By A. Bleecker
June 11th, 2019
Queen Palm Media Insights
B2B content marketing: targeted channels, specific engagement
THE SHIFT TO SAAS
For a recent client engagement, we needed to re-launch a traditional software brand as a SaaS provider bringing a new cloud solution to market. Charged with generating maximum impact on a limited budget, we dialed back on costly engagements, and dialed up the plans for targeted content creation for specific digital channels.
This kind of B2B corporate pivot is our jam. We were amped about the strategy, AND our client had a strong business development team ready to move the resulting digital leads through the marketing-to-sales funnel. But when we presented the plan to executive management, our message fell flat, a disconnect that can be summed up like this:
Us: Mic drop
Them: *crickets*
While the exec team felt it was important to get “web leads”, they couldn’t see how social and other digital channels would translate to revenue.
STAY RELEVANT, GENERATE DEMAND
Here’s the thing: today email marketing is reserved for middle- to bottom-funnel lead engagement, while top of the funnel demand gen work has shifted to digital channels. Which channels you need to hit depends on your buyers, but unique and channel-specific visual content can draw in B2B prospects if it’s interesting, thought-provoking and/or entertaining. We love this example from Lucidchart, another B2B SaaS brand.
EDUCATING EXECUTIVES ON THE SHIFT IN CONTENT NEEDS
This shift around content was validated in a recent Forbes article, which also identified a mismatch between the known need for digital content and the limited appetite for investment in this kind of work: “While the significance of the ‘Big Idea’, integrated with digital content, is undeniable, clients reject the price tag and complexity associated with it.
Just as technology is changing the way in which we gain insight and information into those things we need, so is the need to have that understanding incorporated into your marketing plan. Digital content creation should always be paired with a consolidated platform approach, to ensure you get the best ROI out of the spend – be it time, resources or agency – it takes to create compelling content.
If you’d like to discuss what that looks like, reach out to us for a chat.
