According to a study from the Content Marketing Institute, 60% of B2B companies plan to increase their content marketing spend in the next 12 months. Clearly, B2B marketers believe that content marketing is a powerful tool, and we couldn’t agree more. Content marketing isn’t an easy task, but fortunately, there are many great examples to learn from in the B2B world. Here are just a few of the B2B content marketing initiatives that we feel represent best practices in this growing field:
SAP’s Multi-Source Content Hub
The SAP blog, which was released earlier this year after a major overhaul, is rich with content on mobile technology, cloud computing, analytics and big data, all of which are key areas of expertise for the company. Though blogs are a common B2B content marketing format, we feel this one stands out above the rest because of the integration of content from SAP employees, customers and industry thought leaders, and secondary sources like Forbes and Harvard Business Review — all of it accompanied by social plugins that make interaction easy. It’s not just a simple blog, but rather a carefully curated and easily sortable hub of the content that matters most to the typical SAP customer.
GE’s Data Visualization Portal
GE is always on the cutting edge of content marketing, and we’ve enjoyed watching their success as they try new media like Tumblr and Instagram. However, of all their content marketing initiatives, we’re most excited about this data visualization portal that recently went live on GE’s website. Companies like GE generate so much rich data, but often fail to make it interesting and digestible for the average consumer. This portal, which allows the user to sort beautiful data visualizations by categories (power, curing, building and moving) gives a powerful picture of the impact the company has on a variety of industries. The links to data visualization in the news is a nice touch as well.
Landis+Gyr’s FutureReady E-zine
We know we’re tooting our own horn, but we think that this e-zine that we created for smart grid technology company Landis+Gyr is a great example of effective content marketing. Landis+Gyr’s industry is complex, and this e-zine helps the company’s target market feel more in the know about the latest technologies and advancements, while subtly positioning Landis+Gyr as a thought leader. Supported by a variety of paid, earned and owned media, the e-zine was responsible for generating a 35.5% conversion rate among visitors, which goes to show how powerful content marketing can be.
