Content crisis: B2B businesses struggle to create meaningful content

We recently received an email from SurveyMonkey which contained an alarming statistic:

That hits close to home.

But in a way, this statistic confirmed something we already knew. Most businesses are producing content at some level — about 94% of small businesses are according to studies — and whether their content operations are limited, standard, or robust compared to competitors, they all struggle to create content that connects.

Some blog posts just don’t get read, and those that bring in significant web traffic are often few and far between. Even high-value content like eBooks and how-to guides can struggle to gain traction if they aren’t packed with value.

The email we received got us interested, so we decided to do some additional research. What we found was astonishing. It turns out SurveyMonkey had only scratched the surface.

According to Social Media Today, 60-70% of content produced by B2B companies goes unused. They also reported that a whopping 87% of B2B marketers say they struggle to create content that engages their buyers.

That’s a lot of time, money, and effort spent on content that isn’t performing. Clearly, it isn’t a lack of effort harming these businesses’ content strategies. When we thought about it more, we realized most businesses have one problem when they produce content: Their content just isn’t meaningful.

What is Meaningful Content?

Anyone can write a blog post. But creating one that’s meaningful, one that truly engages your buyers, is a challenge for even the most seasoned content marketers.

Meaningful content is content that adds value. Once they engage with it, your audience should leave inspired, entertained, or knowing something they didn’t know previously.

It can be tempting to water down your content to cater to the lowest common denominator. You may do this to attempt to reach a broader audience or just to play it safe. After all, expressing a strong opinion can put people off.

But if you don’t have any valuable information to give away — if you’re just repeating the same things as your competitors — then there’s a good chance your content assets will get ignored.

This doesn’t mean you should give up on your content calendar, nor should you stop trying to target relevant keywords. But if you want to produce meaningful content that provides value, you need to back it up with something concrete.

Creating Content That Adds Value

Businesses — especially small businesses and startups — don’t often have the budget, technology, or the skills they need to create meaningful content. In one study, 48% of respondents said lack of content creation resources was their most significant barrier to achieving their content creation goals.

If you’re struggling to picture what “meaningful content” looks like, you’re not alone. When you’re on the clock and deadlines are looming, it’s tempting to produce what you must to get through the week.

But if you fall into this pattern, you’re all too likely to stick to the status quo and not stand out.

Consider this: The internet is rife with how-to guides and list articles. Content marketers learned long ago that these types of articles perform well, so they’re the articles that get written most often.

While there’s nothing wrong with writing these types of articles, producing twenty listicles per month doesn’t add up to a viable content strategy. Unless you inform or challenge your readers, most of your articles aren’t going to get much attention.

Articles by journalists and news publications get shared and read more often than marketing content. Why? Because they teach us something — they add meaning.

Meaning is a function of what people believe. If you’ve done any research into your target verticals, you can assume your audience will approach your content with certain beliefs in tow. It’s your job to frame those beliefs for them, then add meaning to them.

An example

Let’s say you’re a business that sells a time-keeping app to managers and directors in the retail sector. You decide your buyer personas might like an article entitled:

“5 Ways to Make Your Store Employees Happier and More Productive.”

There are bound to be a hundred other articles like this on the internet:

If your audience reads any one of these articles, they’ll probably find it interesting and validating if it’s written well. But will it add value? If it provides the same advice as all the other articles, probably not.

In most cases, these articles will accomplish two things. They will reach a small but semi-relevant audience and they will help that audience believe they can make their employees more productive.

But your article should accomplish one more objective, which is to inspire your audience to act based on what they learn from your content.

This is where the true value lies. If your content isn’t meaningful enough to inspire your audience to act, it won’t be effective in driving traffic and conversions.

In our experience, the best way to add value to content and to drive people to act is to present them with irrefutable evidence that action is necessary. We recommend backing up your content with original data.

Using Data to Drive Action

No matter your business, there’s plenty of data available for free online to help you back up claims in your content. But wouldn’t you rather add something new to the conversation?

If you can generate your own data, you have an opportunity to draw new insights about your audience’s industry. Ideally, you’ll encourage them to take a hard look at their own business so they can see the value of your products and services.

Let’s look at the example of the software company from above. You can still write that “5 Ways to Make Your Store Employees Happier and More Productive” article. But with data, you can make it even more meaningful:

“Retail Study Reveals 5 Ways to Keep Employees Happy and Productive”

Not only is the topic now more compelling, but it’s also more legitimate. Retail professionals will want to know how their competitors are keeping their employees happy and productive. They’ll be more trusting of your insights because they’re backed by research — they aren’t just suggestions from your marketing team.

Not long ago, this type of proprietary data was only accessible to large companies with substantial marketing budgets.

Not anymore.

Even if you have a limited marketing budget, you can afford proprietary data with rand&rand’s custom research and content services. We’ll run a survey which will provide you with enough data for weeks or even months of high-value content — all at a price you can afford.

Reach an analyst today to learn how.