5 Examples of B2B Companies That Achieved Success with Content Marketing
Content marketing is a powerful strategy for B2B companies to attract and engage their target audience, generate leads, and increase sales. But how do you create content that stands out from the crowd and delivers results? In this article, we will look at five examples of B2B companies that achieved success with content marketing and what we can learn from them.
1. HubSpot: The Inbound Marketing Leader
HubSpot is a software company that provides tools and resources for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. HubSpot is also known for its extensive blog, which covers topics such as SEO, social media, email marketing, web design, and more. HubSpot’s blog attracts over 6 million monthly visitors and generates over 100,000 leads per month.
HubSpot’s content marketing strategy is based on four pillars:
– Creating valuable and educational content that helps their audience solve their problems and achieve their goals.
– Optimizing their content for search engines and social media platforms to increase their visibility and reach.
– Offering free tools and resources such as ebooks, webinars, courses, templates, and quizzes to generate leads and build trust.
– Nurturing their leads with personalized email campaigns and providing them with relevant offers and solutions.
HubSpot’s content marketing strategy has helped them grow their revenue from $255 million in 2015 to $883 million in 2020.
2. Shopify: The Ecommerce Platform for Everyone
Shopify is a software company that enables anyone to create an online store and sell their products. Shopify has over 1.7 million merchants in 175 countries and powers over $200 billion in sales.
Shopify’s content marketing strategy is focused on empowering their merchants to succeed in ecommerce. Shopify’s content includes:
– Blog posts that cover topics such as ecommerce trends, best practices, case studies, tips, and inspiration.
– Podcasts that feature interviews with successful entrepreneurs, experts, and influencers who share their stories and insights.
– Videos that showcase the stories of Shopify merchants, their products, and their journeys.
– Guides that provide step-by-step instructions on how to start, grow, and scale an online store.
– Webinars that offer live training and Q&A sessions on various ecommerce topics.
Shopify’s content marketing strategy has helped them grow their revenue from $205 million in 2015 to $2.9 billion in 2020.
3. Slack: The Collaboration Hub for Work
Slack is a software company that provides a platform for team communication and collaboration. Slack has over 12 million daily active users and over 750,000 paid customers.
Slack’s content marketing strategy is aimed at showcasing how their product can improve the way people work together. Slack’s content includes:
– Blog posts that feature customer stories, product updates, tips, and best practices for remote work, productivity, and teamwork.
– Podcasts that explore the future of work, culture, innovation, and leadership with experts and thought leaders.
– Videos that demonstrate how Slack can help teams collaborate more effectively across different functions, locations, and time zones.
– Ebooks that offer in-depth guides on how to use Slack for various use cases such as sales, marketing, customer service, project management, and more.
– Webinars that provide live demos and Q&A sessions on how to get the most out of Slack.
Slack’s content marketing strategy has helped them grow their revenue from $105 million in 2016 to $902 million in 2020.
4. Salesforce: The Customer Relationship Management Giant
Salesforce is a software company that provides cloud-based solutions for customer relationship management (CRM) and other business functions. Salesforce has over 150,000 customers and over $21 billion in revenue.
Salesforce’s content marketing strategy is focused on educating their audience about the benefits of CRM and how it can help them grow their business. Salesforce’s content includes:
– Blog posts that cover topics such as sales, marketing, customer service, analytics, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and more.
– Podcasts that feature interviews with industry leaders, experts, and influencers who share their insights and advice on various business challenges.
– Videos that highlight the success stories of Salesforce customers, partners, and employees.
– Ebooks that provide comprehensive guides on how to implement CRM strategies for different industries, segments, and scenarios.
– Webinars that offer live presentations and Q&A sessions on how to use Salesforce products and services.
Salesforce’s content marketing strategy has helped them grow their revenue from $6.7 billion in 2015 to $21.3 billion in 2020.
5. Buffer: The Social Media Management Tool
Buffer is a software company that provides a tool for managing social media accounts. Buffer has over 75,000 customers and over $20 million in revenue.
Buffer’s content marketing strategy is centered on helping their audience master social media marketing. Buffer’s content includes:
– Blog posts that cover topics such as social media trends, best practices, experiments, and case studies.
– Podcasts that discuss the latest news, tips, and insights on social media marketing with experts and practitioners.
– Videos that show how to use Buffer’s features and functionalities to optimize social media performance.
– Ebooks that offer detailed guides on how to create and execute social media strategies for different platforms, goals, and audiences.
– Webinars that provide live training and Q&A sessions on how to use Buffer and other social media tools.
Buffer’s content marketing strategy has helped them grow their revenue from $4.8 million in 2015 to $20.5 million in 2020.
These are just some of the examples of B2B companies that achieved success with content marketing. They show us that content marketing is not only effective for B2C businesses, but also for B2B businesses that want to reach and influence their target audience, generate leads, and increase sales
How B2B Companies Are Adapting to the Changing Market
Business-to-business (B2B) is a term that describes the transactions and relationships between two or more businesses, as opposed to between businesses and consumers (B2C). B2B companies provide products or services that help other businesses operate, grow, or improve their performance. Some examples of B2B companies are Salesforce, IBM, FedEx, and Datadog.
The B2B market is huge and diverse, with different types of customers, products, and sales cycles. According to a report by Shopify, the global B2B ecommerce market is expected to reach $20.9 trillion by 2027, up from $12.2 trillion in 2019. However, the B2B market is also facing many challenges and opportunities in the digital age, such as changing customer expectations, increased competition, new technologies, and environmental and social issues.
In this blog post, we will look at some examples of how B2B companies are adapting to these changes and creating value for their customers.
How to Increase Global Demand for Your B2B Products
One of the key goals for any B2B company is to increase the global demand for its products or services. This means reaching new markets, expanding existing ones, and creating loyal customers who will buy more and refer others. However, increasing global demand is not easy, especially in a competitive and uncertain environment. It requires a clear strategy, a deep understanding of the customer needs and preferences, a strong value proposition, and a consistent delivery of quality and value.
Here are some tips on how to increase global demand for your B2B products:
– Conduct market research to identify the best opportunities for your products or services. You can use tools like Google Trends, Statista, or Trade Map to analyze the market size, growth potential, trends, and competitors in different regions or countries.
– Segment your customers based on their characteristics, behaviors, needs, and goals. You can use criteria such as industry, company size, location, budget, pain points, decision-making process, or buying criteria to create buyer personas and tailor your marketing and sales messages accordingly.
– Create a unique value proposition that differentiates your products or services from the competition and shows how you can solve the customer’s problems or help them achieve their goals. You can use frameworks like the Value Proposition Canvas or the Jobs to be Done Theory to craft your value proposition.
– Build a strong online presence that showcases your products or services, educates your customers, generates leads, and drives conversions. You can use platforms like Shopify Plus or Magento Commerce to create a user-friendly and mobile-optimized B2B ecommerce website that allows customers to browse, compare, order, and pay for your products or services online. You can also use channels like social media, email marketing, content marketing, webinars, podcasts, or influencer marketing to attract, engage, and nurture your customers throughout their journey.
– Provide excellent customer service and support that exceeds your customers’ expectations and builds trust and loyalty. You can use tools like Zendesk or Freshdesk to offer multichannel support via phone, email, chat, or social media. You can also use tools like HubSpot or Salesforce to manage your customer relationships and provide personalized recommendations, offers, feedback requests, or referrals.
Some examples of B2B companies that have successfully increased their global demand are:
– Picky Bars: A company that sells energy bars, oatmeal, and granola to retailers in US, Canada, Dubai, Korea,
Peru, Sweden, and UK. It offers a seamless B2B buying experience through its online storefront that allows customers to make quick orders, access brand assets, and get discounts for bulk purchases.
– SwagUp: A company that sells branded products—swag—for other businesses’ employees, customers, and event attendees. It offers a fast and easy way to customize and order swag packs online, with options to choose from preset packs or build one from scratch.
– Microfiber Wholesale: A company that sells microfiber cleaning products to professional cleaners,
janitorial services, and distributors. It provides detailed product descriptions, videos, reviews, and comparisons that help customers make informed buying decisions.
References:
https://www.infosys.com/about/knowledge-institute/insights/Documents/future-customer-engagement.pdf
http://fortune.com/fortune500/2015/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343409950081275
https://archive.org/details/ecommerceformula00plan/page/26
https://press.aboutamazon.com/2022/9/amazon-business-2022-state-of-business-procurement-report-highlights-opportunities-in-e-procurement
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/small-business-commissioner-role
https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/B2B2C-business-to-business-to-consumer
https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/b2b-ecommerce-website-examples#picky-bars
https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/b2b-ecommerce-website-examples#swagup
https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/b2b-ecommerce-website-examples#microfiber-wholesale
