April 11, 2016
In part one of our “Pro Tips for Powerful B2B Content” series, we looked at three ways to help you create B2B content that inspires action, outstrips the competition and wins business.
In this, the final part of the series (for now), we will dive into three more pro tips that will hopefully provide the rocket fuel necessary to take your B2B content to new heights.
Lift the lid
In a previous blog post, we touched on where to find content that will “humanise” your brand. Lifting the lid is an extension of the principles that are mentioned in that post.
Think of it as the “behind the scenes” content in the special features section of the last DVD you bought.
This takes the form of quirky pics snapped in and around the office of employees having a bit of fun or more serious pieces like this interview Maersk Line did:
It could also take the form of documenting a challenge that your office commits to doing. Two great examples of this are Oracle:
#Oracle teams raised more than $315,000 via the #BayAreaHeartWalk: http://t.co/UMLgi7rR5W @AHA_BayArea #lifeatOracle pic.twitter.com/Uyy83bjinc
— Oracle (@Oracle) September 22, 2015
And Salesforce:
https://www.facebook.com/salesforce/photos/a.100630284153.85370.5634829153/10153628328009154/?type=3&theater
We even jumped on the bandwagon last year when one of our bonkers intrepid staff attempted to “socialise” the London Marathon.
Invite your audience to get to know the people that make up the DNA of your business. It’s incredibly effective in terms of both communicating your brand personality and connecting in an authentic way with your audience.
Power to the people
Two words: Boaty McBoatface.
On Saturday we find out if this will be the official name of the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) $287 million polar research vessel.
Long story short, the NERC opened up an internet pole for naming suggestions for their new vessel and as of writing this, the suggested name Boaty McBoatface is in the lead with no less than 117,150 votes.
Silly as the name may be, inviting the public to name the vessel was a stroke of genius. It not only sparked the imagination of a much younger audience, but it also raised awareness of the ship’s vital mission to study the effects of climate change in the polar regions.
This is just one example of the effectiveness of content that gives the power to the people. By giving autonomy to your audience, you can create a social snowball that gathers unstoppable momentum.
Have fun
The golden rule for any content is if you are bored writing it, it will be ten times worse for the people reading it.
Break out of the rut of same old same old content. Get your colleagues together, book an afternoon off in their diaries, order pizza and snacks and start bouncing new ideas for content around.
You’d be surprised what gems come from the most unlikely sources when people feel safe enough to share without judgement.
Failing that, if you can’t book the time out of people’s diaries and are low on inspiration, step outside.
Go mobile for a few hours at a coffee shop down the street. Focus on volume. Any writer worth his salt will tell you, great writing is in the re-writing.
It’s seldom that your first lines will be any good. Press on. By the fifth or sixth iteration it will start to get easier and before you know it, you’ll be firing on all cylinders, writing B2B content that grabs your audience’s attention and inspires them to action.