The main purpose of content marketing is to plant seeds of trust and value in people’s minds, now imagine you are selling a pair of shoes.
What’s a better approach?
Going on the road or online and saying “Buy my shoes” or educating people on how the shoes are going to help, why they should buy their shoes as opposed to other shoes in the market and how shoes in general are going to help them.
The latter, right?
In the same way let’s take a B2B SaaS product into consideration, assuming you sell a HRM software, it is any day better to educate businesses on how it is going to help them and make their life easier than just telling them to buy it.
If you do this, when people want your product they will think about you.
Definition of content marketing
That we are familiar with what content marketing is, let’s have a look and understand the definition.
Content marketing is a “Strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract audience”
What do we understand by this?
It is important to remember that content marketing is not only about creating content; it is also about distributing the content on the right platform.
Your content should be of high quality, should provide value to a person and you should put it out on a regular basis for them to think about you when they are in need of what you sell
Maybe you are creating valuable content, but are you creating content that is relevant?
If you are selling an HRM software, you should create content about the HRM software, how will it make their life easy and how is it going to make their functions simpler and not about fitness or Edtech.
What does content marketing include?
Now that we completely understand what content marketing is with a few examples,
Let’s talk about a few ways to create content and the channels to distribute them in, which is going to help you understand the types and platform for content creation and distribution.
- Blogs: Write long form articles as catering to your product and target audience. Example: “5 Tools to Automate Your Workflow” or “How to Save Money in Your 20s.”
- Videos: Create tutorials, e.g., “How to Use Our Budgeting App in 5 Minutes.”
- Social Media: Share LinkedIn posts about productivity tips or Instagram reels on saving hacks.
- Ebooks: Offer guides like “Beginner’s Guide to SaaS Tools” or “How to Build an Emergency Fund.”
- Infographics: Design visuals showing investment strategies or software ROI benefits.
- Podcasts: Host discussions on topics like “Future of Fintech” or “Boosting Business Efficiency with SaaS.”
- Email Newsletters: Send updates with insights, case studies, or tips on financial literacy.
- Free Tools: Provide calculators for savings or demo versions of your software.
Distribution Channels
- Social Media: LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube for B2B; Instagram and pinterest for infographics.
- Email: Send regular newsletters or nurture campaigns on platforms like mailchimp or substack.
- Search Engines: Use SEO to rank blogs or landing pages on your own website or wordpress.
- Webinars: Host live sessions on zoom or Gmeet.
- Partner Websites: Guest blogs or collaborations with relevant brands.
Key Tip: Focus on solving your audience’s problems, whether it’s managing finances or improving productivity!
Why is content marketing important?
Before understanding why content marketing is important let’s set the base and understand how content marketing helps your business.
The main reasons you should start content marketing for your business are:
Leads and Sales: Attract potential customers and convert them into paying ones.
Educating People: Help your audience understand your product, industry, or how to solve their problems.
Personal Branding: Build your authority and trust in your field to stand out.
That’s all, there is no fourth reason for you to be writing online or making videos and these are enough reasons for you to be online, in today’s day and age where everyone is online it is very important for your business to be online no matter what you are selling.
Statistics say:
According to B2B SaaS founders businesses with blogs gain 67% more leads than businesses without.
88% of people say branded videos convince them to buy a product.
Stages of content marketing:
That we understood the importance of content creation, it is also important to understand that there are few stages to follow if you want to converter your content creation into leads and sales, which are:
Stage 1: Awareness stage:
Do not be in a hurry to sell your product at this stage. Talk about the top concerns, pain points and challenges of the potential customer. Engage them with educational content and How-to advice, you will have to be patient and save the selling for consideration and closing stage.
Stage 2: Consideration stage
Right after the awareness stage comes the consideration stage where you will have to be patient as well but you can take it up a notch. The strategy here should be hybrid, there should be content that makes people aware and engage them but you can also start with hybrid.
Put out content explaining features, functions and case studies of your products but also hold on to the how – to guides, comparison content and advice.
Stage 3: Closing stage
The third and the last stage is the closing stage where you hardcore sell your product as people are aware about the importance and uses of the product you are selling while you were educating them in the first two stages. Tell people why your product or service is the best.
Put out case studies, UGC, testimonials, buyers guide, product videos and research reports.
Conclusion:
Content marketing is about building trust, attracting leads, and growing your business by providing valuable, relevant content. It educates your audience, solves their problems, and shows why your product or service is the best choice. When done right, it turns your audience into loyal customers and helps your business stand out online.
To understand how we at Fp labs can help you out with content marketing do schedule a free call with us and understand your business needs.