Forget Competitors: in B2B Content Strategy, Context Matters

The most important functions on the Web are search and links.

While conversation is the mechanism that brings both about through content, it is the context that can deliver the connection - and conversion. Where content and conversation built the relationship and in some cases a community, it's the value you deliver over time that makes you stand out at the point of decision.

This is good news for B2B companies as there is still plenty of unexplored potential in many niches. It's a situation not dissimilar from the one we talked about in viral marketing. Many companies in the B2B space tend to read the same analysts, and each other - thus sounding the same, at times word for word.

With social media, and particularly blogs, your B2B will break from the pack and become a destination if you:

• are consistent and keep to a regular appointment
• remember attitude is a decision
• become the hub for a specific niche or topic
• stay on top of the news for your industry with commentary
• act as host for customers and partners

In all these situations, you'll be creating the context where conversations and connections can happen in your industry or field. How do you get started?

Go evergreen with a point of view

Create content that is universally helpful in your niche, yet do it with a distinct angle. Decide to be the person or hub that analyzes trends, or technologies, or - gasp, you'll need to do this well to pull it off - analysts. I can still remember when Sam Lawrence was blogging about common issues faced by technology companies while at his previous employer.

Go very deep and stay practical

Explore a specific topic in depth while you consistently remind the reader about practical applications of what you're learning together. This blog is an example of going deep on certain topics, and taking away a few practical tips of things to test. Whenever you can, a combination of show and tell works well to create context.

Go across and show the connections

Become the go to place where people connect the dots on what's next. If you're a naturally strong facilitator and connector, and have a passion for and knowledge of your industry, you will do very well here. Your commentary will be that of the practitioner's. You can invite partners and customers as guests.  

These are just a couple of ideas. A combination works, too, as long as you don't make it too hard on your readers to figure out what to expect. Especially in the beginning, consistency helps in getting you established. If you want to sprinkle in novel elements to keep things lively, do it on a regular cadence.

Conversation can help you with links. Content can help you with search. Context can make you a destination for people to join the conversation.

Too simple? Too difficult? There seems to be a scarcity of B2B case studies out there, I'm curious to hear your take on why that might be.

[image of Piazza Grande, Modena by davidtsousa]

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Brian Driggs]

Go evergreen! I've been seeing a lot of metephors lately relating to trees. I like it! Evergreen makes perfect sense. Not only can SEO be likened to growing the biggest, most relevant tree in the forest, growing an evergreen tree which is never barren or in hibernation is a great idea.

Going deep and staying practical feels like a focus on relvancy and consistency. With my latest project, I've been really making an effort to post a new interview every Monday. I like to think those interviews are fairly in-depth and allow for the audience to spot similarities they might have with others they might not have otherwise heard about.

I am in love with the idea of connecting people who share a passion, if not a passion for the same vehicle or automotive pursuit (I'm a car guy, it's a car site). Through both consistency of style and schedule, I'm hoping this thing really takes off. I want so badly to keep selling the concept to my readers, but I'm confident that, in time, they're going to get it on their own, and that will be a major turning point.

Good stuff as usual, Valeria! Thanks!

[Karthik S]

Excellent summary for B2B folks...obvious points, but they needed such a post.

[Elizabeth Sosnow]

Well timed post, Valeria. You always seem to oinpoint an idea that I'm puzzling over and help to add clarity.

I think that B2B companies sometimes struggle with social media because they believe it belongs to the realm of consumer products. Or, sometimes, they want to restrict it to a CRM mechanism. Honestly, it feels like context is a "bridge too far."

That being said, I sense gthering acceptance around content. But we may have to wait awhile for a truly great case study illustrating context?

Elizabeth Sosnow
BlissPR

[Rich Becker]

Valeria,

There certainly is more room for B2B companies. If anything, they tend to attract a stronger, more loyal following of readers, which creates an ideal opportunity for branding, positioning, reinforcing media, etc. It allows the company to live within its environment as opposed to attempting to live independently from everything.

Great conversation starter here.

All my best,
Rich

[J. Paul Duplantis]

I am still amazed at the amount of smaller businesses who refuse to grab on to the notion that sharing their knowledge will not hurt their business.

They are still frozen on the concept of blogs and how they are time consuming and could potentially hurt their business.

Sharing knowledge related to your center of influence is indeed powerful and beneficial.

These are great tips to share with our clients. Thank you.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Brian - consistency takes time to grab people as an appointment - at least it did in my case with this blog.

@Karthik - sometimes common sense in not so common. I mean we all have different points of reference.

@Elizabeth - the context being "a bridge too far" is an awesome concept, thank you for that. In consumer good companies, the agency can actually work on the content for contests, etc. In B2B, you need to partner with the business experts, that's why it's so discontinuous and thin so far. There is no urgency on the business side to make the time.

@Rich - as opposed to living inside its own walls... thanks to the comments here, I'm thinking further.

@J. Paul - the only way I can see a blog hurting a business is if the owner forget to actually implement the work in favor of just talking about it ;) Glad the post was helpful.

[August Jackson]

Valeria, this is an intriguing post. As a competitive intelligence (CI) guy, I'm generally skeptical when anyone says to forget or ignore their competition. That said, I do agree with your point about all of the players in an industry creating nearly identical content. This seems particularly common for B2B marketers and content. There is a downside to competitive benchmarking when firms use CI to regress to the mean.

It is worthwhile for firms to map their strength vis-a-vis their competitors to identify the specific strength where they can deliver value. This is probably an ideal choice for the niche upon which firms can go deep as you advise. A good, thorough SWOT analysis can give firms a view on that niche. Strategic Analysis will help firms stay ahead of the competition and anticipate changes in their market and changes in their customers' needs.

[Valeria Maltoni]

August,

I'm glad you took a look at the post and thrilled you took the time (thank you) to share your thoughts of CI guy. Although I do believe in looking at what other companies are doing in the space, a fixation on competition and staying ahead is not healthy.

I'm more of the school of uncovering and truly owning your own brand. Many businesses expend so much time and effort looking in the read view mirror, that they forget to look ahead. I do believe in analyzing the job that your service gets done and staying close to your customers.