20 Common Mistakes Organizations Make in Their B2B Content Marketing

** FORMERLY PUBLISHED ON COPYWRITERS.COM 2018-2019 **

Are you making costly mistakes in your B2B content marketing campaigns? Eliminating the following missteps could be the difference between outright success and utter failure—attracting eager prospects ready to buy right now or no one.

According to Neil Patel, one of the world’s leading experts, B2B content marketing has existed since 1732. The first content marketer was Benjamin Franklin himself! Who would have thought?

As you can imagine, content marketing has come a long way since then. Businesses publish hundreds of thousands of articles daily, and for good reason.

MarketingProfs suggests that marketers write 2 million blog posts every 24 hours in today’s world. But they also say that if you publish 500-word articles that are getting read by no one, you are “completely wasting your time.”

It’s important to note some common mistakes that keep articles from being noticed. Content marketing can be effective when done in the right way. However, mistakes can be costly and should be avoided if you want your articles to be practical.


Mistake # 1: No B2B Content Marketing Strategy or Planning

A common mistake that can be avoided is not planning an effective content marketing strategy. The reason? Because you never know what could happen that could keep you from getting your content out on time. 69% of B2B marketers have a documented content strategy.

One of the best ways to rank in search engines is by publishing consistent content. If you have content ready in advance, this relieves a lot of pressure and makes the process much easier. All you need to do is schedule that content ahead of time on a marketing platform such as Trello, Buffer, or Hootsuite.

Ideally, it would be best if you were working on content that will not get published for 3 or 4 weeks. One obvious drawback to this method is when something unexpected happens. This can make your content seem irrelevant unless you incorporate trending topics into your existing content.

For example, consider the recent COVID-19 crisis. For obvious reasons, companies have been scrambling to revise their content to compensate. Otherwise, their audience would ignore the content or find it awkward and out of place.

Sometimes, you need to adapt to the world and use common sense. Recent studies show that more B2B businesses are going digital than ever before due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, under most normal circumstances, it’s best to plan your B2B content marketing strategy far in advance. This practice will help your business flow more smoothly.


Mistake # 2: Not Knowing Your Target Audience

Secondly, it’s important to know your audience and how to best speak to them. For example, do they have their jargon and expressions? Do you understand their concerns and what they are most interested in?

Your ideal buyer is often called a “buyer persona” or an “avatar.” The best way to get to know them is to go where they hang out. If they are hanging out on Instagram, and you publish your content on Twitter, then chances are, they will never see it.

But that is not the only thing that matters. You also want to find out what they are talking about. This is important to understand, specifically regarding B2B content marketing. Understanding their thoughts makes it possible to present them with content that is precisely what is on their minds.

When you can speak to them in a way that “gets inside of their heads,” so to speak, they will take notice and listen. You want them to ask themselves, “How did he/she know what I have been thinking about?”


Mistake # 3: Not Understanding the Value of Content Marketing

Companies also make the mistake of ignoring content marketing altogether. Many companies believe that paid advertising is all they need and that content marketing is a waste of time.

Granted, they may be profitable with paid advertising alone. However, incorporating content marketing into their strategy can push their revenue to the next level.

Remember this: B2B content marketing doesn’t happen overnight. But what it does do is gain momentum over time if done in the right way. Think of it like compound interest. You may get three or four sales a month in the first year. By year five, content marketing alone may push hundreds of sales through your business.

Many businesses think they need to choose between content marketing and paid advertising. But once that momentum gets going, paid ads can help boost content marketing and vice versa. The most profitable businesses understand the importance of both and how they fuel each other.


Mistake # 4: Ignoring the Business Owner’s Voice

It’s not uncommon for content managers and inexperienced copywriters to ignore the business owner’s voice. When you write content, who are you writing for? You are often speaking for someone besides yourself.

Do you understand that person’s expressions, beliefs, and values? Do you know their jargon and the speed of their speech? If the business owner speaks slowly, you do not want your writing to sound fast and vice-versa.

An experienced copywriter understands the business owner’s unique voice. They will ensure their content sounds like something the business owner would say if they wrote it themselves. This is crucial if the brand name is the same as the business owner’s.

For example, if you were to go to Oprah’s blog, you don’t want the reader to think the content doesn’t “fit” her personality. This is one well-known illustration, but the same idea holds true for any b2b content marketing.


Mistake # 5: Not Understanding the Topic Well Enough

If you are writing for a company selling a 60-hour course, have you watched that course? This may sound time-consuming and daunting, but how else could you speak intelligently about it?

What topic does the company represent? Do you understand that topic well enough? Let’s say that you are writing for a science blog. Can you speak intelligently about scientific topics?

If not, you need to find an experienced copywriter who is familiar with that niche and does understand the common discussions. If not, you risk sounding like you know less about the topic than the reader does. And you don’t want to give that impression.
That is the best way to undermine the owner and the company’s credibility. Make sure you understand the topic!


Mistake # 6: Lack of Understanding of Headlines & Sub-Headlines

Headlines and Subheadlines are imperative when writing content for articles. This holds for at least three main reasons. The first reason is that you want to capture the attention of the reader. If the reader is uninterested in the headline, they won’t see the article.

The second important factor when writing headlines and sub-headlines is that they need to contain keywords that will help the article rank in the search engines. If the article doesn’t rank, then once again, no one will see it. Sure, you can drive paid traffic to it, but wouldn’t you also like to take advantage of free traffic?

The third and final factor to remember when writing subheadlines is that they must make sense independently. The reason for that is simple. Some readers skim the page and read nothing but the subheadlines. If one catches their attention, they may start reading from there.

You want your sub-headlines to make sense to the person who glances over your article. In other words, each of them needs to be relevant and support the article’s main point. Never put sub-headlines that seem out of place in there.

You also want to ensure your headlines and subheadlines are the proper sizes. A headline needs to be H1 size, and the subheadline needs to be H2 size. Believe it or not, this will help your article rank, so remember to get this right.


Mistake # 7: Too Much Branding Promotion & Not Enough Value

Another common B2B content marketing mistake that many content writers make is putting too much focus on branding and not enough focus on value. Think about it from a prospect’s point of view. They don’t care about the brand. What they do care about is what you can do for them.

Always ensure you give them something of value in all your articles. How can you help them? What good information can you share with them? What questions can you answer for them?

Do they have problems that you can help them solve? Consider all this when writing articles and ensure they find your content helpful.

Branding should come naturally when they read the article. Not in the article itself but somewhere else on the site. Let them know about the brand in a non-direct way. The direct message needs to be about the value you are providing to them.


Mistake # 8: Not Enough Relevance to Pain Points & Challenges

What are your prospect’s pain points today? Do you know what keeps them awake at night?
What do they worry about? What challenges are they facing? But more importantly, how does this relate to your business, and how can your company help them with these problems?
For example, can you teach them to work from home if they lose their job due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic? Or is there some way you can help other companies that were forced to shut down due to this catastrophe?


Here are some B2B examples relevant to this particular crisis:

1. A healthcare company may be able to reach out to other businesses with safety advice or supplies.
2. E-commerce companies may be able to help businesses restock emergency supplies.
3. Marketing companies can reach out to businesses and help them to get vital aspects of their business online.
Is there some way that your company can help other businesses solve essential problems right now? Content marketing is a perfect way to reach out to them with support.
Mistake # 9: Not Doing Keyword Research or Focusing on SEO

As mentioned, if your article doesn’t rank high enough in the search engines, no one will see it unless you drive paid traffic. Do you have the proper tools you need to do keyword research? Do you understand the best keywords to use?

This is commonly referred to as SEO or Search Engine Optimization. You are optimizing your article so that search engines can better understand it.

Using long-tailed keywords is a great way to do this in B2B content marketing. For example, the keyword “red summer sandals in size 7” is much more likely to be viewed by the right person than “sandals.” Optimize your articles with the keywords that will best attract the right buyers.


Mistake # 10: Lack of Inbound and Outbound Linking

Do you link to other articles inside your blog? This is one of the best ways to offer value to your reader, as well as credibility. Equally important is linking to outside articles or helpful information. This may seem like you are leading them elsewhere. However, the search engines will use this data to help your business rank.

What matters to the search engine algorithm is the rank of the companies you are linking to. If you are connecting to a blog that has little traffic, it won’t help your article rank. But if you are linking to a high-traffic blog, then this will help your algorithm score. This will allow you to show up higher on search engine pages.

The algorithm is what Google and other search engines use to decide which article ranks where. It’s a scoring system where they consider different factors. How high you rank is directly influenced by the score of companies you are linking to in your article.

Also, it would be best to rank other articles on the blog you are writing for. Most refer to these as “inbound” links, which will help drive more traffic to your site.

In other words, this is what you want to achieve. You want more traffic to your site. But you also want to link to other high-traffic blogs.


Mistake # 11: Too Much Focus on Quantity & Not Enough on Quality

Some companies think the best thing to do is throw a lot of content out there and see what sticks. This is a bad idea. You don’t want to implement this strategy because many low-quality articles will float around, which will not help your business.

Instead, it’s better to put out fewer high-quality articles. The higher the quality of the article, the better. You don’t want to fill them with common knowledge. You want to go deep with helpful content. This will give your site a better reputation and help your site score.


Mistake # 12: Not Diversifying Content Enough

Once you write articles, are you linking to them? You want to link to articles from other places as often as possible. Most marketers link to them from social media sites or paid ads. If a high-traffic site links to your article, this is even better.

Often in B2B content marketing, you are writing to one niche. But make sure you hit that niche from different angles. For example, if they are into social media, share tips and techniques with them whenever possible.

Also, ask yourself what other niches would be interested in what you have to offer. This is an angle commonly used by software companies. A wide variety of people often use the software. This means that it’s not uncommon for software to be marketed to more than one niche. If that is the case, speak to each niche differently.


Mistake # 13: Not Being Authentic & Trustworthy Enough

Now, this is a biggie. It’s essential that your audience knows, likes, and trusts you. It would be best if you come across as sincerely trying to help them and do what is in their best interest. Surely, you do want to help them!

This is all based on authenticity, integrity, and ethics. Do you mean what you say? Are you considering how you can help them rather than how they can help you? You MUST come at it from this angle and mean it.

The idea here is to establish a relationship with your prospective buyers. Find ways to connect to them authentically. You want to create a relationship, but you also want to nurture it over time.

Incorporating video is another great way to strengthen your relationship with your reader. Marketers integrating video into their content have seen 49% faster revenue growth than those without. Videos make the content more personal and make readers feel like they know you.


Mistake # 14: Being Too Salesy in Your B2B Content Marketing

Nobody likes a pushy salesperson. Nobody! Whatever you do, please don’t push your ideas on them and sound too anxious. This can make you sound desperate and feel like you do not care what is best for them.

This is a disastrous mistake. Always remember to ask yourself how you can sincerely help your potential buyer. Is what you have to offer something that can truly improve their lives and be worth their price? If not, find a different company with a more authentic product.

Pushing sales down someone’s throat is the fastest way to get them to click off your article and RUN the other way. Social media has made a drastic impact on this change of pace in the field of marketing. People don’t deal with pushy salespeople anymore because, to be honest, they don’t have to.


Mistake # 15: Not Repurposing Content Enough

What is “repurposing?” This means you take one piece of content and revise it for other platforms. For example, let’s say you wrote an article. You can then take that same article and read it out loud and turn it into audio for a podcast.

Then, you can break that article into PowerPoint slides, turning it into an educational video. You can also turn parts of it into an infographic—a pictorial diagram that condenses the high points.

You want to repurpose content when you first write an article. But you will also want to repurpose them for years to come. Ask yourself if you can find an old article that received a lot of traffic and popularity. Can you bring that old article back to life?


Mistake # 16: Not Gathering Enough Data

Not tracking your results is probably the biggest mistake you could make in your B2B content marketing. Let’s say you wrote an article, and then you posted that article on Twitter and Facebook. Then, you create a video, put it on YouTube, and link to it.

Next, you get bombarded with sales. Wouldn’t you want to know where that traffic came from? Did it come from Twitter or YouTube? Or did it come from Facebook? This is essential information because you want to know how to spend your advertising dollars best.

It would be crazy to spend money on Facebook if most of your traffic came from YouTube and vice-versa.

Think about some ways you can track your traffic. You can use tracking links through a reputable company. Some of these companies charge money, and some of them are free. You can also learn where your traffic comes from using free tracking tools such as Google Analytics or Google Console.


Mistake # 17: Not Enough Consistent Publishing

One of the best ways to get your blog to die is to stop publishing content. It’s important to post articles and other forms of content regularly.

Remember, the search engines are tracking you. If you are not regularly putting out fresh new content, your company will fall behind in the search engines.

Old content may rank when you have no competition for your keywords. But most of the time, your competition will leave you in the dust if you don’t keep up with this.


Mistake # 18: Not Including A “Call to Action” (CTA)

This is probably the most significant “no-brainer” mistake in this article. If your article leads your reader to a dead end, this will get you nowhere. You must have a place to take them after they read your article, called your “call to action.”

What are you trying to achieve? Where do you want them to go? Do you want them on your email list, or do you want them on a chatbot? Would you prefer to have them join a Facebook group? Do you want them to comment?

Always ask yourself before you start what the goal of your article is. Then, give them a clear call to action to help your business achieve that goal. In articles, you can highlight specific words, and if they click on those words, they will go to the destination.


Mistake # 19: Ignoring Email Marketing

Speaking of destination, what is your destination? Do you want them to go to a landing page or join your email list? One common mistake many businesses make is ignoring email marketing altogether.

Email marketing is critical to the success of your business. Why? If you are not using email marketing, you leave money on the table. A good copywriter knows email strategies that work based on proven data.

Once you implement those strategies, your sales will increase. An email campaign has several essential functions.

1. First, it helps you to show a relationship with your potential buyer and strengthen your connection with them.

2. Second, it keeps your business on top of your mind. They may not be ready now, but when they are ready, who do you think they will go to? Whoever it is they can think of, that’s who! Let that be you and your company!


Mistake # 20: Not Segmenting Audiences

Do you think one email sequence is enough? Most of the time, the answer is no. Even if you have one product to offer, you still have your buyers and non-buyers, and you will speak to each of them differently.

But imagine if you have more than one product or service. Take a car dealership, for example. They have a sales department, a service department, a body shop, and a parts department. Do you think it makes sense to speak to the customer who had a repair done, as you would talk to someone who purchased a new vehicle?

Of course not! That would be absurd. They are two different buyers with different questions, problems, wants, and needs. It’s essential to understand all these aspects of your business and speak to them in a way that matches their behavior.

Creating email lists for each part of your business is called “segmenting.” In other words, “separating.” You want to keep some of your prospects separate from others. And speak to them based on what they are doing or dealing with.


In Summary:

How is your B2B content marketing strategy going? Do you have time to publish current and practical articles and videos regularly? If not, join the 84% of marketers that outsource their content creation.

Let’s face it. Writing and publishing articles regularly can be a daunting task. It truly is a full-time job.

Do you have time to do two full-time jobs? Do you have time to run your business and publish regular content? Here at copywriters.com, let us do all the heavy lifting for you. Contact us today, and you won’t need to worry about anything! Let us regularly put out professional articles for you.