The great B2B marketing strategy guide

Purse strings are getting tighter in this current economy. As funding drops across the board, many startups have had to reevaluate where they’re putting their cash.

As a result, marketing departments are getting an extremely low percentage of revenue, so the impetus is now on maximizing budgets.

Photo credit: pokpak / 123RF

And there’s no better way to do that than with business-to-business content marketing.

In search of an answer

B2B content marketing is often seen as less pushy – it’s definitely not a hard sell. Instead, it can be a strong tool that marketing departments can wield to attract the customers they need.

At Tech in Asia Studios, we learned the finer details of what makes B2B marketing content tick through extensive experience and experimentation. So far, we’ve worked with hundreds of partners including heavy hitters such as Grab, Amazon Web Services, and the Infocomm Media Development Authority.

Drawing on this depth and breadth of experience, we’ve come up with a strategy-building framework to help companies successfully engage in B2B marketing.

“Our strategy is based around this main idea: understanding our audience well and connecting with their needs through a well-told story,” says Roy Tan, vice president of sales and account management at Tech in Asia.

Snagging leads

Before companies embark on their B2B content marketing journey, they need to set a goal for the campaign. One such goal is lead generation, which many companies define as attaining “hot leads ready to buy a product,” Tan explains.

However, there’s a big difference between potential leads and meaningful, quality leads. To achieve the latter, companies need to ensure that potential customers are not just genuinely interested in using a solution, but they’re also primed for it.

“You can invent something great, but to scale your business, the world has to know about it in the right manner,” Tan says.

Roy Tan, vice president of sales and account management at Tech in Asia / Photo credit: Roy Tan

Through content marketing, companies can plant the seeds to stay at the top of people’s minds – through case studies, for instance – and spread the word about its offerings, priming potential customers to accept new solutions.

Acquiring these quality leads, however, is another matter. For one, companies need to ensure they’re speaking to the right people. In the tech sector, that usually means understanding whether you’re speaking to software developers or those higher up, like chief technology officers. Hosting events that allow you to curate the invite list are a great way to generate quality leads.

For instance, customer engagement firm Braze wanted to get highly qualified leads who would be receptive to its solutions. To do that, it worked with Tech in Asia to target top decision-makers at companies that have reached at least series A funding.

The event included a keynote presentation from Braze’s CEO as well as panel and roundtable discussions. The overarching topic was about how companies can build strong customer experiences and improve customer engagement by aligning their marketing, product, and data teams.

Intense discussions all around at the Braze event / Photo credit: Tech in Asia

This content was an essential part of the aforementioned priming.

Ultimately, the event allowed Braze’s representatives to speak directly and easily with founders, marketing experts, customer engagement professionals, and other critical decision-makers. In total, Braze got access to 90 unique attendees via the event.

Telling the world who’s boss

Thought leadership is another important goal that content marketing can help with.

The key idea here is “leadership.” In other words, it’s about letting customers know that you’re the “greatest of all time,” aka the GOAT, says Tan.

“If someone’s the GOAT, they must be doing something right,” he notes. “If you’re the leader in your field, people won’t hesitate to spend a premium on your solutions.”

It’s also a great way to raise brand awareness, as successful displays of thought leadership can solidify a company’s position in a customer’s mindspace.

To do this, companies need to carve out a space in the market by showing customers what makes their solution a leading one in the industry.

For example, Sea Group wanted to strengthen the identity of its corporate entity as part of its marketing and employer branding efforts. To do that, the regional giant collaborated with Tech in Asia to create different kinds of content, including webinars and written articles.

Photo credit: Tech in Asia

By leading these conversations, Sea was able to showcase its expertise in areas such as live commerce and user engagement, boosting its reputation even further.

By the end of the project, Sea’s campaign had gotten more than 75,000 page views across all content, along with more than 63,000 click-throughs and 7.6 million impressions.

“Ultimately, thought leadership is showing customers that you’re going the extra mile and thinking about their needs,” says Tan.

Sticking the landing

So how do you get B2B content marketing right? To recap: start with a defined goal. Are you trying to get more users to buy into your product right now (getting quality leads) or looking to establish a strong presence in their decision-making process (thought leadership and brand awareness)?

Secondly, who exactly do you want to reach with your content? For example, a company that’s more consumer-facing – say, one that runs an e-wallet – may want to target a broader tech audience. On the other hand, a startup that provides enterprise management solutions will probably want to target decision-makers such as C-suite executives.

Photo credit: konstantinraketa / 123RF

But talking theory is one thing, successful application is another. In reality, choosing which goal to focus on and the right audience to target can be difficult for companies to figure out on their own. Partners with the media expertise and industry knowledge can help. Minute details such as the ideal event venue or the most impactful content angles may elude a young marketing team.

“You can employ your own team, but lots of things take resources and expertise,” Tan says. “Why not leave the marketing to the marketing experts?”

Be open

Tan’s final advice is to be willing to test and learn. The effectiveness of things like articles, videos, and events can be subjective, and what worked before may not bring the same results the next time around. Perhaps that’s because the audience has seen a similar iteration of your content before, so it doesn’t pique their interest as much the second time around.

The important thing is that companies should take note of what they learned during the process and make improvements for the next campaign.

“It’s never going to be a matter of rinse and repeat,” Tan says. “B2B content is not a magic pill – it’s a journey.”

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.