Your content is the backbone of your B2B marketing strategy. Decision-makers rely on the content you provide to research how your products and services can provide solutions to their problems. Around 70% of B2B journeys are already complete by the time a buyer reaches out to the sales team, meaning they do their own homework and have the answers they need. If you don’t have strong content, you’re essentially invisible during the most important phase of the buyer’s journey.

With a strong strategy, your content will do most of the work for your sales department. This means carefully selecting the words, content types, and content providers to support the reasons that potential buyers seek out your content in the first place.

Content That Gets Your Brand Found

With 89% of B2B buyers using AI tools for their research, showing up in AI overviews and search results is the very first step toward reaching new customers.

Your marketing content has always been the best way to get found on the internet, but AI has changed a lot of the rules. Yes, if you use good SEO, you’re likely to also enjoy great GEO, but there are a few things you can focus on to ensure that AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot present your company when someone searches for the products and services you offer.

• Optimize for conversational searches
• Write for AI models, using clear header tags and bulleted lists
• Use long-tail prompts that mimic the phrasing a professional would use
• Make paragraphs concise and easy to summarize

When creating and sharing content that isn’t text-based, such as presentations, webinars, and videos, use long-tail phrases that describe exactly what users will find with that content. Create meta descriptions and use alt text that completes the picture for AI engines and the buyers that find your content.

The more you tell the search engines what your content is about, the more likely it will be to show up. And showing up, as they say, is half the battle.

Content That Establishes Credibility and Trust

The content your brand creates and shares gives you the opportunity to build real credibility with your buyers. From the first word your buyers read or video they watch, your audience is actively looking for reasons to trust your products or services.

This may sound easy, but that’s a trap many B2B content marketers fall into. Cranking out blogs and social media videos just to consistently post content will just have you spinning your wheels. You need to develop a solid strategy that taps the most trustworthy people in your company for insights your buyers can’t get anywhere else.

Some of the content you might add to your current strategy include:

• FAQs
• Product or service explainers
• Customer interviews
• Executive thought leadership

These are the types of content that signal credibility to your buyers and enhance their trust in your brand.

Content That Moves Buyers Through the Sales Cycle

The B2B sales cycle is notoriously long, especially for high ticket products and services. If your content isn’t actively working to educate and convince your buyers while moving them through their journey, then you’re likely missing out on big sales.

Consider the information buyers will need to make their decisions. What is stopping them from making the purchase right now?

If you haven’t answered their questions in your content, then you will likely never get the chance to address them. Some of the questions from phases of the buying cycle and the content you can provide include:

• What solves my immediate problem?
  • Ebooks
  • Industry reports
  • Blogs
  • Webinars
  • Thought leadership articles
• What makes this solution different from the others?
  • Case studies
  • Customer stories and reviews
  • ROI calculators
  • Product or service demonstration videos
  • Comparison sheets
• How can I be sure this solution will work?
  • Technical briefs
  • Tutorial videos
  • Implementation guides

Don’t leave a single question unanswered.

Content That Drives Lead Generation

With their questions answered, buyers are nearing the point where they will reach out to your sales team. Your content still has a lot of work to do if you want to get those buyers over the finish line. This is where you’ll create and share content meant to convert.

At this point, most of their education is complete. This is where you get the chance to fully tip the scales in your favor. Some of the content you might use includes:

• White papers
• Case studies
• Webinars
• Interactive material

Once you’ve drawn them in with this content, you know that they’ve completed 70% of the process toward making a purchase. All your sales department has to do is close the deal.

If you’d like to explore how content marketing could boost your B2B marketing efforts, reach out any time. We’re here to help.