2. Thought leadership
Put more time and effort into creating thought leadership pieces along with informational content. This will help you build your authority and come off as an expert in the field so that your audience considers you as their go-to resource.
This gives you an advantage as you can become a trendsetter or a guide in your industry.
According to a study, post the pandemic 83% of a typical B2B purchasing decision happens before a buyer engages directly with a provider and most of the decision-makers (71% pf therm) responsible for these purchases read thought leadership content to stay on top of their industry. Can you see the huge opportunity here?
3. Experiment using A/B testing
When uncertain, experiment!
Use A/B testing to understand which pain points are most relatable to customers and the kind of solutions they are looking for. This can give you solid information on what is working with your audience.
You can A/B test your ads, headlines, emails, and much more. When this is done along with the other tips given you have a better chance of understanding your audience and nailing your messaging.
4. Keep an eye out for industry trends and technology
This is extremely crucial. Keep a constant watch on what is happening in the industry. Which technology has become old-school? Is there a change in the system? Is there a change in the perspective of your audience?
You can do this by hanging out where your audience usually hangs out. It could be in Twitter threads or Reddit or any other platform. Try to be present there and observe the conversations and of course, watch out for the news updates in your industry.
5. Focus on repurposing
Instead of continuously looking for new content ideas and topics or experimenting with everything, it is better to spend a good amount of the resource on repurposing the content that is already working.
If you know a piece of content is already resonating with the audience or is sparking a conversation, use it to its fullest and build on it. Repurpose this content as much as possible and maybe try experimenting on different platforms with this content.
While repurposing is welcome, using the same content on different platforms is not. Make sure you generate content that is optimized for specific platforms and their audience.
6. Build content relevant to the solutions of the B2B enterprise problems
What people in B2B would like to read is a business process problem and how to simplify the processes with technology. These solutions are crucial to saving money and time. The core of B2B content writing should be providing solutions that will help optimize the business processes.
You can give them better business insights and solutions through:
Whitepaper
Blogs
Thought leadership pieces
Case studies
As this content can be data-intensive, make sure to add visuals like graphs and infographics to make sure the content can be consumed easily by your audience.
7. Talk with other B2B writers
If you are not already networking with your fellow B2B writers it is high time that you start now. You might be surprised at how many insights you can gain from them which can be a game-changer these days.
So, build a circle of B2B writers with whom you have a good relationship and can hit them up for a conversation or a discussion when needed. This will go beyond just helping you understand the B2B audience and might open an array of opportunities.
Be future-ready & have contingency plans
While the future is always uncertain, you can do predictions based on the data available on user search. You can use tools like Semrush and Ahref for this.
You need to have a strong strategy for getting the most out of B2B content. So, along with building a strategy around your predictions, have contingency plans for different scenarios so that you can pivot at the earliest and stay ahead of your competition.