Content marketing is one of the most dominate forces in B2B strategies, but it’s also one of the most volatile. As marketers compete against each other to engage prospects and buyers, they’ve resorted to churning out as much content as possible and (accidentally) saturating their respective fields. In those attempts to generate the most capital from the attention economy, practitioners inadvertently started sharing low-quality content that didn’t resonate with buyers.
To help put an end to content faux pas, the soon-to-be-released “2024 Content Preferences Benchmark Survey” candidly asked respondents about their content recommendations — here’s a glimpse into what they said:
Focus Less On Product Specifics & More On Business Value
I’ll let you in a little secret: No one wants to hear your thoughts on your products. At best, it’s biased; at worst, it’s misleading. In other words, you’re just too close to the offering to objectively discuss what gaps your solution fills and the value it could bring to businesses. Instead:
1. Curb The Sales Message
According to those surveyed, the slightest whiff of a sales pitch is enough to entirely turn them off from a business. Rather, prospects and buyers are seeking objective content that articulates value rather than alleged benefits.
2. Add More Third-Party Insights
To help make content more well-rounded, the survey respondents suggested incorporating insights from industry thought leaders and analysts for a more nuanced perspective.
3. Use Data & Research To Support Content
With third-party insights in place, buyers then suggested taking objective content to the next level by including research and data. While it’s great to have an industry insider wax poetic about your products, it’s even better when you can back up their claims with facts and figures.
Make Content Easier To Access
Marketers are possessive over their content, and I get it — I might not be a marketer, but I know I create great content and people should be willing to give me their life savings to read it! (Right? Please say I’m right).
Either way, it’s clear that we need to check our content egos at the door and let our work speak for itself. Specifically, this means taking away the hurdles to access exist content and re-assess the content we create.
4. Remove The Gates
Nearly two-thirds of buyers are somewhat or not likely to fill out a form if content is gated, and those that are willing to share their information only do so for “high value” content. While we’ll unpack what the high value content entails when we release the full survey results, I can give you a little hint — it involves video!
5. Thoughtfully Curate Content Offerings
With 56% of buyers overwhelmed with the amount of content available, marketers need to step back and evaluate their current portfolios. Instead of whipping together assets that address every potential need, buyers are advising organizations to take a more holistic, tactful approach to their content strategies.
To craft content that truly resonates with buyers, marketers need to put in the work to understand their audience and craft their content accordingly. In a few short weeks, we’ll release the entire “2024 Content Preferences Survey Report,” which will dive deeper into buyers’ content consumption patterns and preferences.