Rare Bird’s Guide to B2B Content Marketing: What to Do (and Not Do)

Content marketing is a meaningful way for businesses to connect with their audience, establish authority, and drive conversions. However, many companies struggle to create a strategic approach that yields tangible results. A one-off blog post here and there is not enough.

Enter Rare Bird’s Guide to B2B Content Marketing. This comprehensive resource—a not-so-subtle piece of content marketing in its own right, we might add—is designed to help you soar above the competition by illuminating what does (and does not) contribute to effective B2B content marketing. 

Whether you’re a battle-tested marketing director or a degree-in-hand newbie taking your first steps into the Marketing Colosseum, we’ll help you explore what truly works in B2B content marketing—and what pitfalls to avoid.

What Is B2B Content Marketing?

B2B content marketing is a strategic approach to creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined business audience. Unlike traditional advertising, it focuses on addressing the specific needs, pain points, and interests of other businesses rather than individual consumers.

While B2C content marketing aims to evoke emotional responses and quick purchasing decisions, B2B content marketing typically targets longer, more complex sales cycles involving multiple decision-makers. It emphasizes building trust, demonstrating expertise, and providing in-depth information to support informed business decisions.

In an overall marketing strategy, B2B content marketing serves as a cornerstone for:

• Establishing thought leadership and industry authority
• Nurturing leads through the sales funnel
• Supporting sales teams with valuable resources
• Improving search engine visibility and organic traffic
• Strengthening long-term relationships with clients and partners

Effective B2B content marketing aligns with business goals, addresses the entire customer journey, and delivers measurable results. As such, “content” is an intentionally vague term that encompasses a wide variety of mediums and formats—blog posts and pillar pages, whitepapers, case studies, webinars, and social media content, tailored to the preferences and needs of a business audience. Video has an important role in content marketing, as well. By providing valuable insights and solutions, B2B content marketing positions a company as a trusted partner rather than just another vendor.

Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing

Successful B2B content marketing campaigns showcase the power of strategic, value-driven content in engaging audiences and driving results. Notable examples include HubSpot’s comprehensive resource library, which increased leads by 70%; IBM’s THINK blog, attracting millions of views annually; American Express’s OPEN Forum, boosting brand favorability by 30%; and Salesforce’s Trailhead platform, with more than two million users. These examples demonstrate the effectiveness of providing genuine value, addressing specific audience needs, and consistently delivering high-quality content. They show how B2B content marketing can build trust, establish thought leadership, and drive tangible business outcomes when executed strategically.

Would you like a few practical examples from businesses that aren’t the size of IBM or Salesforce? (Both are among the largest 100 corporations in the world, after all.)

Harrison Steel Castings Company’s success with targeted content marketing demonstrates the power of a research-informed approach. In 2021, we found their website ranking just outside the top 10 for crucial industry keywords like “Steel Foundry” and “Steel Casting”—and that meant they weren’t on the first page of Google’s search rankings. Rare Bird then developed a strategy based on thorough keyword research and competitor analysis to create two informative pages: “What’s Steel Casting?” and “What’s a Steel Foundry?” 

Within months, HSC’s new pages ranked in the top positions for the target keywords and related phrases. By the 12-month mark, HSC dominated search results for key industry terms, with Google Search Console data showing a 160% increase in search impressions and a 25.6% increase in search clicks year-over-year. The pages are almost always first in search rankings for those phrases; when they’re not, they’re usually behind only Wikipedia.

This underscores the effectiveness of well-researched, high-quality content in improving organic search visibility and traffic for B2B companies. By focusing on creating valuable, SEO-optimized content that addresses user needs, we improved HSC’s Google rankings for specific keywords and enhanced their overall site authority. The success of this strategy highlights the long-term potential of pillar pages in driving relevant organic traffic and establishing industry leadership in the digital space.

Meanwhile, for Outpatient Integrated Strategies (OIS), we developed a comprehensive pillar page strategy to establish their authority in the wound care management sector. The centerpiece of this strategy—four long-form guides on cost savings strategies, quality control, and other specific, audience-driven search queries that their niche audience actually wants to know more about—drives traffic to their site. Like many B2B companies, OIS doesn’t need to sign a few dozen new partners each year. But they do need a few, so the goal is to get their content and brand in front of the right potential partners.

Pillar pages like the ones we created for OIS are a particularly effective form of content for targeting niche audiences in B2B markets, especially in specialized industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services. These comprehensive resources allow companies to demonstrate deep expertise in specific areas, addressing the unique challenges and interests of highly focused audience segments. Keyword research and marketing savvy, if we can shake our feathers for a brief moment, combine as we work to identify the right combination of search terms with an acceptable amount of keyword difficulty and a suitable amount of traffic.

Our strategy has proven effective for numerous clients, though it requires patience. We blend in-depth industry expertise with creative content development to improve brand visibility and create the root system for genuine and long-term audience connections. As the Midwest’s most trusted marketing firm, Rare Bird is the go-to choice for businesses seeking measurable outcomes. We emphasize that pillar page strategies are long-term investments, not quick fixes. For more immediate results, we offer alternatives like paid search or Performance Max campaigns.

Common Mistakes in B2B Content Marketing

While we always strive for excellence, we’ve certainly learned from past missteps. For instance, during and after the pandemic, Rare Bird’s own content marketing production slowed way down. But since November 2022, when we published a new blog post for the first time in nearly two years, we’ve averaged more than one published blog post per week. Along the way, we’ve developed multiple video series across our platforms and established a regular social media cadence, as well—all of which has significantly boosted our online presence and engagement. 

Consistent content creation has improved our search engine rankings, and we’ve seen a notable increase in website traffic, with organic search visits up and a clear increase in inbound inquiries from potential clients who discovered us online. In fact, our content effort has upended our normal approach to lead-gen, with 80% of new clients finding us online, rather than through referrals. This renewed focus on content marketing has proven invaluable in strengthening the Rare Bird brand, nurturing client relationships, and driving business growth during a particularly competitive time in our industry.

Even well-intentioned strategies can fall short due to common pitfalls, of course. Here are some frequent mistakes companies make:

Focusing on self-promotion: Many businesses create content that’s overly promotional, discussing their products or services excessively instead of addressing customer pain points and providing valuable insights.

Neglecting audience research: Failing to thoroughly understand the target audience leads to content that misses the mark, addressing irrelevant topics or using inappropriate tone and language.

Inconsistent publishing: Sporadic content creation and distribution can lead to audience disengagement and missed opportunities to build brand presence.

Ignoring the full buyer’s journey: Some companies focus solely on top-of-funnel content, neglecting middle and bottom-funnel content that supports decision-making and conversion.

Poor quality control: Rushed or poorly researched content can damage credibility and authority in the industry.

Lack of measurement and optimization: Failing to track content performance and adjust strategies based on data leads to ineffective campaigns and wasted resources.

Overlooking content distribution: Creating great content but not effectively promoting it across relevant channels limits its reach and impact.

Ignoring SEO best practices: Neglecting keyword research and on-page optimization can result in content that fails to rank well in search results.

Disregarding mobile optimization: With increasing mobile usage in B2B, failing to optimize content for mobile devices can alienate a significant portion of the audience.

Not aligning content with sales: Creating content without input from sales teams can result in materials that don’t effectively support the sales process.

Two Books You Need for Better (Written) Content:

Best Practices for B2B Content Marketing

Effective B2B content marketing strategies often begin with thorough audience research. Companies may find it beneficial to develop detailed buyer personas based on data and customer interviews, though this is not strictly necessary. Mapping the customer journey can help identify content needs at each stage, too, while regularly updating audience insights through surveys and analytics can keep strategies fresh and relevant.

When it comes to content creation, many successful B2B marketers prioritize quality over quantity, focusing on depth and original insights. Content can—and maybe should—be tailored to different stages of the marketing funnel. Educational blog posts and infographics can work well for top-of-funnel awareness, while whitepapers and case studies are typically more effective for middle-funnel consideration. For bottom-funnel decision-making, product comparisons and ROI calculators could prove valuable.

Distribution strategies often benefit from a multi-channel approach. Optimizing content for search engines can improve organic visibility, while leveraging relevant social media platforms and email marketing can help nurture leads. Some companies find success in repurposing content across different formats and channels to maximize reach and impact. The Rule of 7 in marketing states that a potential customer needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they’ll take action. Repeated exposure is necessary to move a prospect from awareness to purchase. Remixing your own content—and not being afraid to share it more than once through social platforms—can make a difference.

Of course, measuring and optimizing content performance is essential, too—without the data, your content marketing efforts might not be efficient. Setting clear, measurable goals for each piece of content and using analytics tools to track performance metrics provides valuable insights. Regular content audits and even A/B testing of various elements like headlines and formats can help refine a content strategy over time.

By following some or all of these best practices, B2B marketers can create a robust content marketing strategy that engages audiences, supports business goals, and delivers measurable results across the entire marketing funnel.

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