Okay, let’s start with the basics here, what is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing is adding good content (something that your audience wants to hear) to your marketing arsenal and using it to reach out to the largest number of readers that you can (Refer to our step by step guide on creating a content marketing strategy to understand better what the audience is). Stated simply, content marketing is using words that your audience wants to hear to say something your brand needs to say.

Defining B2B Content Marketing

Let’s move on to what is B2B Content Marketing?

This is an easy one. B2B stands for Business to Business. So, B2B Content Marketing is a business reaching out to other businesses in a language they want to hear and saying something the brand or in this case the business wants to say. These businesses now become your target audience.

So, B2B Content Marketing is a marketing strategy, but what is so special about it? How is it different from a B2C (Business to Customer) strategy? It is different. The answer lies in the name itself, a B2C content strategy is a standard marketing strategy which uses content as its primary channel. More often than not its target audience is the average Indian consumer.

The interesting advertorials about TATA Group that you read on different portals and the amusing AIB podcasts which you hear on YouTube are all content marketing strategies but there is a key difference – the first one is B2B and the other one B2C. By highlighting its various CSR initiatives and discussing how our energy needs are changing, TATA aims to reach out to other businesses.

An example of B2B Marketing

An example of B2C Content Marketing

And since, the audience for a B2B content marketing strategy is different, the tone, the content and the delivery of the strategy becomes entirely different. Examples of common B2B content marketing collaterals include White Papers, Ebooks, Webinars and Newsletters.

Trends

There is no denying that B2B Content Marketing in India is growing. At a global platform, it has already attained the status of a viable communication plan that delivers tangible results. Large corporations like IBM, Intel, Whole Foods, CB Insights are known to consistently update and revamp their content strategies to attract the right kind of businesses. According to the statistics compiled by DMA, as of 2017, over 66% marketers in India utilize content marketing. And though, the numbers for B2B content marketers are lower, many young Indian brands including Eventifier, Brightpod and Dhruva have started including it in their marketing kitty. Its results: Good web traffic and Reputable brand image.

Scope

We are pretty sure you’ve heard statements like, ‘Content Marketing in India is on the rise’, ‘This is the marketing strategy of the future’, ‘B2B Content Marketing is a strategy designed to succeed.’ While there is no denying these statements and all the given statistics clearly point towards the same, the best way to understand the scope of B2B Content Marketing in India is to understand what the lack of it does for your brand.

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Listen to the man. After all, if we can’t trust Don Draper, who can we?  To have an eminent and commercially lucrative digital platform you need great content. Lack of this great content makes your marketing strategy futile. This is especially relevant in the case of B2B content marketing as its success is a balance as delicate as a house of cards. The right strategy and its perfect execution enhances your brand image and gets you viable leads. But, similarly inappropriate content or poor execution harms your business and proves to be a complete waste of resources. Contact our specialized services to execute a content strategy that is one to keep for the books.

And so, in the wise words of Miss Lemon from 30 Rock:

Source: Giphy.com