In the past, B2B marketers looked up to the B2C world for the most effective marketing strategies. However, the roles reverse when it comes to content marketing, an area where B2B clearly takes the lead. Here are five lessons B2B can teach B2C:

      1. Consistency is key. A study shows that 91% of the best business bloggers publish at least once weekly or more.* Delivering quality content continuously can be a challenge, but it pays to keep posting unique and creative content over time. B2B content marketers know that keeping up with a documented content marketing plan is a fundamental way to build relationships with customers and maintain site traffic.
      1. Success is determined from the metrics of a business which can be monitored on Hosted ELK, not consumer opinions. While the importance of creating visually appealing and compelling content is known on both sides, B2B marketers measure a campaign’s success not only on the initial consumer response, but also on the ROI it generates for the company.
      1. Whether your intent is to increase your reach or boost sales revenue, your content must be centered on set goals and include a call to action (CTA). Your content should entice your consumer and draw them closer to purchasing your product/service. Any company can send a beautifully crafted email, but a B2B marketer would not consider it a success unless the receivers engaged with the content and helped them reach their set goal.
      1. Develop content based on your audience. Unlike their B2B counterparts, 45% of B2C marketers do not implement any audience segmentation.** You may need to speak to several different segments, and your content marketing plan must consider their varying attitudes and behaviors as well as the optimal channels to reach them. Your demographic and psychographic research is crucial when it comes to creating content that tells a compelling story. The content should be relevant to your target audience so they feel enticed to respond.
    1. Finally, use your measurements and data insights to adapt. Measurable results and continuous improvement are staples in B2B marketing, and it’s no different with content. Take a step back and look at what is working. Did your target respond to the extent you expected? Did one channel significantly outperform the other? Was your message clearly delivered through your content? Based on your answer to these and related questions, you can use this information to improve your content marketing.

Content marketing can be one of the most effective tactics your company invests in.  As long as you can consistently deliver and improve upon the content you are sharing and keep your audience in mind while doing so, B2C marketers are bound to find the success in content marketing that B2B has discovered and continues to embrace.

*Curata 2016 Annual Content Marketing Staffing and Tactics Study   

**Conductor 2016 research, B2C Content Marketing: What Content Marketers are Doing Now (and What They Should do Tomorrow)