5 B2B Content Marketing Ideas for 2016

One of the more interesting things we did last year was an experts series for key tactics for B2B sales and B2B marketing in 2016. Not only were these well received blogs with over 60 Linkedin shares each and several hundred page views, but the marketing blog also re-affirmed my belief in the benefits of B2B content marketing.
 
Content marketing is not only a benefit for inbound marketing, but also a great way to support an outbound sales effort. Another great source of insight on the benefits of content marketing can be found in the Hubspot State of Inbound Marketing and Sales report. Below are some content ideas for 2016.
 

1. Video

Videos are increasing in their use by not only B2C, but also B2B. 50% of data usage on mobile is video and it is now easier than ever to create content with a screen share tool or even capturing it on a smartphone. There is some great software for both editing video and recording screencasts.
 

2. Guest Blogging

Blogging for a 3rd party site or having guest content on your site is a great way to expand the reach of your content. Guest content on the right sites can help potential prospects discover you and your services. It is also helpful for SEO. Having the right guest content on your site not only helps reduce the effort to create content, but your guest writer will likely also share your post. This helps new prospects discover your website and the content.
 

3. Distributing Content

When we start working with new clients they are sometime hesitant to use it in other places. Some of the opportunities for sharing includes social media and email marketing. Customers or prospects don’t read everything you send out or publish, so share your content in many places.
 

4. Outbound Sales

Content marketing and sales are an excellent combination. Sales people can share blogs on their social accounts as a way to stay both top of mind and to be viewed as a subject matter expert. Sales reps can also share specific post with customers and prospects in an email. I have often used it as a follow-up to a call or meeting.
 

5. Increase frequency

We have found with ourselves and with our customers that increasing frequency increases traffic almost exponentially. One of our customers increased the consistency of both creating content and sharing content. They found that traffic and leads increase by 300%. If you are blogging twice a month, try 4 times a month. We saw a huge increase in traffic when we moved from once a week to twice a week.
 
If you are looking for some more information to with your content marketing check out our white paper on inbound marketing.
 

5 B2B Content Marketing Ideas for 2016