THE IMPACT OF B2B CONTENT MARKETING

BtoB, a growing market

BtoB plays an essential role in our economy. With 1 million employees, 120,000 companies, 98% of which are SME - SMI, BtoB represents 50% of French trade in value (source: MyBtoB).

Until recently, companies operating in BtoB relied on Outbound Marketing actions to engage and strengthen relationships with their customers and prospects. Direct marketing campaigns, presence at trade fairs, publications in specialized press... represented the bulk of their relational marketing actions.

BtoB, a convincing experience in terms of content

BtoB has real experience in content creation. That said, unlike BtoC brands, the content offered by BtoB companies was still very recently often essentially product-oriented: descriptions, technical data sheets, instruction manuals, etc.

In short, serious, rational, very little personalized content, limited to the use values ​​of a product or system, and to prices.

Content Marketing, a performance lever for Inbound Marketing

Essential fuel of current digital strategies, Content Marketing is based on the production of relevant content; it highlights expertise - business, technology or sector - and produces information and advice around shared areas of interest.

Therefore, Content Marketing embodies a substantial evolution in the customer-supplier relationship: from a one-off contact with an essential commercial aim, it becomes possible for a brand to build a long-term relationship.

The content involves a whole community: customers, prospects, partners, distributors, collaborators... in the form of regular meetings. It brings them together in a relationship based on trust and exchange.

Content Marketing, a real challenge for BtoB

With the advent of digital, social networks and participatory marketing, BtoB players are increasingly moving towards a “customer centric” posture.

We are witnessing an evolution in the uses of BtoB companies towards Inbound marketing, a marketing strategy that consists of attracting prospects with quality content to convert them into customers.

In this context, more and more BtoB players have understood the interest of producing content with high added value in order to maintain a long-term relationship with their communities, going beyond the act of purchase. A particularly interesting approach in BtoB where the processes are always plural and often long and/or complex.

According to a study carried out in June 2016 by Activis / Bva Limelight among Directors and Digital Marketing Managers, the Top 5 most effective content in terms of ROI are respectively video, testimonials and customer reviews, articles, blogs and infographics.

Overall, content that is also plural, combining content and form.

Investments all in all still limited in France...

However, investments in Content Marketing remain limited in France. According to this same study, carried out with very large companies, only ¼ of large accounts established in France allocate more than 30% of their budgets to Content Marketing...

... unlike the United States where BtoB content marketing is experiencing real growth.

From an inbound marketing perspective, content production is now recognized as an effective lead generation lever by the majority of marketers across the Atlantic.

A trend that is not ready to be reversed, since more than 2/3 of American BtoB Marketers believe that budgets related to content marketing will continue to increase in 2022. A trend that continues to strengthen (Source: Content Marketing Institute).

There is therefore still plenty of room for improvement for BtoB players in France in terms of Content Marketing, on two conditions: to favor excellence and recurrence, essential ingredients to be able to claim a major place and differentiate yourself.

Ghislaine Le Bot, CEO at Delta Business