1. An effective online content strategy has a significant impact on B2B business

Content shapes business objectives to reach the goals

Several conflicting opinions often appear, which leads to much suspicion about the actual benefits that content brings to businesses. The doubts possibly stem from different issues when implementing client research or positioning the development orientation. A B2B effective online content strategy results from a meticulous and thorough investigation of all aspects of the business, including the market, competitors, clients, entrepreneurial potential, and much more.

Those factors are the initial steps for the content strategy. When the letters’ sequence creates their miracles, businesses smoothly fulfilled the original objectives to reach out to the developing goals. As a result, content shapes everything that the industry puts out, prompting customers to take action with the services or products they desire.

SEO contribution for an effective online content strategy

In other words, SEO will have no result if supportive content does not exist. With a diverse and high-end content system built in advance, SEO specialists can easily optimize the website rankings and reliability on search engines with more strategic approaches. Besides, businesses can use BLOG to develop an abundant content base, attracting more users to visit the website.

2. Effective online content strategy, how to?

Identify target audience – well begun of an effective online content strategy

Business needs to research accurately and specifically about the target audience to implement an effective online content strategy. Content creators also need to determine who they are writing for, what they are writing for, and what value are they seeking?

First, find out information about businesses to identify audience target with the following fundamental questions:

Company size

• Is it a multinational, international, or domestic enterprise?
• The number of staff?
• Portfolio of projects?
• Portfolio of clients? Testimonials are highly appreciated.
• Business field and business status?
• How old are the decision-makers? Gender? Their position in the business?

The factors leading audiences to use products/services

• Figure out the pain points of productivity, working process, finance, and other related factors.
• Problems they want to fill?
• What are they happy with current products/services?

The buying process

• Who makes the buying decision? Role of every decision-maker in the buying process?
• The personal objectives behind buying decisions: measurable KPIs, productivity, revenue
• How long does the buying timeline take?

About the decision-maker:

• Personal information: name, portfolio, career motivations, demographic characteristics (gender, living area, interests)
• What are their emails or other accounts on Linkedin, Facebook, and something like that?
• Among those accounts, which do they often use?
• Which level of content do they prefer to read? (general information or specific topics)
• Is their work at the office or on the go?
• How do decision-makers seek new information?

Set clear sales goals for an effective online content strategy

Sales goals are also an important step to prepare for an effective online content strategy. These include business goals and content goals. In particular, business goals play as the direction for specific objectives and targets in businesses, including criteria on sales, market share, growth, revenue, and profit. Besides, the content target is a part of the marketing objective, a supporting factor for the business goals in developing the speed of goods/services distribution, brand positioning, value in use of the products, and loyal client creation base for the brand.

Specific content targets will create a solid foundation for a content strategy from the simplest and most basic targets. The following proposed targets will be:

• Increase traffic to the website
• Provide educational and training information
• Maximize SEO tool and search engine rankings
• Combine with other channels of marketing strategy
• Create loyal customers for the business in the long term

It is acutely worth reminding that simultaneously achieving all the goals is impossible. That is a greedy view. Instead, prioritizing the most important ones in the short/long term and dividing the targets according to each stage of business growth.

The S.M.A.R.T principle in an effective online content strategy

In the next step, concretize the above primary goals with specific factors based on the S.M.A.R.T principle. This process will help to set more oriented goals.

S refers to “specific”. The primary goals mentioned above need to be more specific. To specify them, ask some of the questions by using the “6W” formula, namely:

Who?

• Who is responsible for this plan?
• Who is the target audience?
• Who controls the strategy?

What?

• What to do to complete the plan? Which are the best solutions?
• What is the target audience seeking? Which of them are mostly priorities?

When?

• When will the content strategy take place?
• When does the strategy approximately end?
• When is content published?

Where?

• Where is the content distribute?

Why?

• Why are those types of content used?
• Why does this goal need to be completed first to carry out productivity for this content strategy?

M is “measurable”, which means the goals in detail. Those quantitative factors can be data collection, revenue, sales performance, customer satisfaction, and customer experience surveys.

A means “applicable”. No matter how specific the goals are, they need to be feasible and appropriate to the team-ability. Sometimes, to accomplish these goals, the staff need to improve their skills or undergo training processes. These are all essentials to approach closely to the previously measured goals. From that basis, marketers can estimate a suitable figure for the target. For example, if the sales revenue increases by 5% last month, setting a goal to increase sales performance by 10% this month. Oppositely, setting the 30% increase target would be unreasonable. Although there will be differences and characteristics of every single industry, measurable goals require a meticulous research process in general.

R is the beginning of “realistic” or “relevant”. To set the goal of studying abroad in Australia, make sub-objectives such as studying IELTS, finding a study abroad counseling center, applying for a VISA. However, studying Korean is not related to the whole abroad goals; it can not join the study plan. That plan is an underlying visual instance for a better understanding of relevant and real goals.

T, talks about time. The limit of time is essential to proceed with the on-time plans and break down the goals into actionable tasks. Time-bound brings a consistent and effective online content strategy in all aspects.

3. Creative, unique and impressive content ideas are highly-appreciated

Unique and innovative ideas impressively contribute to an effective online content strategy. However, they are all a plus, not compulsory. In other words, creative ideas are supportive tools that help businesses grow faster, but more than a creative-content factor needed to accompany enterprises with long-term development. To do so is to gain the foundation of Marketing understanding that distributes creative content into suitable channels.

Generally, novelty can attract potential target audiences. Here are some of the suggestions to be more creative when brainstorming ideas to run an effective online content strategy:

• Make a list of inherent topics that can divide into specific ideas then.
• Search engines (Google, Bing) also help to brainstorm different opinions. It supports creating SEO-friendly content that closely approaches niche audiences.
• Try visiting competitors’ websites or reviewing customer feedback to find new customer insights that competitors have unfortunately missed.
• Review the earlier published content on the Blog page and pay attention to some of the not detail-clarified points.
• Develop ideas in new posts that help web content systems be more detailed and relative. The tight, accurate content system can easily slip into specific audiences. Besides, a connective blog-post system boosts SEO performance more naturally.

B2B enterprises do not just need only one effective online content strategy. However, the effective one produces a substantial range of benefits for business, from improving the website-popularity to increasing sales revenue.

SECOMM, with expertise understanding, always seeks prudent solutions in both web structure and content system for partners in the working process. With well-trained staff, we understand how an effective online content strategy impacts brands. We hope to convey new values from old platforms and build fresh ideas from the hybrid of information based on materials.