6 lessons on compelling B2B content marketing from Fuji Xerox and Dell

While the B2B sector seldom has the luxury of working with the kind of emotional marketing strategies the B2C sector tends to use (think of Dove’s Beauty Sketches), B2B strategies can be equally engaging.Speaking on the brand’s content marketing strategies at Marketing’s Content 360 conference, Rupali Shah, digital marketing lead for Asia Pacific at Fuji Xerox, defined the goals of B2B content marketing this way: To increase awareness of the scope and variety of the business; drive engagement with the key decision makers and influencers; and support sales with qualified and interested leads.With that in mind, here are several effective strategies for B2B content marketing:1. Leverage cultural trends boldlyB2B campaigns don’t have to be boring. For example, in Japan, observing cultural trends, Fuji Xerox ran a “Doraemon Challenge”, a play on the popular Japanese anime series. It engaged five companies across departments such as design and experience, offering them its software to create the telephoto megaphone in the anime.In the cartoon, the gadget allows a user to speak to a person at a very long distance, like a megaphone. However, only the person the message is intended for is able to hear it. The campaign allowed the companies as well as the viewers of the video to see Fuji Xerox’s software capabilities.Watch the video here:https://youtu.be/jgklkk6Jdko2. Make full use of digital’s ability for personalised targetingXerox Corporation ran a content marketing campaign in the US, the Chief Optimist, with Forbes Inc in 2012.“The idea was to show an optimistic future in business at the time, which was a very negative period,” Shah said.Forty per cent of the content was from Xerox and 60% from Forbes. This went across many sectors and was written so it could be read by a CIO or a CFO.“We print as well and we were able to print it so that the recipient’s name was on each copy,” Shah said.A personal URL was created for each person who received the magazine. When they went to the site, the magazine was personalised for them with their name in the URL.“This resulted in 70% of targeted companies interacting with the microsite and a 300% to 400% increase in readership over previous email campaigns. It helped our sales people get to their C-suite targets. Our sales people gave feedback that the prospects had already gone onto the website and consumed the content and were able to talk about it.”Xerox has its own dedicated site called realbusiness.com discussing the issues of the business community.“The only thing from Xerox you will see is the name, powered by Xerox, but nothing else is branded,” Shah said.Fuji Xerox is also starting a digital centre in Singapore which will include a content team.3. Take a leaf out of the book of B2C brands’ engaging sitesThe gripe many consumers have of B2B brands is their “brochure” sites – ones that lack depth, objectivity and strategic context that buyers are seeking to inform them through complex processes. Keep your site simple and easy to navigate, advised Shah.4. Make content as authentic as possibleThe most compelling content is authentic, and it’s always quality over quantity.“I walk around with my iPhone and if someone (within the company or a visiting client) says something good about the product I record it and use it in marketing. This is not staged and is most compelling,” she said.5. Give more than you takeOne of the worst things to do is to make consumers give out too much information just to read your content. Shah gripes about it, saying: “I personally hate it when websites ask you all your details just to send you a white paper.”“Content that comes with too many requirements for downloading is a major turn off. Give people what they want, if they like it they will come back,” she adds.Ask for an email address first. If your content is interesting they will give you more.6. Tailor your content to the right part of the marketing funnelYour content approach should be tailored to where the customer is in their journey. For example, if your consumer is at the stage where they are researching different solutions and finding out more about the subject, you need to help with awareness, said Priyanka Nath, digital and social media lead for South Asia at Dell.“You are giving the person the ability to give influence when speaking to the upper management. This is for the upper funnel – here you need to be agnostic and objective.”Monitoring tactic here: Sit back and listen. Get to the heart of your customers’ pain points, then look at how you can support with content. What are they researching? Use that as triggers to create content, said Nath.In the middle funnel this should change. For example, Dell is looking to build its big data solutions. It is trying to understand what is going on in the market.If you look at the amount of times big data is mentioned it is huge. This is the place where most people understand what big data can do for you. But they are still grappling with pain points. It’s important to join the dots for them, said Nath.