marketers’ guide to long-form content //

Did you know 87% marketers said that content marketing helped them achieve company branding goals? Nearly 80% of respondents said that it helped them gain credibility with their target audiences.

Particularly long-form content can convert interest into action. If you do it right, you can generate leads as well as increase brand awareness. To be effective, long-form content must be valuable.

This article will explain how to use long-form text effectively and what to include in your content marketing plan for stronger B2B relationships.

The key takeaways from

• Long-form content can be found in many formats, lengths and contexts.
• Long-form content has many benefits, including SEO value and trust building in business relationships.
• To create and effectively implement long-form B2B content, you need a strategy.

Definition of long-form B2B content

What is long-form content Marketing? This term is often used liberally by marketers. There are many definitions, with different word counts. However, “long” refers to written content that is between 1,200- 7,500 words. You can use it as a company brochure, how-to guide, or case study.

It is just as important to use substantial content as it is what and where you do it. You need to map your content so that you can meet buyers at every touchpoint on their journey.

Long-form content is a great tool for B2B marketing

What are the benefits of long-form content? These benefits are numerous and easily quantifiable.

Get higher search rankings

Search engine optimization is a powerful tool for content creation. For many reasons, well-written blog content has significant SEO value.

• This increases click-through rates, and the time spent on your site.
• Google prefers websites with rich content.
• This increases your chances to be a featured snippet in a Google search.
• This increases your chances of earning quality backlinks.
• You can showcase your thought leadership with long-form content

SEO is one of the most effective ways to increase your organic traffic and ROI. It is not difficult to get more customers to your business.

The topic is yours.

A brand owner’s dream is to have credibility. You can detail your industry’s needs and highlight the differences between you and the competition by writing long-form content.

It is important to choose content topics with care if you want content marketing to be successful. This is your chance to show clients how you can help grow their business.

What are you best at? What can you do to translate this into useful, organized and well-researched content? These questions will help you create long-form content B2B that can grow your brand.

Your hard work can be repurposed into marketable content

The best content can be adapted into valuable marketing assets by incorporating long-form content. You can use stats to create infographics and quizzes for your social media content. With minor modifications, you can transform your longest posts into ebooks and courses.

How to create long-form content for B2B

Now you know the “what” as well as “why” behind long-form content. Let’s now look at the “how”.

You can create quality content for your B2B audience by utilizing your creativity and providing your marketing team with content that they can save for future reference.

Assess the content of your competitors

What is your competition doing? What can you do to improve it? These are the questions you should ask before you commit to a long-form strategy for content.

Google can help you find other businesses’ opinions on a topic. You can use this information to create a voice for yourself and your brand by coming up with something completely new or addressing the same topic from an entirely different perspective.

Consider every opportunity to demonstrate your thought leadership by what you say, and how it will help build long-term relationships.

Get started with a plan

How well do your target markets know you? Customer Data Platforms allow marketers to control data collection and segmentation, creating an invaluable content marketing database.

Knowing who your readers are will help you determine what information they need. You can then create a content plan to keep them satisfied.

Formatting techniques can keep the reader’s attention.

Both what you say and how it is said are important. You are able to communicate with authority. You now need to create the format that will keep buyers interested and move them on to the next stage of your sales funnel. These are some of the techniques you can use to create long-form content.

• You can break up the content into smaller sections to make it easier for readers to scan.
• Organise using detailed headings or subheadings.
• For extra-long pieces, include a section of content with links to headings.
• To communicate your message in multiple ways, use visual aids such as infographics or charts.

Make sure the content is clear, concise, and flows easily between each heading or subheading.

Long-form content integration into sales funnels

Just because you can create long-form content, it doesn’t necessarily mean that every piece must exceed 1,200 words. A balanced and effective B2B marketing strategy relies on a multi-technique and omnichannel approach to lead generation.

A how-to guide can be a great way to impress clients in the initial stages of business interactions. To capture clients’ imaginations, you can use a case study or an industry report to demonstrate your expertise in the field.

Next, you can hit them with an interactive piece, such as a tutorial, near the final decision stage. Any marketing or sales funnel can be improved by long-form content.

Long-form content creates long-term success

B2B marketing is all about clarity and conciseness. You can apply this to long-form content and create pieces that are rich in reusable information. Don’t forget that longer content can only be useful if the information is valuable.

You can build relationships with your existing and potential clients by using long-form content. Keep your content concise and dive deep into the benefits of a partnership.

MarTech first published the post A B2B Marketer’s Guide to Long-Form Content.