by Judith Ingleton-Beer for MarketingProfs
Creating high-quality content can open up an entire new avenue for media coverage, putting subject-matter experts and company developments in as many targeted publications as possible—without breaking the bank!
Almost two-thirds of B2B buyers say their corporate brand messaging is too vague to actively represent their brand and attract buyers. That means the performance of high-quality, on-message strategic content you’ve placed will be under the spotlight.
B2B PR and marketing professionals will need to extract new value for money and maximize the content lifecycle by telling creative stories, conducting research, and using SEO.
No Pay-for-Play in Sight
Earning quality media placements is the key to saving on sponsored content and advertising spend. Regardless of where spending is split between B2B PR and marketing strategies, one thing is clear: making the most of earned media opportunities is essential.
Earned media, when combined with a trusted thought leader and quality content, can build significant trust and credibility—two components that are vital to the B2B sales funnel.
It’s all about influencer marketing—not pay-for-play! As one door closes in editorial and advertising spend, another opens in earned media opportunities.
Now, more than ever, cost effective PR and Marketing strategies are at the top of the agenda, so that B2B professionals can gain maximum brand exposure with minimum spend.
Strong brand reputation can’t be bought, so use earned channels to your advantage!
In today’s diverse media landscape, B2B PR and marketing professionals are no longer limited to printed media. Today, digital publications, social media channels, and blogs provide optimal platforms for raising brand awareness and connecting directly with target audiences. Not an advertising penny in sight!
Multimedia Content’s Time to Shine
Fully 32% of tech marketers designate the highest portion of their budgets to social media marketing, so it is important for B2B marketers to take an in-depth audit of their social content performance and to adjust tactics and approaches accordingly.
But social media isn’t the be-all and end-all; digital platforms include blogs, online publications, and video sites.
The number of digital video viewers was expected to hit 3.5 billion in 2023, and people are watching, on average, 17 hours of online videos per week. It’s clear that audiences are more receptive to digital content. In fact, according to the same source, people are 52% more likely to share video content than any other type of content—which is why video content must play an integral role in the content lifecycle.
Video content marketing on earned channels is a good avenue for B2B organizations to grow brand awareness and trust without breaking the bank. As the popularity of short-form video content has risen (thanks to the likes of TikTok and Instagram Reels), so has the quality of longer-form content, and the number of platforms where it can be hosted.
YouTube channels and LinkedIn are just two examples where users can freely post interactive and visually engaging content such as webinars and recorded Q&A’s, which are able to cater to exactly what a B2B organization needs—at a fraction of the price of advertising!
Though video content marketing comes with an incredible amount of potential, B2B PR and marketing professionals shouldn’t ignore other tried-and-tested media formats and channels, such as podcasts, blog posts, infographics, and SEO that together can complete the perfect digital content stack.
The SEO Secret Weapon to Drive Website Traffic
Buyers still want to meet a brand in spaces that are comfortable for them, but as expected they increasingly want to do so digitally and organically. Enter SEO.
Search engines, social media platforms, and vendor websites make up, according to a LinkedIn study, the top three sources that B2B buyers look to for information—so it’s safe to say that SEO is a necessity.
Investment in SEO provides vital building blocks to build brand awareness, credibility, and trust within key target audiences. As media outlets transition to mostly online platforms, take the opportunity to make use of SEO and backlinks to increase digital lead generation and brand awareness.
B2B organizations should focus on creating high quality content, incorporating SEO-driven keywords, and generating backlinks to drive traffic back to their own sites.
Drawing on the Content Stack for Powerful Brand Recall
Making use of a powerful content stack strategy can illicit strong brand recall by incorporating a series of PR and marketing assets around one campaign topic—from a thought leadership article, to a corresponding blog post and whitepaper on the company website, to subsequent social media posting.
Campaigns must be planned strategically, incorporating multiple content stacks to create a blend of carefully curated messaging. B2B PR and marketing professionals need to ensure that they can extract as many articles placed in as many target media outlets as possible, to consistently communicate the value of their solutions and service. That approach ensures that prospects see key messages multiple times per week in the media. Then bring in those other elements of the content stack to hit prospects in the keyword searches, website visits, and social media browsing.
It’s all about bringing together high-quality, SEO-optimized content on multiple platforms to ensure optimal ROI.
Stop Relying on Ads and Start Putting Your Trust in Human Creativity, Instead
As advertising budgets stall, PR and marketing professionals must embrace creative thinking and not let budget constraints dictate the marketing narrative.
The ability to harness human creativity should be in every PR and marketing pro’s toolkit to craft compelling content across diverse platforms, all the while ensuring optimization for SEO.
As the advertising door closes, another opens for PR and marketing pros ready to seize new opportunities with content marketing strategies that demonstrate ROI and secure valuable earned media placements.
