Cannonball does a LOT of B2B marketing.

And, we’ve learned a lot about what makes it effective, as well as how to make it effectively within the often complex world of multiple stakeholders, internal groups, execs, and more. So we created this “B2B Marketing Best Practices Guide” to help fellow marketers, both with brands and agencies, benefit from what we’ve learned over the 1000+ pieces of B2B content we’ve conceptualized, scoped out, developed, written, designed, animated, and produced.

Here’s our tips to help develop successful B2B marketing content:

Tip 1: Consider how to help your audience first by providing value, THEN consider how they can help you. 

Don’t waste your audience’s time with a sales pitch that only asks things from them. Instead,  reward your audience for engaging with your content by offering meaningful, real information that can help them, regardless of if they continue a relationship with you.

Tip 2: Always consult sales, or any other department that engages with the actual customers.

Reach out to the people who know and understand the target audience intimately as you develop your B2B content. The earlier you engage with them, the stronger your content will be, as they will have a chance to influence the foundation—not just provide notes at the end.

Tip 3: Tell a story in multiple mediums.

Telling a B2B story across many touchpoints and content types has several benefits. First, it makes the content easier to share widely, as you can leverage the best medium for each channel you’re activating. Also, people within your target audience learn better in different ways, whether it’s reading, listening, watching, or interacting. So having a range of content types helps deliver your message more broadly. Finally, by telling your story across multiple mediums, you also create multiple touchpoints which can help reinforce your topic, and which you can build an organic or paid campaign around.

Tip 4: Don’t let bad design get in the way of good content.

B2B content, especially of the lengthy nature, takes an investment from your audience to read and absorb. Good, thoughtful design is important to make the content easy to engage with. It doesn’t have to be flashy to be effective, but it has to have relevance to your brand and your audience. Good design creates a feeling for your audience that supports the overall message of your content.

Tip 5: Always give your audience a strong CTA or next step to end on, even if it’s just additional resources and information.

Reward someone for spending valuable time engaging with your content by summarizing what they’ve learned or gained, and give them a clear next step to take. It can range from contacting sales, to visiting a landing page, to signing up for a demo, and more.

Tip 6: Don’t try to engage every audience with one piece of content.

Even if your company engages with multiple audiences, each piece of B2B content should focus on one narrative, tailored around the needs of one of your core audiences. In our experience, B2B content that speaks to “everyone” typically speaks to nobody—effectively.

Tip 7: Try. Succeed. Then build on that success.

B2B sales and relationships are a long game, not an impulse driven consumer purchase. It may take a series of B2B content to engage an important audience before you start seeing results. Don’t be afraid to refine, revise, and re-release content as your product or service strategy evolves.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this, and we hope you learned something to help you sharpen your game when it comes to creating effective B2B marketing. If you have a project you’re working on and could use a little help making an impact, we’re here to help! Get in touch at team@cannonballcreative.agency.