This guest post from Siobhain O’Reilly looks at creating content for your B2B blog and not serving “content leftovers”.  But it applies to all sorts of B2B writing from sales collateral, to websites, to speeches.  It’s smart pipeline marketing advice on how to create strategy and copy that connects with & converts more customers.  Thanks for sharing it!

Are you serving your audience “content leftovers”?

Before I started doing work for BrainRider, I did something that made me feel kind of, well… dirty.

Let me explain.

I was approached by a contact to help him get a blog started for his B2B website. When I asked him if he’d thought about what he’d like to blog about, he just said, “I don’t know – just see what everyone else is doing. You’ll figure it out.” Ack! I didn’t know a lot about his industry (and he didn’t give me much time to learn), so I had to rely heavily on web research. I did my best to ensure the end result sounded completely new… but in the end, I couldn’t help but feel like I was the owner of a fancy restaurant serving my patrons leftovers from their own refrigerators.

I think a lot of people fall into this trap of not having objectives or a strategy for their content. They need copy to fill up a space and so they think leftovers will do for their customers. The danger in this though, is that you’re always running the risk of a) your audience getting bored with seeing the same old content over and over, and b) someone else doing it better than you.

The place to start is with a strategy:

• What is your business objective (How will you get new customers, retain existing customers, cross-sell, up-sell, get employees, keep employees)?
• What is your value proposition?
• Who is your audience?
• What does your audience want or need to know?
• What content do you need to create in order to deliver on your objective, support your value proposition, and engage your audience?

Here are a few tips on how to generate that content and keep it fresh:

Invest in some proprietary research.

Granted, research can cost a lot of money. But with smart planning, you can make those research dollars go a long way. Keep your content strategy in mind as you work with your research team so you can plan out exactly what types of findings and insights you’d like to share with your audience. If your company regularly publishes white papers, this can also serve as a good source of proprietary information.

Provide access to good sound bites.

Give your copywriter access to thought leaders, innovators and subject matter experts within your company, especially those who can provide excellent sound bites. The occasional interview not only provides good variety for the reader, it also lends credibility as well as that added human touch. (Added plus: Other content “borrowers” will have a hard time staking a claim on your material.)

Provide access to customer feedback.

You’d be surprised what inspiration and insights can be found in the letters that come in from your customers. Sometimes all a customer wants to know is that they’re being heard – and you can address a lot of those concerns in your blog entries. This also makes your content more relevant to your audience.

Feature a “star” customer.

Are there companies you do business with that can serve as perfect case studies? Highlight your best customers on a regular basis (with their permission, of course). Not only are you helping to promote their business, you’re also showcasing your own products and services in a more relatable way.

Ultimately, if you’ve made it your goal to create high-value content for your website that’s truly relevant to your audience, then it should also be part of your goal to ensure that content is original.

(Plus, it will help your copywriter sleep at night.)

About our guest blogger: Siobhain O’Reilly

Siobhain O’Reilly is a senior creative leader with 20+ years of experience with companies like Capital One, Grey Direct & Interactive, Warrillow & Co., Wunderman and The Financial Post. She’s somewhat of an anomaly in that, for a creative person, she has a strong knack for the business side of advertising. In other words, suits dig her. She also writes for all media – print, broadcast, web and direct mail – with tons of experience in financial services and business-to-business. She’s worked on both the agency side and the client side, getting a unique perspective that few creatives have experienced. And for those people who care about awards, her work has been recognized with numerous plaques and other dust collectors on both a national and international level.