The continued emergence of content marketing done well is vital for B2B marketers given the amount of education buyers are conducting on their own before they identify themselves as prospects. It’s important to remember, however, that content marketing is not about selling your company, your products or your services — unless it is, says David Kirkpatrick in a recent MarketingSherpa blog post.
“At its core, a content marketing strategy is targeting prospects in the research phase that have yet to identify themselves as potential customers. If you can become a resource of basic information and instruction around the general marketplace of your business, you can become a trusted destination for those as-yet unknown prospects,” Kirkpatrick says.
But there is one aspect of content marketing that actually is about selling, he cautions. Once a potential customer raises his hand and becomes a name and a lead, your marketing becomes more targeted via lead nurturing. Depending on where prospects are in the pipeline, you should be prepared to offer them content that more directly addresses their pain points.
“When a person becomes a lead, they are looking for more direct solutions and information on the purchase they are about make. The further they are down the pipeline, the more direct the nature of the content can become, up to even comparing your specific solution to a competitors, for someone at the final stage before that conversion becomes a sale.”
