"Why isn't my content connecting?"
If you have content at the center of your marketing efforts, and it's not actually, you know...DOING the marketing, there might be a few things to double check...
If the Edelman-LinkedIn Thought Leadership Impact Study is to be believed, your B2B audience is highly influenced by great content. But too few emphasize quality in favor of quantity, and decision-makers report both spotting and bemoaning the difference.
Are you telling the world your story, or your audience's? First-person storytelling is fine from time to time, but your audience should be the true hero of the stories you tell. Give them a challenge to overcome, a destination to reach, a goal to attain. If you truly solve your market's pain points, you need to demonstrate first that you understand it...not that you have something to sell.
Perhaps it's the right content in the wrong place. Are you seeking and securing third-party publishing and syndication opportunities at the media platforms and other centers of influence to which your audience already flocks?
Are you creating too much friction between your content and your desired audience? This could come in the form of gating your content as a way of capturing leads, a topic Jay Harrington and I have been noodling a great deal lately. Or maybe you're linking to blog posts on your firm website, when you might be better off publishing directly in LinkedIn, like this post.
As one of the architects of the study, Tusar Barik, put it:
"B2B marketers have a crucial opportunity to establish their organizations as guiding voices through incisive and insightful thought leadership that stands out from the noise.
"Are you ready to rise to the occasion?"
