Make your case for these 8 benefits of content marketing
“We have a great story. We’re just not telling it well.” This is something we hear often at Scribe National. In many cases, you know how to tell your company’s story — you just don’t have the green light from senior leadership to create the content you need. They’re not sold on the benefits of content marketing.
At nearly half of B2B companies surveyed by the Content Marketing Institute, one person alone is responsible for all types of content. This can make it difficult to have your brand voice heard. That’s why I want to provide you with some backup. In this piece, we’ll walk through how you can make your case for the benefits of content marketing. We’ll cover:
The importance of understanding your boss’s priorities
How to explain content marketing to non-content folks
8 benefits of content marketing and how to communicate them
Ways you can address objections with confidence
Getting buy-in and taking action
Know your audience: senior leadership
You’re already a pro at tailoring communications to your customers. Now it’s time to do the same for your boss and other decision-makers.
To answer the question “why is content marketing important?,” the key is to focus on what matters most to senior leadership. Typically, they’ll be concerned with three main priorities: budget, return on investment (ROI) and strategic alignment.
To address their budgetary concerns, you’ve got to demonstrate how content marketing can be a cost-effective alternative to traditional advertising methods, which are increasing in cost and decreasing in effectiveness. Establish how content marketing can stretch marketing dollars further by generating long-term value through organic reach and customer engagement.
Don’t stop there, however. Saving money is important, but generating an ROI is also critical. Your boss wants to know how content marketing will directly impact the company's bottom line. So, highlight the potential for increased lead generation sales and customer retention. For instance, according to Forbes:
89% of marketers report that content marketing generates higher ROI than traditional marketing methods
74% of companies report that content marketing has increased their leads
$2.77 is earned for every dollar allocated to content marketing — a 177% profit
Next, let’s talk about strategic alignment. Compelling numbers aside, senior leadership will want to see how content marketing fits into the broader company strategy. This means you’ll need to clearly explain how it supports company goals — for example, brand awareness, market expansion or customer loyalty.
Speak your boss’s language by addressing these concerns directly, and you'll make a stronger case for the benefits of content marketing.
Explaining content marketing to non-content folks
Here’s a simple content marketing definition you can steal:
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that focuses on building relationships and trust. It involves consistently creating and distributing content that is relevant and valuable to a specific audience. It includes publishing various types of long- and short-form content to educate your target market on your industry, products and services, as well as the results your company delivers for customers.
Communicating 8 key benefits of content marketing
Let’s go back to the idea of connecting content marketing’s impact to company goals. Here are a few common objectives, plus how you can explain the role of content in reaching each one. This will help you demonstrate why content marketing is important for B2B brands.
1. Increase brand awareness as a thought leader
Ensure senior leadership understands how content marketing benefits awareness and can help your company get noticed. The key is to make a case for producing original and helpful content that stands out.
Take SMART Technologies, for example. This edtech brand worked with our team to produce two long-form guides based on original subject matter expert research. They didn’t want to regurgitate the same information buyers could already find online. Their goal was to stand out as a thought leader.
You can also highlight how aligning your content with your brand values and personality through carefully chosen topics builds awareness. Be sure to use data or examples to show how increased visibility can lead to more opportunities and market recognition.
2. Strengthen relationships with prospects and customers
Demonstrate how content marketing enhances customer experience by consistently delivering accurate and useful information. In turn, this builds trust and encourages potential customers to choose your solution when they're ready to make a purchase.
Considering that 46% of customers surveyed by Salsify say they’d pay more for a brand they trust, it’s worth taking a relationship-based approach to your marketing rather than a transactional one.
3. Drive organic website traffic
This is a little more tactical than the two previous examples, but if your boss is focused on getting more eyeballs on your website, it’ll pique their interest.
Over 60% of all US web traffic referrals come from Google. This means you’d be wise to make search engine optimization (SEO) a priority. That’s right — SEO is not dead.
Explain that content marketing can help drive organic traffic when your content is properly optimized for search. Point out that engaging content attracts backlinks, which build your website’s domain authority and improve search engine rankings. Use metrics to show how increased organic traffic results in more leads for your B2B company.
4. Grow your email list
Reiterate that content marketing requires some give and take to build a relationship with your ideal buyers. Creating and publishing a lead magnet — for example, a research report that’s free but valuable enough for your audience to download — will encourage them to sign up for your email list. Your audience receives answers and solutions in return for their email address, which allows you to increase your subscriber count and begin nurturing new leads.
For example, Pardot’s ebook, “The B2B Marketer’s Guide to Account-Based Marketing” has a clearly defined market and promises coverage of a specific topic that’s of interest to the software company’s audience, so the reader knows exactly what they’re getting before they provide their email address. Or, browse more ebook and white paper examples.
5. Expand your reach
Explain that you don’t always need to use your own resources to create content that will benefit your B2B company. You can borrow other companies’ audiences by writing guest blogs for their websites, appearing on their podcasts or partnering with them to run virtual or in-person events. This is yet another reason why content marketing works so well.
Data from Forrester and Wolfgang Digital backs this point up. High-maturity partnership programs generate 28% of revenue for the average company, compared to only 18% for paid search.
Here’s a tip: before you jump into a content collaboration or partnership, confirm that both companies involved are clear on their goals and determine key performance indicators for you to measure success.
6. Provide backup to your sales team
An impressive 97% of B2B marketers find case studies to be the most effective tactic for providing social proof to support purchases.
Content marketing can help you support your sales team by working with them to develop case studies that feature interesting and relatable challenges your customers have encountered. Your colleagues in sales can use this content in conversations with prospects to help move the sales process forward in a meaningful way.
7. Keep buyers engaged through the entire customer lifecycle
When you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind. Senior leadership knows that nurturing ongoing relationships with your buyers leads to greater return on investment at less cost to you. It’s your job to show them how content marketing can help you do this.
Personalization is one way. For instance, even if you just use a customer’s first name in a marketing email, tailor your content for the individual when you can. Or, implement customer feedback into your content to show them you take their suggestions to heart.
8. Humanize your brand
Emphasize how content marketing builds stronger connections with your audience. Content marketing benefits your company because it allows you to share stories and express your company values.
By creating authentic, relatable content, you show your customers that there are real people behind your brand who understand their challenges and are committed to helping them succeed. This personal touch not only fosters trust, but also makes your brand more memorable and approachable. It can also enhance customer loyalty and advocacy, leading to increased retention and referrals.
Addressing common objections
You’ve communicated why content marketing is important for B2B brands. Now, you might be faced with some objections. Here’s how to handle them.
Your boss may raise concerns about the time and resources required for content marketing. So, outline how you can streamline the process, including:
Leveraging content planning and calendars
Batching content production
Repurposing existing content
Leaning on outsourcing and automation
But how will you know if your content marketing is working?
To address concerns about measuring the success of content marketing, identify a few key performance indicators (KPIs) you can measure, such as:
Website traffic: Track the number of visitors to your site and identify which content drives the most traffic.
Lead generation: Measure the number of leads generated through content offers, such as white papers, webinars and demo requests.
Engagement metrics: Monitor social media shares, comments and likes to gauge how well your content resonates with the audience.
SEO performance: Track keyword rankings and organic search traffic to evaluate the impact of content on search visibility.
Conversion rates: Analyze how many leads convert into email subscribers, free trial users or customers as a result of engaging with your content.
Finally, explain how content marketing enhances other marketing strategies your company is likely already employing:
Social media: Quality content fuels social media by providing shareable material that drives engagement and attracts followers.
Email marketing: Content marketing supplies valuable information for email campaigns, increasing open and click-through rates and nurturing leads.
Public relations: By using content marketing to establish thought leadership, you make it easier to gain media coverage and enhance your company's public image.
Advertising: You can enhance your advertising efforts by providing compelling, informative content in ads to attract and convert potential customers, leading to higher engagement and better ROI on ad spend.
Sales enablement: Content marketing supports your sales team by providing valuable resources like case studies, white papers and blog posts that they can use to educate prospects and address their concerns, shortening the sales cycle.
Getting content marketing buy-in and taking action
Before you approach your boss, consider their communication style. If they prefer detailed data, focus on statistics and ROI projections. If they lean toward big-picture thinking, emphasize strategic alignment and long-term benefits. Tailor your language to reflect their preferences to ensure your brand message resonates and addresses their key concerns.
Be sure you’ve built a compelling argument. Reference case studies of companies that have seen significant ROI from content marketing. Use metrics like increased website traffic and lead generation or improved search rankings to back up your points.
Piloting your idea
You may want to consider proposing a pilot content program. This allows you to test content marketing strategies on a small scale and show why content marketing works so well. It could involve creating a series of blog posts, an ebook or a targeted social media campaign. Keep the scope manageable and the budget low to minimize risk and make it easier for your boss to approve.
Set specific, measurable objectives for the pilot program, such as increasing website traffic by a certain percentage or generating a specific number of leads. Establish a timeline for execution and evaluation, and identify the KPIs you’ll use to track success.
Once the pilot program is complete, present the results to senior leadership. Use these outcomes to build a case for further investment in content marketing — for example, scaling up the program to drive even greater results.
Content marketing success stories
Want to see what content marketing success looks like in action? Read our case studies that demonstrate how our team at Scribe National has helped B2B companies like yours increase traffic, leads and sales through content. Learn more about our B2B content strategy agency today.
