Why B2B content marketing is a long game (and how to play it)

If there’s a watchword for marketing it’s this:

Patience.

Of course, we’d all love to write one stellar blog post that immediately leads to hundreds of new sales, or create a video that goes viral and makes you a household name overnight, but it just isn’t going to happen. Because the truth is, marketing — and particularly B2B marketing — is a long game.

However, while we might know this in theory, in practice, it isn’t always easy to accept.

Why isn’t my blog working for me?

Say you’ve been blogging for a while — three months or so — and you’ve been showing up consistently, creating engaging content and promoting it well. Posting every week, you’ve built up a decent bank of strong content.

Only, you’re getting nothing from it. The occasional comment on social media perhaps, but nothing tangible. No sales, no obvious ROI on all of that time and effort.

It’s frustrating and it’s at this point that many business owners will want to pivot and try something else — after all, everyone’s talking about video. Tik Tok looks interesting. How about a new ad campaign…

But here’s the thing: a few months is too short a time to judge the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy, whether you’ve been working on a blog, a YouTube channel, a podcast, or something else.

There’s a reason you don’t switch out billboards every five minutes.

In the B2B space, you’re working with a long sales cycle. People need time to let things soak in, time to get to know you and what you’re all about, and crucially, people need time if they’re going to learn to trust you.

That’s why the biggest B2B brands don’t switch out billboards every five minutes and it’s why they make significant investments in ongoing content strategy: they know that if you’re constantly changing, it doesn’t give your audience the time they need to get to know the brand.

So, if marketing your B2B organization is a long game, how should you play it?

I’d love to give you a few hacks that would help speed things up but the truth is, there are none. At least there are no hacks that actually work. If you’re trying to reach people who don’t know you, you need time and influence. The more you have of either, the faster it goes.

But if you don’t have a significant amount of either time or influence, there are a few best practices you can follow to ensure you win the marketing game in the end:

1. It’s all about consistency.

Keep showing up. Even when you’re hearing nothing but crickets from your email list, when your metrics show only a handful of viewers are clicking play on your YouTube channel, or when you’re convinced that your mom is the only one reading your blogs.

If you consistently produce quality content, eventually that handful of viewers or readers will become 10s, 100s, or 1000s of people who are aware of your brand and who know they can trust you to deliver what you say you will.

2. Beware the bandwagon.

In marketing there’s always something new to try — Clubhouse, Tik Tok, new platforms, new channels, and new strategies. But, unless you have infinite time and resources, keeping up a consistent presence on each new platform you sign up for is a quick road to burnout.

And if you're constantly jumping from one craze to another, you never give the different audiences of each channel the chance to get to know you and your brand and you run the risk of giving up on something just before it starts to deliver an ROI.

If you do want to try out something new, be sure that it aligns with your brand, your core values, and your long-term marketing strategy before committing yourself.

3. Know when to pivot.

If you’ve been exerting a lot of time, money, and resources on a strategy and you’re getting absolutely nothing back from it after six months, it might well be time to pivot.

However, it’s important to recognize that “pivot” doesn’t necessarily mean “give up”! Rather than giving up on your content strategy altogether, it might be that you need to look at HOW you’re investing in that strategy.

For example, if you’ve spent a ton of time on one particular form of content, with limited results, it might be worth looking at whether you need to up your game in terms of financial investment by engaging a professional who can ensure your content is targeted in the right way. A few professional tweaks might be all that’s needed to make the work you’ve already done start paying off. Or it might be the case that you can repurpose your content in a different way that will resonate more strongly with your target audience, without having to start from scratch.

Content marketing success won’t happen overnight but if you work at it consistently, focus on brand awareness, and learn when to pivot strategically, you will see results.

As always, if you need any help with this, reach out for a free marketing proposal. Helping organizations figure out how to play the content marketing game in a way that works for them is what I do!