Base One blog

May 30 2014 11:53 AM

Whilst massive changes have occurred in marketing and advertising in recent times – whether it be the targeting and depth of analysis of online display activity or the advent of various mobile solutions – something that has become increasingly obvious to me personally is the importance of content promotion over direct selling.

Having recently moved into the B2B sector, I’ve realized just how important it is here compared to B2C. If you are a B2B marketer, it’s critical you create and share information that your consumers or potential customers will find valuable, eventually driving them to buy (more of) your product.

Having previously worked with more B2C focused clients doing media planning and buying, much of it was about driving traffic to the point of purchase or application. Whilst making content available is key – in particular for lead generation purposes – I wasn’t fussed about owning the media, I purely wanted to rent it. However, whilst much of the process that I get involved in now is similar and transferable, I already believe that content is even more vital in the B2B sphere.

It’s possible to overcome the “banner blindness” that affects many online campaigns with some arresting creative, but if you’re provided with something tangible and useful from a brand or company that you like or have a need for, it really helps to build a sense of worth. And you can still be creative. The campaigns and projects that I’m getting to work on these days have moved away from the overt “buy, buy, buy” messages that (used to) work to altogether more thoughtful, useful and larger content pieces.

I’ll freely admit that I don’t want to be interrupted by ads – whether it’s an annoying pop-up that I didn’t instigate whilst I catch up on some industry (or sport) news, or a pre-roll getting in the way of my Game of Thrones fix – but I do love a nice infographic that adds something to my day, might make me laugh, and could even make me feel more knowledgeable. It’s imperative that your content is distributed to your audience in the correct way, not only getting the deliverable right but also the strategy for getting it out there too. I suppose that’s my first learning at Base One. Here’s to many more (through some infographics and maybe a cat video or two).