Content Marketing for B2B…Is it Important?

I wrote this post as part of a project I did recently on content marketing. And with this in mind, I want to point out that I am by no means an expert – but instead, very curious and learning. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this post and do let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

You might think you don’t need to utilise content marketing if you’re Business-to-Business – but the truth is, by not using it, you’re missing out on leads and growth. There are effective and proven strategies out there that will help growth, and by that, I mean increased traffic, leads and sales. Sounds good, right?

Show Businesses That You Care

An important thing to remember is that the people you are trying to sell your products or services to aren’t robots or AI behind a screen – they’re humans. Demonstrating an understanding of what exactly it is that you can offer will not only lead to potential revenue but will also help to build a relationship between your business and customers. 

It may also be worth putting yourself in your potential target buyer’s shoes too. Your marketing strategy should be focused on solving the business challenges faced by your customer – that’s the reason they’re reaching out for a product or service in the first place, right? In this way, content can be used to show that your company cares about the same things as your customers.

Know Your Audience

The more you know about your customers, the more information you have to create content they will engage with. This is where looking at demographics comes in useful, so you can make data-driven decisions that are impactful and ensure you are creating content that your target customer base is much more likely to engage with. 

A great way to find out information and establish your audience is through creating a buyer persona, which is essentially a character profile. You can establish one of these through different market research techniques such as conducting interviews, surveys, and polls on social media. Looking at your site analytics will also allow you to gain insightful information such as keywords used to find you, where your visitors came from, and how long they spent on your site and on each page. 

By taking the time to do your research and create a key buyer persona for your company, you’ll be able to create winning content that reflects what your buyers are looking for and make you stand out amongst competitors. 

Your Content Has Unlimited Potential

A big draw to utilising content marketing is that it’s very cost-effective and affordable. Although it may appear at first to be more expensive than more traditional marketing methods such as paid Ads, in the long run, the price of content marketing well and truly pays off. 

And this has a lot to do with reusing and recycling your content. Content has unlimited potential once created. This means that a blog post could be turned into several social media posts, or a video for YouTube could be optimised for LinkedIn and your website. The more content is repurposed, the cheaper it costs long-term. But it is important to remember not to neglect creativity if you plan to reuse your content.

The Power of SEO

Another benefit of using content marketing is that it allows your business to build organic traffic from search engines. This is also why keeping a blog full of informative content comes in useful. Creating lots of useful blog articles that are informative and effective, and which can be found by keywords, gives search engines such as Google more to index. This means your articles will then appear in search results when potential customers search for keywords that are relevant to your product or service. Your article can be found repeatedly over time on search engines too, demonstrating another reason why content marketing is cost-effective in the long run. 

When buyers are doing online research, and they come across your website or blog multiple times, they will also be more inclined to stay on your website and find out more instead of looking at your competitors.

Choosing the Right Platform For You

The number of digital media channels is ever-increasing, meaning the number of potential avenues that can be utilised to connect with buyers is also increasing. Choosing which digital platforms to use is something that you should consider when trying to connect with potential buyers. It’s also something that you will likely need to diversify at times as trends and platforms evolve. 

The fact that there are a multitude of different platforms is something you can use to your advantage. The more potential buyers are exposed to your content and your brand name, the more they’re being surrounded by the idea of your business, and the more they are likely to trust and connect with your brand. 

The Bottom Line…

From the reading I’ve done as well as my own opinion, it seems content marketing works for B2B. It’s reliable, cost-effective and vitally important in growing your business reach, leading to increased traffic, leads and sales. Content marketing is key for B2B survival and is an effective strategy to attract other businesses to your business, converting them into long-term customers.

B2B = Business-to-Business – this is basically a transaction between two businesses, for example, this might include a wholesaler and a retailer or a manufacturer and a retailer.

Exploring New Words

Widening my vocabulary is something I am often in pursuit of, as a means to aid me in my writing, both academically and in general. After all, there are so many words in existence: why not make a conscious effort to use more of them? So, I set myself a little bit of a task and chose five words that were unfamiliar to me, and composed an example sentence in which they could be used in.

Abubble

[uh-buhb-uh l], adjective.

Definition:  characterised by intense enthusiasm or activity, or bubbling, as while cooking or boiling.

Example Sentence: Abubble with pride, the young athlete stepped onto the podium.

Instauration

[in-staw-rey-shuh n], noun.

Definition: renewal; restoration; renovation; repair or, an act of instituting something i.e an establishment.

Example Sentence: The instauration of the printing press by Gutenberg in the 15th -century can be seen as revolutionary, as it enabled books to be produced on a much wider scale.

Imbue

[im-byoo], verb.

(used with object), imbued, imbuing.

Definition: to impregnate or inspire, as with feelings, opinions, etc or, to saturate or impregnate with moisture, colour, etc.

Example Sentence: You would think a mystery of such complexity would imbue the detective with motivation to begin solving the crime, but something else was evidently of higher importance.

Ineffable

[in-ef-uh-buh l], adjective.

Definition: incapable of being expressed or described in words or, not to be spoken because of its sacredness.

Example Sentence: As it was ineffable in nature, The Book of Eastwatch was kept securely hidden.

Constellate

[kon-stuh-leyt], verb.

(used with or without object), constellated, constellating.

Definition: to cluster together, as stars in a constellation.

Example: Suddenly all her thoughts constellated together like the greatest epiphany she could have ever imagined.

 

 Thank you for reading!

 

All definitions were taken from Dictionary.com, however, all example sentences are of my own creation.

The Back to University Round Up

So this is going to be more of a chatty post, which I haven’t really done yet on this blog, so here goes…

Moving Out (Again)

Come September the 12th and it was time for me to move back to my university city and into my new house in readiness to start my second year of university. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous about this whole process, even though the first time I’d ever moved out from home was last year, when I started my first year of university. My nerves were becoming more apparent the closer the date came, caused by overthinking (completely normal in the human mind, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying) my living situation, as I was moving into a new house with five other girls, and of only two I knew well, the others I’d briefly met over the previous year. ‘What if it doesn’t work out?’, ‘What if i don’t settle in?’, ‘What if I don’t feel comfortable enough to be myself, or in other words, will I have to constantly restrain my weird self?’ But as usual, I was worrying unnecessarily and creating imaginary situations. I’ve been here just over two weeks now and I am absolutely loving it! I settled in almost instantaneously. I’ve made my room super cosy, and have already started decorating it for my favourite season, Autumn (I will insert pictures). My housemates are all lovely, and I’m already making some great memories with them, one being our weekly Bake Off evenings! I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how nice the house is, it was newly decorated for us moving in and is furnished with canvases, giving it that extra homely feeling.

Here are a few snaps of some details in my room;

 

Back to the Grind

September 19th struck the start of my second year of my university course, beginning with a lecture which i’m actually pretty excited about. For those who don’t know, I’m doing a degree in Media Studies, which is possibly one of the most diverse courses, purely being that a lot of what we study is interdisciplinary, as we often cross over into other schools of thought. For example, Sociology, Psychology, Law, English Literature, and the two more obvious ones; Film Studies and Media Production. Because basically EVERYTHING is mediated in some way in today’s society, meaning most fathomable things you can think of can be, and are, consumed through some form of media. Anyway, getting back to my first lecture of the semester, it was for my module titled Popular Genres, which means we will be studying twelve weeks’ worth of stuff about different genres, including fairy tales, horror, science fiction and children’s literature to name a few. This will include studying these popular genres with reference to the historical and cultural context that they were produced in. I also get to the choice to focus on literature in this module which I am very happy about! I’m currently reading Northern Lights by Philip Pullman as suggested by my lecturer ahead of our session on children’s literature, and I have to say, it’s very good so far. As well as my module on Popular Genres, I am also doing two other modules this semester; Visual Cultures (all about the complicated relationship between and creative usage of words and images) and Issues of Taste (exploring ideas of freedom and taste in relation to society, and in reference to the ever-changing contexts, issues and circumstances that occur over time). It is still only early days of teaching for all of my modules, so I feel like I can’t fully judge them, but this far, they all seem very interesting and I’m certainly eager to learn more about them.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and I hope I haven’t made you fall asleep by talking about my university course.

If you have any questions about university, or anything else, I am happy to give you some advice!

Don’t hesitate to get in touch 🙂

 

Growing Up

“… And these children that you spit on

as they try to change their worlds

are immune to your consultations.

They’re quite aware

of what they’re going through…” ~ David Bowie

Being a teenager is challenging. The number of subliminal messages and expectancies placed upon young people are countless. Even though most of these ‘so -called’ messages don’t appear to be harmful at first glance, speaking from individual experience, they certainly are.

One of these messages which causes a lot of problems during teenage years, is the need to fit in. Follow the trends, use the same words as everyone else, dress the same, refrain from speaking up in class to avoid being labelled a ‘nerd’, undergo underage drinking just because everyone else is doing it. Peer pressure is something that we can get so caught up in, and it can be distracting from the precious years we have to be young and experiment with who we are. It’s all a part of growing up, it should be fun filled with wonderful experiences, good and bad. But I do however think retrospectively, that learning how you want to spend your time, (including saying no, and sometimes saying yes to things out of your comfort zone) is integral to discovering things about yourself as a person. It’s important to be aware of your limits.

I sometimes feel as though there’s this predetermined path set to follow in society. Go to school, and then onto University, get a job and then what, eternal happiness? But, of course life isn’t as linear as that. Life is like being on a never-ending roller coaster, it has its ups, it has its downs, and you often don’t know what the hell is going on.

Furthermore, individual expression isn’t something that you should hide away inside of you where no one else can see it. Because we’re all unique in our own way, and I believe you’re given a voice and mind for a reason, and to hide away and try to be something you’re not, well you’re only cheating yourself really. Life is beautiful. So go out and chase whatever it is you want and express your personality whether it be through your quirky choice of clothes or the words you use. We need to make a change and encourage others to start embracing who they are, and work towards the world being a more accepting place. After all, as Sean McCabe said,”You will never influence the world by trying to be like it.”

One thing i’ve also come to realise is that a way to feel free, is to be undeniably yourself. Whilst this is probably one of the hardest things to do, because I don’t know about anyone else but as much as you may want to be yourself at times, there’s always that voice is your head talking you out of it, telling you to act a certain way, say a certain thing to adapt to the person or situation you are around/in. But with the right mindset and persistence, and keeping focused on doing things you enjoy as well as surrounding yourself with the right people, it does get easier.

Lastly, a little bit of advice from me for those hard times when things are getting on top of you;

Think of yourself as an individual, and know that it is okay to prioritise yourself over others. Allow yourself time on your own to work on feeling comfortable in your own skin.

During anxious times view yourself as a single star in an endless cosmos, acknowledge the immensity of the universe, and know that you are merely a speck of dust within it.

This way of thinking often reminds me that my problems are not as big as I think they are, and that they will pass, much like day passes into night and sapling turns into tree. Life keeps going.

 

 

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this post!

🙂

 

Conceptions of Freedom

Freedom. What is it, and how can It be defined? The word freedom is problematic to singularly define. And in this way is much more subjective to the individual as opposed to a simple text book definition. One person’s definition of freedom could be highly conflicting to others. Whether someone feels free or not, could be due to an array of reasons, such as the individual’s state of mind, how strict (or not) the individual’s country allows them to be and so on. So many factors can be taken into account such as social, cultural, geographical, economical etc. when deciding whether one is truly free or not. But personally, freedom to me normally coincides with my state of mind. And more often than not is related to whether I feel content with things that are going on in my life at that time. Being free to me in this way, means being unrestrained from irrational thinking.

The Paradox of Choice

I also like to think about freedom with reference to consumption. Here’s a scenario; you’re at a supermarket, and you’re down the confectionery aisle. What chocolate bar will you choose? You think you have an abundance of choice, 20 to 30 brands are sat looking at you. Double Decker, Whisper, Morrisons own etc. The packaging of that one looks bright and appealing. But this one you always used to buy from the corner shop with your 50p weekly pocket money. But this one’s the cheapest! Ooo but Cadbury has just brought out a brand new recipe, I wonder what that one’s like! PICK ME! PICK ME!

There’s too much choice, an overwhelming amount. You’re now stood, frozen in a state of indecisiveness. You start to wish there was wasn’t so many choices available to you after all. It would be easier that way, you’d be able to make a quicker decision, and limit this pointless faffing in the supermarket. You finally make a decision. But why is something so simple so anxiety provoking?

And the looming question remains; did you really have freedom of choice?

In a capitalist society, due to its economic system, emphasis is placed on choice being available, however this can seem quite domineering. With so much emphasis on consumption, even though there appears to be a freedom of choice, do we really have a choice? Or do societal factors such as anxieties around making sure you choose the right product which will impress the most people, or the product that is the current trend, imprison us and prevent us from making a decision which is solely made on our own personal choice, with disregard to any other external factor?

When we make choices whilst consciously baring in mind what other people will think of us, we are invoking a need to be regarded in a certain way by others. And not so much acting of our own individual desires. Therefore when we make consumer choices it can be said that we aren’t  making straight-forward decisions with no outward consideration to society, it is not just us singularly who are making the choice. We sometimes like to choose what everyone else is choosing, and are obsessed with how others will regard us, in regards to our choice. Choice in this way is a very social thing. We also try to make an ideal choice. For example when choosing a mobile network provider, we’ll try and go for the one with the best value for money. Making ‘the ideal choice’ is something that will most likely play a part in determining our decisions on a regular basis. But this is another reason why choices can be anxiety provoking, and it’s met with the recurring question of ‘Do I really want this?’

Freedom as the achievement of self-realisation 

The idea of positive and negative liberty, made famous by Philosopher Isaiah Berlin, creates a divide between people’s ideas of freedom. Philosopher John Stuart Mill, for example, favoured a negative conception of liberty, and perceived freedom as allowing individuals to act as they wanted, without the interference of authority. So maybe, freedom in this way means to do things that may harm the individual, like smoking or drug abuse. This also perhaps is alluding to rebellion against the constraints of authority. Furthermore, Mill clarified that individuals under this conception of liberty would only be free as long as they were not using their freedom to harm others. So it seems, a moral compass is apparent in Mill’s ideas.

On the other hand, more positive conceptions of liberty, do not link the concept of freedom with having no interference of others and authority, but instead with doing the right and rational thing. This links with Mill’s idea of first-order desire and highest-order of desire. First-order meaning choices you make which are ruled by irrational thoughts, impulse or emotions. And highest-order on the other hand; choices which are made by thinking rationally, and are often reflective of reaching your full potential. To put this into a more simpler way to understand, i’ll apply it to a personal experience;

I have often tried to lessen my usage of social media due to it often making me feel dissatisfied with my life, its fueling of unhealthy comparisons and making me feel like a mindless robot whilst using it. Basically a mixture of negative feelings. As much as I tried to stop pointlessly checking my phone to see if I had any messages, or scrolling through Instagram repeatedly, I regularly gave in to my first-order of desire (checking my phone unnecessarily ) when in actual fact I knew I would feel more mentally free if I just stopped checking my phone so much (highest-order of desire). I more recently have lessened my phone usage by at least 50% and feel more free within myself from doing so.

So in this sense, I can say I have achieved my highest-order of desire (achieving what I most wanted), but it took me a lot of attempts and failings to my first-order of desire to do so. It was an annoying habit that I wanted to break, and the addictive nature of social media meant many failings to my first-order of desire, but I got there in the end.

Freedom is a very ambiguous term, with an abundance of definitions as a result of it being so highly subjective in nature. But freedom for me is probably what Berlin coined ‘positive freedom’, in being that it is internal barriers, that keep me from being what I define as being free.

What do you define ‘freedom’ as?

 

I would love to hear your opinions and ideas, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!

 

Thanks for reading! 🙂

 

 

 

Student Life is What You Make It

‘Student life is what you make it’, is something I often found myself saying to my friends at university, as I’m reassuring them that there is certainly more to ‘uni life’ then going clubbing.

Don’t like clubbing? Then the simplest solution for that my friend is, don’t go. It’s not always as simple as that I know, there’s perhaps that curious voice in your head that pops up telling you to just try it. And you maybe find yourself thinking things like; you’ll be fine what is the worst that could happen? And that you’ll hate yourself more if you don’t ever at least give it a try. If you want to try it, do it, but make sure it’s because you want to, and nothing else.

Ignore those voices in your head that are trying to make yourself do something you don’t want to, ignore those nosey adults (you know the one’s I mean) who just automatically assume that because you’re a student you therefore must enjoy clubbing. Believe me, there is so much more to the university experience than going out clubbing.

From my point of view, as someone who does actually like clubbing, I know that there’s also plenty of other stuff that I could be doing, and do actually do. I simply wouldn’t go to a nightclub if I didn’t want too. I do it because I enjoy it, and that’s the sole reason why you should do anything, because you enjoy it. Countless evenings of my first year were spent chatting away to my flat mates, about anything from our families and life, to Game of Thrones and Harry Potter themed conversations. The hours would fly by, and the next thing we knew it would be 2am. We literally got lost in conversation, evenings like that are invaluable. Other than that, we’d quite often have our themed TV nights, where we’d watch back to back episodes of Riverdale or Twin Peaks, or we’d watch La La Land for the millionth time and unashamedly find ourselves singing along to all the songs. And not to forget our spontaneous baking sessions, which often involved dancing and flour fights (a great way to break the ice with new flat mates by the way).

How you choose to spend your spare time at university is completely up to you and I can’t reiterate that enough. It is incredibly easy to get lost in what you think you should be doing. But fight it, find your niche, whatever that may be, and delve right into it and don’t become distracted by what everyone else is doing. Always remember that you are fully within your rights to simply say no. You’ll even come to notice that there’s so many other students who will feel the same as you. Find friends who accept you for you (as cliché as that sounds, it’s actually really important.) And you’ll be on track for focusing on you, your studies and making some pretty awesome and unforgettable memories at the same time.

 

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to get in touch, either direct with me via the ‘Contact’ tab at the top of this webpage or by leaving a comment below!

🙂