5 B2B Companies Hitting the Mark With Their Content Marketing

Content marketing takes time, resources and dedication to do it well and provide quality, consistent content. And there are some great examples of B2B companies that are offering value for their customers and prospects by focusing on creating remarkable content.

We looked at a few different factors when evaluating B2B companies for their content marketing expertise. The main four areas we evaluated were the companies’ blogs, premium content, website content and social media. Take a look at these examples of B2B companies that get content marketing.

1. Sage: Business management software

Sage is a UK-based business management software company for all business sizes, from start-ups to large corporations. Sage decided to undergo heavy research to figure out how to best reach one of its audiences, small businesses. As a result of the research, they discovered 7 key themes to focus on that are common pain points for their clients:

- Start your business

- Grow your business

- Manage cash flow

- Control your costs

- Work life balance

- Employing people and RTI

- Beating business fears

With these themes, Sage created a page on its website dedicated to each. On each web page is a call to action to download a guide to learn more information about that theme and a call to action to read related blog posts about that particular subject. Sage is also active on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and blogs regularly to educate their customers and prospects about relevant topics.

Sage also took advantage of Google Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising focusing on the 7 key themes for a 12-week small business campaign. Sage bid-managed the campaign and focused on the top 30 keywords to build links and social media “signals” around the seven themes. As a result, the campaign generated 130 million impressions, 578,600 “engagements”, 13,000 PDF downloads and 600 leads from contact forms.

2. ADP: Business outsourcing and human capital management

Automatic Data Processing, or ADP, offers a wide range of human resource, payroll, talent management, tax and benefits administration solutions and helps clients comply with regulatory and legislative changes. ADP offers valuable tools and resources for their visitors including calculators, interactive videos, white papers, case studies and webinars.

ADP even categorizes its white papers and case studies by audience and category. To increase lead generation, ADP puts its premium content behind a form that people have to fill out before receiving the full PDF report.

In place of a blog, ADP has a “Research and Trends” section of its website to inform and educate readers about benchmark data, indices, best practices and expert opinions. They are also active on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube where they post quality, engaging content consistently and follow best practices for each channel.

3. Kinvey: Backend as a service provider for mobile apps

Kinvey is a mobile cloud backend as a service provider that allows app developers to setup, use and operate their mobile apps. This B2B company does content marketing really well. First, their blog is educational and they post 2-4 times per week. They also have a wide variety of eBooks, each with its own landing page and form to increase lead generation. While their older eBooks had very simple covers, they have begun to get more creative with the design to be more engaging and eye-catching.

Kinvey is also active on many social media channels and host events and webinars to further engage with their audience. They even have a dedicated Content Marketing Manager and Director of Inbound Marketing as a part of their team that helps to lead their content marketing efforts in a big way.

4. American Express: Open Forum

Everyone knows American Express, one of the largest credit card companies, as both a B2C and B2B company. However, American Express launched a program called Open Forum dedicated solely to its small business audience. The website and forum focuses on a few key topics: Customers, Leadership, Marketing, Money and Technology.

The Open Forum website is filled with educational content for small business owners where they can join the forum and participate in conversation. American Express even created a Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr and LinkedIn profiles specifically dedicated to the Open Forum. American Express is a great example that creating audience-specific content that is relevant can be a huge success.

5. Hubspot: Marketing software

You can’t mention other B2B companies doing content marketing well without mentioning Hubspot, an all-in-one marketing software to help companies attract leads and convert them to customers. Being an inbound marketing company, Hubspot is one of the best examples of content marketing due to their dedication to content and large output of blog posts, eBooks and other quality content.

Hubspot is a content generating machine, posting at least one blog post daily and releasing eBooks all the time. They also host webinars and are active on many social media channels. A unique aspect they offer is a “Marketing Grader” where prospects can enter in their website URL and receive a full report on how their website is doing with inbound marketing.

Knowing where to start or what to talk about for B2B content marketing can be difficult. We hope these examples will show you that any company can produce quality, engaging content to attract visitors and convert them to leads—no matter your industry. The important aspect is to be sure your entire company is dedicated to it and keeps producing content consistently.

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/5-b2b-companies-hitting-mark-content-marketing-0633652?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5-b2b-companies-hitting-mark-content-marketing