This presentation offers you an overview of the essential marketing research required prior to building a successful B2B content marketing plan. Specific B2B content marketing research is important to plan the content and the channels to connect to target audiences. Given the large amounts being spent on content marketing, we advise -- do the research before spending! It’s important.

1. Market Research for
Successful B2B Content
Marketing

2. B2B Content Marketing Spend
On an average B2B
Marketers spend 28%
of their total budget
on Content Marketing.
Image Source: 2016 B2b content Marketing Trends –North America : Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs
Percentage of the total marketing budget
spent on B2B content marketing by Businesses

3. Spending is in on the rise
B2B Content marketing spending
(over next 12 Months)
Image Source: 2015 B2B Content Marketing Trends –North America : Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs
55% will increase
spending

4. Content Marketing tactics usage
Image Source: Gartner, http://www.ovrdrv.com/digital-marketing-budget/
B2B
businesses
deploy their
Content
marketing
budget on a
mix of
activities.

5. Some reasons for failed content
marketing
Opting for the same
strategy as competitors
Having no
strategy
Not aligned with
buyers’ needs
Data Source: Octane research “Digital India 2017: Marketing Trends & Forecast”

6. 60% Content Marketers ranked
producing engaging content
as their top challenge.

7. How B2B Marketers
rate the
effectiveness of their
organization's use of
Content Marketing
Image Source: 2016 B2B Content Marketing Trends –North America : Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs
Only 30% B2B Content Marketers are Effective

8. The right research provides insights into
developing successful B2B content
marketing strategies to engage your target
audience.

9. What does a Content Marketer
want to know before planning?
Determine the kind of content needed while minimizing the risk of
producing irrelevant content.
How to come up with the right strategy for content marketing?
What social media channels will work to reach their target audience for
different products and markets.
Who is the competition and what is competition doing?
 What tactics and methodology are other content marketers using most
often?
What are effective content marketers doing different vs. the less effective
marketers?
On an average, what budget did they fix to spend on content marketing
strategies?
How to establish and maintain the reputation of the brand online?

10. What to research?
What to research before planning a content marketing strategy?
1. Target market
2. Target Audience
3. Your Buyer’s Persona
4. Buyer behavior / buying cycle
5. Competitors
6. Market trends
7. Channels (what will work for your product and market)

11. 1. Target Market
Know your target market and segments to develop specific strategies. Understand and
segment based on:
Common benefits that customers look for
Industry
Business size
Geographic Location
Affordability
What unique expertise of the company would help the market
Accessibility of the market segment through content marketing channels
How long is the buying cycle and what information is needed to nurture the market
What offering will they be more responsive to

12. 2. Target Audience
For each B2B target segment,
Identify your Decision makers
Identify your Influencers
Identify Users and Researchers
Look at Psychographics (the personal characteristics)
Cultural predispositions and influences
What business forums memberships do they have
What content would motivate them

13. 3. Buyer Persona
Research your buyers’ persona - prospects and the actual customer
base (through surveys, interviews). Look at these factors:
Role in the organization
Goals for success
Biggest challenges faced
Reading, social media habits
Personal background – education
Shopping preferences – how does she search for information or interact with
vendors

14. 4. Buying Journey
Need
Recognition
Research &
Consideration
Evaluate
Alternatives
Purchase
Understand the buying cycle for
the product/ service in the
target market.
What are buyers trying to accomplish
at each step?
What is buyer behavior at each step?
How can marketers nudge buyers
forward to the next buying stage?
What content is needed at each step to
push the buyer to the next stage?
Which content marketing tactics do
buyers prefer at each step?
B2B Buying Cycle

15. 5. Competitor Analysis
Analyze your competition to understand them and build your strategy
around it
 Their current strategies
 Their positioning and brand messaging
 What content marketing tactics are they using
 What content marketing channels are they using
 Their resources and capability
 Analyze competitor’s possible future moves (Response Profile)

16. 6. Market Trends
Find information about latest trends, such as:
What content type is your audience attracted to?
What forums are becoming more popular?
What techniques like influencer marketing or native advertising are gaining
ground?
What channels are B2B customers likely to move to?
 What are trending topics to write on?

17. 7. Marketing Channels
Research channels to reach
your audience effectively:
Analyze the social web traffic and
outcomes
Identify social media channels
your Target Audience uses
Analyze previous reports to study
channels that have given most
relevant traffic and business
Image Source: 2015 B2B Content Marketing Trends –North America : Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs
B2B Content Marketing Social Media
Platform usage

18. In short, invest in research
Understand the target market and audiences
Develop a content marketing strategy backed by research
Minimize the risk of failure

19. “Whoever understands the
customer best, wins.”
Mike Gospe

20. Email: contact@mantran.in
www.mantran.in
Content Creation . Content Marketing . SEO
Thank you