This document provides guidance on effective B2B content marketing. It discusses setting clear goals and metrics, understanding the audience through buyer personas, distributing content through blockbuster pieces and customer journeys, and optimizing through testing. Visuals, short engaging copy, mobile optimization, and leveraging employees are some best practices. The key is to test content to find the most effective approaches and continuously refresh successful creative elements. Overall it emphasizes the importance of understanding the audience, distributing high-quality content, and optimizing through testing to improve performance.

1. B2B-Content-Marketing
Weniger Selfies,
mehr Blockbuster
Shankho Mukherjee
Agency Lead DACH
AFBMC 2020

2. What we’ll
cover today
1 Why Content Marketing?
2 Plan:
Setting clear, Measurable Goals
3 Distribute:
Finding & Understanding your Audience
4 Optimise:
Creative Best Practices
5 Key takeaways:
Recap & Questions

3. Why Content
Marketing?
1

5. Search and Social
Search and Social are
central to the buyers journey.
Always-on
Always-on communication
is necessary.
Trust
Build trust
Relevance of Content Marketing today

6. Source: My Three Biggest "Aha"
Moments (So Far) Sirius Decisions
“The content the B2B
marketing factory
produces is just like a
bunch of selfies. It’s
narcissistic – all about
us and our products”

7. Then B2B is not just
rational, it’s also very
emotional

8. Potential
Buyer
1.) Identify the need
3.) Compare quotes
2.) Shortlist providers
4.) Makes a decision
Sales touchpoint
Marketing touchpoint
How trust plays an important role in the buying journey

9. Thought leadership “de-risks” the buying process
It establishes trust, which leads directly to sales
Among creators of
thought-leadership
Among decision makers
49%
Believe it builds trust in our
organization among
potential clients
Believe it increased trust in
the organization
82%
81%
Business Decision
Makers
C-Suite
executives
Source: 2019Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study

10. 47%
of C-suite executives shared their
contact information after reading
thought leadership
Source: 2019 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study. Q12. Howmuch do you agree or disagree with these statements? Please select one response for each statement. Columns: never, rarely,
sometimes, often and almost every time. Net of sometimes, often and almost every time among US C-Suite consuming thought leadership.
Thought Leadership
Creates Access to High-Value Decision Makers
Sellers are not
recognizing the full
potential
39%
said that they believe thought
leadership “helps with lead
generation and getting new
contacts that we can call on.”

11. Source: 2019 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study. Q13. Howfrequently has the following occurred after you have engaged with a piece of thought leadership? Please select one response for each statement.
Columns: never, rarely, sometimes, often, almost every time. Net of sometimes, often and almost every time among US decision-makers consuming thought leadership. Q17. Within your organization, is thought leadership effective in
generating newbusiness opportunities? Select all that apply. US sellers (managers+) leveraging thought leadership.
Thought leadership directly led
decision makers to award
business to an organization
Business decision
makers
58%
Sellers are not
recognizing the
full potential
26%
said they believe thought
leadership is directly
responsible for helping
them close business.
Thought Leadership
Wins Business Opportunities

12. Creating Meaningful Connections
Think about the benefit to
the member.
Will it make your audience
more informed, productive,
or successful?
Be Helpful
Every story ever told is built
on Character | Goal |
Conflict
Aim to Inspire
Tell Stories
People talk to people.
Think about emotional
triggers. Optimism wins on
LinkedIn.
Be Human

13. Plan
2
SET GOALS, OBJECTIVES
AND METRICS

14. Set Goals, Objectives and Metrics
Understanding where you want to be
is essential to actually getting there
Step 1 out of 4

15. Set Goals, Objectives and Metrics
Increase
awareness and
purchase
consideration
Brand
Generate
qualified leads
and nurture them
Demand
Learn about the
customer to
improve content
or product
Insights
Step
1/4

16. Website Demographics:
Audience Insights
Website demographics
can reveal:
If you’re reaching your intended
audience on your website
Traffic and engagement trends
by audience
Who’s converting
What to create next
Who to target next
Step
1/4

17. The LinkedIn Content
Marketing Score
(CMS) is our answer to
how companies and
brands can better
measure their content
efforts on LinkedIn
CMS addresses the following questions:
• What is my share-of-voice against my
audience each month?
• How do I rank against my peers?
• How influential are my employees?
• I really care about a specific audience.
Are they engaging?
Step
1/4

18. Easily measure and optimize the true business impact of
your Sponsored Content
LinkedIn conversion tracking
Track conversions– record the leads your
ads are generating across desktop and
mobile in Campaign Manager.
Understand your ROI – Measure the true
value of your LinkedIn ads, including return
on ad spend, conversion rate and cost per
conversion
Optimise – see which ads, creatives and
audiences are driving conversions for your
business and use this to inform future
campaigns and strategies.
Step
1/4

19. Understand your audience
Really understanding your audience is key to
creating content that will engage them
Step 2 out of 4

20. Develop Buyer Personas
• Understand how they talk
• Understand how they like to be spoken to
• Understand the challenges they must overcome
• Understand key milestones in the buying cycle
• Understand # people in the buying centre
• Understand the decision makers
• Understand who or what influences them
• Understand the most common objections
Step
2/4

21. Each Buyer Role has different needs from content
Source: Sirius Decisions. Buyer Journey Mapping #SDSummit 5 October 2017, Tim Kimber, Christina McKeon
Step
2/4
Champion:
Business
Value
• Will the
solutions meet
our needs?
• Does it help
with one of our
key initiatives
Influencer:
Performance
• Is it stable,
reliant and
efficient?
• How will it
perform?
Decision-
maker: ROI
• What is the
business value?
• Why should we
spend money
on this?
User:
Customer
Experience
• Will it help me
do my job
better?
• Will it enable
me to achieve
my goals?
Ratifier: TCO
• What are the
alternatives?
• Can we get it
cheaper?

22. Targeting on LinkedIn
Define your ideal personas on LinkedIn
Experience Company Education Interest
Job Function
Job Title
Job Seniority
Company
Name
Company
Industry
Company Size
Schools
Degrees
Fields of
Study
Skills
Groups
Step
2/4
Identity
Age
Gender
Location

23. Distribute
3
DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
PLAN CUSTOMER JOURNEYS
ACTIVATE EMPLOYEES

24. Building content that works
on LinkedIn
Step 3 out of 4

25. Content is the Connective Thread
Sponsored
Content
InMailABM ElevateRetargeting Matched
Audiences
Step
3/4

26. The Rise of
The B2B BLOCKBUSTER
Step
3/4

27. Blockbusters Are The Best Way To Monetize Content
For a leading indicator, check out Disney’s content calendar
SUMMER
2015
FALL
2015
WINTER
2015
SPRING
2016
SUMMER
2016
FALL
2016
WINTER
2016
SPRING
2017
SUMMER
2017
Step
3/4

28. How to guides
The future of...
The state of...
The user journey/case study
The trends report
Marketers can take a similar approach
Create and/or Identify your classic “stories”
Step
3/4

29. LinkedIn
Step
3/4

30. Unlock the potential of your employees
Step 4 out of 4
Activate employee networks to boost
distribution on LinkedIn

31. Unlock the potential of your employees
Employees are the most
trusted people in a
company
Trusted
Employees generally have
a network 10x larger than a
company’s follower base
Connected
Peer-influenced media
(search and social) now
represents two of the top
three most-used sources of
news and information*
Influential
Source 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer
Step
4/4

32. Optimise
4
CONTENT BEST PRACTICES

33. Visuals are the new
headlines
Tip #1
Imagery is the biggest factor in engagement - so
make sure your is differentiated. Avoid using stock
imagery if possible; leverage real people or
unexpected images.

34. Develop a distinct brand to immediately resonate with your audience
Be consistent
Tip #1 | Visuals are the new headlines

35. Demonstrate immediate
value to the audience w/one
key data insight
Be careful to not
feature too much
Don’t hide your great insights
behind a click
Be Insightful
Tip #1 | Visuals are the new headlines

36. Especially at the top of the funnel
Be Creative, Human & Relatable
Tip #1 | Visuals are the new headlines

37. Tell a story visually
Use Different Approaches
Tip #1 | Visuals are the new headlines

38. Write killer copy
Tip #2
Aim to keep intro copy <150 characters and offer
a clear value proposition for your content.

39. ü Keep text below 150 characters. Size images to
1200x627 pixels and leave a margin on the sides.
Watch the crop factor on mobile
Tip #2 | Write killer copy

40. Design for mobile
experience
Tip #3
58% (and growing) of member sessions come via
mobile. So make sure your content delivers an
optimal experience.

41. Product Mixology
Tip #4
Leverage a product mix throughout the funnel to
keep your audience engaged and understand
how your audiences interact with our platform to
reach them the right way.

42. Recommendations, course news,
mini- tutorials
Calculators, brochures, CTAS,
offers
Case studies, webinars, white
papers, brochures
SPONSORED
CONTENT
SPONSORED
VIDEO
LEAD GEN
FORMS
DYNAMIC
ADS
CAROUSEL
ADS
AWARENESS
ENGAGE
LEADS
AWARENESS
CONSIDERATION
LEAD GENERATION
RETENTION
& RESEARCH
INMAIL
Infographics, blog posts, best practice
guides, industry trends
Product Mixology

43. Commit to A/B testing
Tip #5
Continue to isolate creative factors that
driving success.

44. Test content in
waves & refresh
frequently
Wave 1
Launch content in “waves” of
four posts to maximize
engagement and compete on
even playing field
Determine top performers
withing each wave and run
them together (Wave 4) to let
our platform optimize
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6
Wave 2
Wave 3
Wave 3
Tip #5 | Commit to A/B testing

45. Check CTR
trend graph for
an indicator to
refresh creative
Client 1
1 month
4 pieces of creative
No optimization
Client 2
2.5 months
8 pieces of creative
3-4 optimizations
(targeting and revising
intro copy)
Tip #5 | Commit to A/B testing

46. Which Ad performed better?
Version A: “Guide” Version B: “eBook”
100%
Increase in
CTR
Tip #5 | Commit to A/B testing

47. Version A: No Audience Callout Version B: “Marketers”
53%
Increase in
CTR
Audience callout
Tip #5 | Commit to A/B testing

48. David Ogilvy
Test. Test. Test.
Never stop testing and your
advertising will never stop
improving.

49. Key Takeways
5

50. Key Takeaways
Set Goals, Objectives
and Metrics
Understand your
audience
Find your audience
Plan
Atomize your Blockbuster
content
Plan customer journeys
Activate Employees
Distribute
A / B test to find your
own blueprint
Optimise your Audience
Test and test some
more
Optimise

51. Questions?