5 Reasons Why B2B Content Fails

I talk with a lot of founders and we’ve created a ton of content both for us and for other B2B companies, and I often see the same mistakes.

1️⃣ Content is not created by a subject matter expert

Surface-level content created by a marketing hire, an agency, or a junior content writer is not enough to sell complex and expensive B2B solutions to senior-level decision-makers.

To stand out, establish expertise, and build trust & credibility, the insights need to come from an actual expert within the company. Someone who deeply understands the product, the market and the customers.

2️⃣ Wrong channels

For example, they only create content for their website blog, which was a great strategy 5 years ago because platforms like LinkedIn weren’t mature and there weren’t a lot of companies doing blog posts and SEO, so you could actually stand out.

Although blogging and SEO still work, it’s a much longer-term strategy, and it’s not the most effective channel for B2B. LinkedIn is the most effective channel for B2B right now. Where you post matters.

3️⃣ Not repurposing

Many companies have one content play going: a blog on their website, or an email newsletter, or someone posting on their LinkedIn. And that’s the one place where their content goes and nowhere else.

The problem is, it takes a lot of time and resources to create good content. And if you only use this insightful piece of content once, you’re missing out on achieving scale.

So companies need to figure out, for example, how they can repurpose their blog post into 2 LinkedIn posts, then restructure the same blog post into an email newsletter, then use the blog post as a basis for a video script, etc.

4️⃣ No processes in place

There are many companies where there is no repeatable process behind the topic discovery, content ideation, and content creation. Which means that every new piece of content starts out with a blank canvas.

That means it takes a lot of time to create content, which leads to inconsistency, especially if the Founder and CEO are posting, because they drop the activity every time things get busy in the company.

5️⃣ Constantly switching channels

I feel like a lot of marketing teams hope there is this magic marketing channel where they can just start being active and go viral. So they always try the new thing, start a podcast, post on Linkedin, and if it doesn’t blow up after 3 months, they stop and chase the next thing.

The problem is that it takes time to figure out what you’re doing and what topics resonate with your audience. And a B2B buyer will not listen to one podcast or read one LinkedIn post and spend $50,000-$100,000 on your solution. It can take months for them to get educated on what you do, how you do it, and build trust.

So, when you constantly switch hoping that things will go viral, you never benefit from the compounding effect of building a foundation.