The topic of content marketing is currently on everyone’s lips. But if you take a closer look, the topic is already old. In online marketing terms, it is very old. Content marketing has been carried out in the B2B sector since the beginning of the 2000s with white papers, webinars and online advertorials. Then as now, the focus of content marketing is on the concrete added value for the user. Today, however, the term is defined much more broadly. Many marketers also include PR, texts in general as well as images and videos in content marketing. As Google Trends (see graphic) clearly shows, interest in B2B content marketing has increased significantly, especially since 2011.
Content marketing was already defined
As an important trend in creative360’s B2B israel phone number list trend paper in 2010. But what has changed since 2011 at the latest and why is content marketing in the B2B sector not just a hype but an essential topic for the present and future?
Over the last five years, the user behavior of B2B decision-makers and influential people has changed dramatically. The acceptance of online channels, especially social media, is increasingly blurring with habits from the private sphere. Push marketing has been evolving into pull marketing for years (see also video from 2010 ).
Users want control
Needs are defined independently and erases potential evidence in training data lawsuit information is researched extensively before the first sales meeting. According to a study by Roland Berger, the purchasing process in the B2B segment is already more than half complete before contact is made with the company. Digitization is a top topic, especially in the B2B sector and not just for reasons of automation and digital factories (keyword: Industry 4.0 ).
Moving images in B2B, defined as a trend
by creative360 in 2009, have become almost be numbers indispensable. In the past, companies could differentiate themselves with videos. Today, videos are almost expected and assumed by users. While B2C brands mainly entertain in the context of content marketing, B2B marketers are faced with the challenge of determining which content is useful and effective. As mentioned, the focus is on added value. But what represents added value from the user’s perspective? This requires precise target group knowledge and experience.