Marketers have to continually earn and reward people’s attention. If we fail at that task, there are plenty of other content options out there. People — yes, even B2B buyers — want engaging, entertaining and valuable content. That’s great news for those of us on the content side! It means we should be regularly exercising our creative muscles, breaking free of boring B2B, and coming up with new ways to delight our readers. How cool is it, for example, to make Ghostbusters references… for your job? But as fun and creative as the work can be, there’s a cerebral and analytical side to marketing that we can’t neglect. If you came into marketing through creative writing, not the other way around, you may need to develop the left-brain part of the job:
- Writing for a specific audience
- Meeting audience demand for information
- Prompting the audience to take action
- Staying organized
- Improving results over time
1 — Embrace Keyword Research
For too long, content creators treated SEO like an add-on — something you sprinkled in after the content was done. It wasn’t part of the creative process. It was just a thing you had to do to make sure the bots recommended your content. But now we know better. Keyword research should be part of the content planning process. And not because it makes bots like your content better, either. A high-volume keyword means it’s a keyword that real actual people are searching for, because they have a need that must be met. Every keyword is a statement of desire. For a creative content marketer, it’s the next best thing to a telepathic bond with our target audience. And speaking of which...2 — Learn Your Audience
If you’re a creative writer, you probably have an audience you’re used to addressing. When I was writing for my online comedy game, it was nerds like me — people who lived and breathed Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, et al. At TopRank Marketing, however, I’ve written for CFOs, CEOs, cybersecurity experts, small business owners, millennials in the job market… in other words, a lot of people who aren’t a lot like my default audience. So I had to learn what each of these groups wanted, loved, hated, were afraid of, and needed. That means a lot of research to underpin your creative content.3 — Involve Diverse Voices
How can you make absolutely sure your content will resonate with a broader audience? Bring more people into the creation process. That means bouncing ideas off of both the millennials and boomers in your office. It can mean talking to people in other departments, too — if you’re writing for CFOs, take a meeting with people in the finance department. But beyond the internal collaboration, look for ways to highlight both respected industry experts and potential clients in your content. All of which requires you to... [bctt tweet="“How can you make absolutely sure your content will resonate with a broader audience? Bring more people into the creation process.” — Joshua Nite @nitewrites" username="toprank"]4 — Release the Ego
There’s nothing wrong with taking pride in your work, of course. But we writers tend to be protective of the things we write — we don’t like too many people meddling about with our precious words. When we’re writing for personal expression, that’s fine. But when it comes to marketing, we have to make sure the content is the best it can be for the target audience. And that means plenty of editorial oversight. It’s important to get feedback and quality checks on your work, and to keep your eye on the ultimate goal: Content that serves the brand, no matter whose name is on the byline.5 — Read Other People’s Content
Stephen King famously said, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.” That’s true in marketing as much as in thousand-page novels about killer clowns from outer space. There are three absolutely vital reasons to read other marketing content, especially content targeting the same audience you’re aiming for:- Find great ideas to steal… er, borrow
- Find gaps where you can insert your own brilliant ideas
- Identify cliches to avoid
6 — Don’t Confuse the Garnish for the Meal
About a month into my time at TopRank Marketing, I finally got to really flex my creative muscles. We were writing a superhero-themed eBook for a client. I went all out — each section had a full page about a superhero, followed by a page comparing the superhero to the client’s subject matter. So there was a section on Batman, and his methods, and his utility belt, and then a section tying in the metaphor to the cloud software we were writing about. That first draft was one of my first lessons in letting go of ego and collaborating, too. My colleagues gently informed me that people wanted to learn about the technology, not the superhero stuff. I was giving people too much parsley and too little steak. The creative theming in your content should provide a hook for your audience and liven up the subject matter. But it shouldn’t get in the way of the information you’re trying to get across.7 — Have a Clear Next Step
Marketing content should compel your reader to take specific action. No matter how creative and fun your piece is — and it should be plenty of both — at the end, there should be a logical, meaningful, and measurable next step. You should plan out the content journey and the calls to action before you write a single paragraph of content. Keeping the focus on the customer and their journey will help make sure your content is doing the work it should be. [bctt tweet="“Marketing content should compel your reader to take specific action. No matter how creative and fun your piece is, at the end there should be a logical, meaningful, and measurable next step.” — Joshua Nite @nitewrites" username="toprank"]8 — Get Invested in Results
When you have measurable calls to action, the logical next step is to — wait for it — measure them. As a creative writer, my impulse when I’m done with a piece is to release it into the world and never look at it again. As a marketer, we have to do the opposite. Don’t just check in on your content’s performance from time to time. Get into those results — who is reading the content? Who is bouncing off of it straight from the search page? How long are people spending with it, and how many of them are clicking your CTA link? A larger organization might have people whose full-time job it is to look at those results. But you should be fixated on them, too; these metrics are an ongoing performance review from your target audience.9 — Collaborate with Analytics Folks
As much as content marketers want to be invested in results, it can be hard to collect, analyze and visualize the data. That’s why we should be partnering up with people who eat, sleep and breathe data. Those analytical types who are writing queries and building pivot tables are indispensable allies for quality content marketing. Talk to them, make friends with them, buy them cookies and take them out for the beverage of their choice. The more you learn about each others’ disciplines, the more effective your marketing will be. And speaking of learning...10 — Continue Your Education
I came into the marketing field with one very particular skill: I can write stuff people want to read, and I can do it quickly. But I only stayed in marketing because I kept learning about all the other aspects of the business. We’re in the era of the T-shaped marketer now. If you’re a content specialist, you should also know a little about SEO, be conversant in analytics, and even take a lunch with the sales team from time to time. Everything you learn will inform your content and make you a better marketer — and will enable you to explore your creativity and still get meaningful, measurable results. Looking for creative B2B content that inspires action? We’ve got you covered.The post Equilibrium: 10 Tips to Balance Creativity and Process in B2B Content Marketing appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
Lee, Valerie, Brian - 2008 (Photo: Brian Solis)[/caption] As someone who has been at the forefront of studying, innovating and practicing influence in the B2B business and technology world, I reached out to Brian for his thoughts on what the future holds for influence at B2B organizations inside and out, what to look for with business influencers and thoughts on how to scale influence. Highlights of episode 17 include:
LinkedIn Launches 'Dark Mode' on Mobile and Desktop Increased accessibility, inclusivity, and reduced eye-strain-inducing blue light are among the aims for LinkedIn’s (client) new dark mode option, being rolled out to the professional platform's users — which numbered over 774 million according to the firm's latest publicly-released figures. 
A lighthearted look at the “share of voice” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — 
[bctt tweet="“Always look for partnerships, at how you can work with others, and at how you can think bigger and more strategically.” — Ramon Ray @ramonray #BreakFreeB2B" username="toprank"] "I think there are different ways that brands do different things. One thing talking to the brand at least, I think, and the influencers, is that — first, are you clear on what the goals are? Why do they want you? Is it reaching numbers? It could be. For me, it's oftentimes that they want safety and security. We want someone who can consistently deliver and give us a good seminar, webinar, or host a product and be excited and draw the expertise out of our subject matter experts. So that's one," Ramon noted. "Second — are you living your brand, offline and online? Meaning can they trust that what you tweet — what you post on Instagram, is going to be something that's going to make them proud. That's okay for the brands you're working with. So that's two. And I think point three, I think the other thing to consider is, are you within the wheelhouse of what they want? If you're an influencer for a headphone company, and you're not all about music, you may not be a fit," Ramon added. "I think those are a few things that I think about when we look at how we're working with a brand, and how a brand may evaluate us — it's safety, security, we try to do the right thing, and be good to work with. And I think that's important," Ramon also shared. Watch, listen to or read Ramon's full interview by checking our the full blog post "
[bctt tweet="“Whether you have 300 followers or 300,000, it's the way that you engage, and people have to trust you.” — Minda Harts @MindaHarts" username="toprank"] What what does it take to be a thought leader, subject matter expert or an influencer? “You know, I would say consistency. One of the things that I started before I had a best-selling book, or any of those things — I was consistent with the content that I put out there," Minda said. "I picked one or two social media platforms, and I said, you know what, I'm going to give my all to these. My demographic is not on everything, right? So if I pick a couple, and I'm consistent, and every Monday I start with a newsletter, because you want to capture your fans or your potential clients. So I think that for me, it was being consistent," Minda added. "Since 2015, every Monday I put out a newsletter. And then I repurpose that content on LinkedIn or Twitter — those are the most active platforms I'm on. I also try to be authentic to my voice, and talk about the things that I know my demographics are interested in. I bring my personal stories, and I asked them questions," Minda shared. "Whether you have 300 followers or 300,000, it's the way that you engage, and people have to trust you. Once you build that consistency and that trust, then all you need is those people who will constantly repurpose and retweet, and do some of those things. But it starts with that consistency. So make sure that you're being true and authentic to the voice that you add to your community," Minda explained. Check out Minda's full interview and visit our full blog post "
[bctt tweet="“You have to put your thoughts out there. And sometimes putting your thoughts out there is the scariest part about becoming an influencer.” — Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor" username="toprank"] “I'm fine with calling it being a influencer, a thought leader, or whatever you want to call it. You have to put your thoughts out there. And sometimes putting your thoughts out there is the scariest part about becoming an influencer — but let's just call it being known within your industry," Keith shared. "Becoming an independent influencer is a little more difficult, because there's not quite an established marketplace for the things that I do. So is going to the likes of TopRank Marketing or working directly with vendors to find out how do I help a vendor tell us their story, while keeping my authentic voice," Keith added. “To stand out, don’t avoid those difficult conversations,” he also noted. Watch Keith's full interview in "
[bctt tweet="“If you're a bank, be a bank, focus on being the best bank you can, and look for things that are going to disrupt you. But don't try to be a phone company.” — Dez Blanchfield @dez_blanchfield" username="toprank"] “When we have a conversation, we don't just talk about influencer marketing. That's a tiny segment of what we do. It's taking an idea from a business plan and sales and marketing strategy in a go-to-market roadmap, around sales, marketing, comms, and business development, and mapping, 'what's the outcome you want?'," Dez shared. "What have you started to do sales investing in? Where are the gaps in that? How can we fill those gaps of digital social conversations, and how can we create these campaigns to drive those outcomes such that if and when someone has a pain point or a buying decision, we have ensured — through driving awareness, education engagement, in the form of influence — that you are top of mind and center of heart at that point of a buying decision," Dez added. Watch, listen to or read Dez' complete interview by checking our the full blog post "
[bctt tweet="“Be clear about why you want to work with an influencer, what you hope to get out of working with the influencer.” — @TamaraMcCleary" username="toprank"] "What is your purpose in using an influencer? Is your purpose to create brand awareness? Is your purpose to increase product sales? What is your purpose? Then, let's reverse engineer from that and go, 'Okay, who has the eyes and ears of the folks that are most interested in your product or service?'," Tamara shared. "Once we start calling people followers, or an audience, we start diminishing them — thinking somehow they don't have any thought leadership. But the point of the matter is every single person has thought leadership, it's just whether or not they're building it by putting content out there," Tamara added. "Be clear about why you want to work with an influencer, what you hope to get out of working with the influencer," Tamara suggested. "If you don't work with an organization that knows what they're doing, that knows how to harness what that end result should be, knows what the influencer should be delivering to the organization, knows what the organization shouldn't be asking the influencer, having a company like like TopRank to do that is important, because when I see organizations try to do influencer marketing themselves, it often fails. And then the big bummer for that is when it fails, they think influencer marketing fails. Influencer marketing hasn't failed. It's just the way you did it failed. You didn't do it right," Tamara observed. Watch Tamara's full episode, "
[bctt tweet="“Do your thing, do what you're good at. You want to start a business because you want to fill a niche. You have to be doing it because you're passionate about it.” — Nicole Brady @SahmReviews" username="toprank"] What makes influencer content powerful? “Because it's real. It's someone that is sharing their opinions. It's not scripted. It's not a commercial," Nicole explained. "Do your thing, do what you're good at. You want to start a business because you want to fill a niche. You have to be doing it because you're passionate about it," Nicole added. “Find out what makes you different and what makes people want to talk to you, and then leverage it. Share those details, and create content around those details. As more and more people are on social media, being able to find those out-of-the-box environmental things that make you tick — that you might not have known — showing them off, that’s the way to do it.” Watch, listen to or read Nicole's full interview by checking our the full blog post "
[bctt tweet="“Sometimes the influencer stuff can get almost like a back door sponsored content kind of thing, or an endorsement, and that's something that we definitely try to avoid. Make sure the brand shares the values that you have.” — @vtamethodman" username="toprank"] “Meeting other influencers in the space and learning how we all could better support one another, and how they were getting their messages out," has been a helpful approach, Eric noted. "I've always seen this as bigger than any individual, so a lot of these collaborative works have been great," Eric added. "Sometimes the influencer stuff can get almost like a back door sponsored content kind of thing, or an endorsement, and that's something that we definitely try to avoid. Make sure the brand shares the values that you have," Eric also suggested. Explore all of Eric's episode in "
[bctt tweet="“Collaboration is the future of business. I think the only way forward is to really be able to understand what your colleagues in marketing, customer service, or procurement are going through on a day-to-day basis.” @bevictoryus" username="toprank"] “There's a lot of collaboration that can happen with supply chain internally, and a lot of different companies. I think we're seeing more and more of that, which is exciting, especially for supply chain professionals, because they really want to work. They're problem solvers, right? That's who we are, as professionals — we are problem solvers. That's what we do on a day-to-day basis," Sarah shared. "We want to collaborate with the different departments internally, to really create that success for the company that that we're working for," Sarah added. "Collaboration is the future of business. I truly believe that. I think the only way forward is to really be able to understand what your colleagues in marketing, customer service, or procurement are going through, and what they do on a day-to-day basis," Sarah also noted. Watch, listen to or read Sarah's full interview by checking our the full blog post "
[bctt tweet="“You really have to figure out a lane that you're passionate about. Get super laser-focused on something.” — Liam McIvor Martin @vtamethodman" username="toprank"] "If you're like — man — I want to be the TikTok influencer. I want to learn how to get people ranked on TikTok — do you like TikTok? I kind of do, but not enough to be able to spend the next five years of my life talking about TikTok. You really have to figure out a lane that you're passionate about," Liam urged. "Get super laser-focused on something," Liam added. Watch Liam's full interview, "
[bctt tweet="“I think the main way I've got to be where I am today is curiosity. I've been curious about the world, curious about technology — I'm really curious about people and how they act.” — Oliver Christie @OliverChristie" username="toprank"] “I was curious. I wanted to know more. So I talked to a lot of people — people who had deep knowledge in one area, and I kept talking and I kept asking questions and discovering more and more and more. I think the main way I've got to be where I am today is curiosity. I've been curious about the world, curious about technology — I'm really curious about people and how they act,” Oliver explained. "I’ve got to like what the project is about, what it's trying to do. And I've also got to believe in the technology or the approach. I think without that, you're selling something. You're just selling something which you don't believe in. And that's not a reason to work," Oliver added. Tune in to Oliver's complete episode, "
[bctt tweet="“Decisions are not made based on a tweet, blog post, or webinar. Decisions are made based off of trust over an extended period of time. Knowing who you're working with and having trust in that individual is incredibly important.” @tcrawford" username="toprank"] “It's shocking how the B2C definition of influencer kind of muddies the water of a B2B influencer, which is why I think we don't use that term all that much in B2B, because we're more focused on subject matter expert, thought leader, and authentic thinkers," Tim explained. “I have also had to explain the difference between a B2C influencer and a B2B influencer. And sometimes that's like pushing string uphill, because they think that the B2C model will apply to B2B, let's face it, it's unlike B2C," Tim added. “Decisions are not made based on a tweet. A blog post. A webinar. These decisions are made based off of trust over an extended period of time. And so knowing who you're working with and having trust in that individual is incredibly important,” Tim also noted. Watch, listen to or read Tim's complete interview by checking our the full blog post "
[bctt tweet="“Communication is key. You need to be able to communicate information effectively using the written, spoken, and visual word, and you have to be able to do that through multiple channels.” — Kevin Jackson @Kevin_Jackson" username="toprank"] “Change is constant and change is accelerating. As an influencer or a subject matter expert, your ability to describe and explain the impact of information technology on business and key performance metrics is critical," Kevin explained. "When you communicate, you need to use the industry's vernacular, because that is what will make you unique. Communication is key. You need to be able to communicate information effectively using the written, spoken, and visual word, and you have to be able to do that through multiple channels — mass media, including social media. By being able to communicate well in those different forms across these different channels, your audience will grow rapidly and organically,” Kevin also noted. "It's really important to understand or accept this as a relationship. Not a short term experience, but a long term relationship where the influencer is a valued part of not just the marketing team, but the communications team, and the sales team. You really break free through collaboration and open dialogue with your colleagues and partners,” Kevin added. Learn more from Kevin and see his full interview in "
If you start with the most interesting points from the content co-created with influencers in your promotional content on social channels, it will stand-out more for both customers and the influencers.
If you would like to learn about B2B influencer marketing from the B2B brand marketers who are doing it every day, be sure to check out the 