Want to stay on top of the new consumer expectations and preferences? Don’t want to be dead in the giant sea of competitive markets? The fast-changing digital landscape demands companies to prepare for a strategic evolution at all fronts, especially content marketing. That’s a familiar challenge for every business who’s struggling to secure its bottom line. As a use case, let’s consider B2B content marketing and why it needs to be evolved.

There is no replacement for digital-media-related technology. However, the conventional means are still therein, but, perhaps with little usage and effectiveness. For instance, no online news resources can replace your daily newspaper, no social network can change the ways people meet and greet in real-life gatherings, and no online teaching robots can take the place of competent teachers.

Well, the irony is that most of the newspapers are now available online only, the social media networks have greatly transformed the notion of connectivity and tens of millions of students are now attending schools virtually, the businesses are moving to outsource and work-from-home models. It pertains to the fact that legacy media formats cannot be replaced completely because of the internet’s evolution.

Are you still clinging to the old media formats? Is your B2B content marketing not worth something like a blockbuster movie? Don’t you know when to make the right move?

All these questions and a lot more come up with the marketers you ever meet.

Ask Yourself When:
If you are a financial service provider, ask yourself when to stop sending your thought leadership email using PDF attachments. You want to know when to replace PDF with another format. As an online retailer, ask yourself when to stop printing eCommerce business promotion brochures in exchange for a scalable digital version. As a tech company owner, ask yourself when is the right time to evolve your resource repository of PDF files and PowerPoint into something else.      

Avoid Anchor-Based Approaches:    
Although legacy media marketing still exists successfully, it could act like an anchor slowing down your business innovation and transformation. Businesses that cling to traditional media alone have an obstructed view of digital evolution and hence, cannot reach the panache of unbeatable customer experience.

The content marketing transition to fully digital can be the most difficult thing to do practically. But the companies who opt for digital media in favor of legacy platforms have the advantage of being more focused and result-oriented. This transition from old media to new digital transformation is quite challenging, but the benefit of going all-in with digital customer experience will help speed your company’s digital transition and growth.    

If you want to evolve your business into a digital blockbuster then develop an ability to convince all stakeholders to reinvent everything in a timely manner combined with contemporary tools and technologies. Automation should take the lead to eliminate waste of resources; be it time, money, or manpower.   

But, is it inevitable for all companies to develop a digital-first content strategy?

Think As A Whole:  
It’s the context that dictates what consumers prefer when it comes to content experiences. It’s usually not the format, features, or quality, but the context which consumers choose, and the concept here is ‘whole product’ theory. They choose a core product combined with the contextual attributes and complementary elements that surround it.  

Simply put, today’s consumers are more likely to choose a media format and platform that more readily fits their desired personal context regardless if it’s new or has more features, or offers superlative quality. This is why when a new and better media type emerges; it cannot make the legacy media experiences completely outdated. Each media stands its own position and can only be outdated when the legacy experience becomes contextually irrelevant to your target audience – potential consumers.     

What should a B2B marketer do?
The last two decades have put B2B businesses in a long, tough race of keeping up with the pace of digital content development. They have greatly experienced the whole product theory. More than 50% of the buyer’s journey is digital. The B2B buyers spend most of their time reviewing content they find online on different platforms and in different digital formats.

According to McKinsey study 2020, “B2B businesses see digital interactions 2-3 times more important to their consumers compared to conventional sales interactions.”

Another B2B content marketing report has found that “the biggest investment in 2021 by 70% of the B2B marketers is ‘digital content creation’.

B2B consumers expect more from businesses in terms of digital experiences.

Conclusion:
Digital transformation is not an easy venture for any business. The stakes are quite high for B2B marketers while addressing the context of today’s modern buyers. Classic and static media formats are still preferred by some of the buyers, but the majority of the B2B consumers seek personalized content experiences. That’s why B2B businesses must evolve to deliver more compelling and customized digital content marketing experiences.  The future of digital experience lies in the evolution of content marketing and software development. Let ArhamSoft (Pvt) Ltd. be your partner for digital content creation and technologically advanced IT services.