Are you an ESG or sustainability services provider? Do you want to know how to leverage your content to convert more customers?
Read on to discover the most effective types of content for each stage of the B2B buyer’s journey.
It's not always easy to measure how effective your B2B content marketing strategy is. Selling products or – more commonly – services to other businesses is a long game and involves warming up prospective clients over many months (or years)!
You need the knowledge and expertise to educate and inform leads, rather than simply sell to them. And because the B2B buying journey is long, complicated, and has more steps and stakeholders involved, you must use appropriate content for each stage of the process.
This is especially true if your company provides ESG or sustainability services to other companies because it's likely that you'll be dealing with first-time buyers; businesses that are at the start of their sustainability transformation and have never hired external consultants or services for this purpose before.
Attracting and converting these types of clients requires a suitable content marketing approach. This article shows you which types of content you need to use to target buyers at each stage of the buying process.
The B2B buying journey requires the use of appropriate content at each stage
It comes as no surprise that 61% of respondents surveyed by the Content Marketing Institute struggle to create content that appeals to B2B customers at different stages of the buying process.
It’s important to remember that B2B buyers are more discerning, logical, and financially driven than consumers: they want to see a return on investment and financial benefits from purchasing your services. They need to receive something valuable in each interaction they have with your company. This is where creating effective and relevant content comes in.
What are the stages of the B2B buying process? Depending on who you ask, you’ll likely get different variations on this answer, but generally, there are three key phases: awareness, consideration, and decision.
Awareness is the first step in the journey: the B2B customer acknowledges a problem with her current systems and envisages a desired change.
This leads to the consideration stage, where the buyer educates herself on possible solutions to achieve the transformation she wants.
Finally, the decision phase involves choosing the right provider for the chosen solution (i.e., your company!), getting senior buy-in and funding, and taking practical steps to implement the change process.
Which stage of the buying process is the most important? Which one should you focus on in your marketing? Again, depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different answer.
Some experts think too much effort is put into the awareness stage, which overwhelms prospects with information overload, leading to analysis paralysis. Others take the opposite view and believe in the power of warming up buyers who are still in the awareness stage by creating trust with your brand so that when they do eventually move along the buying process, you will be the natural first choice to achieve their desired outcome.
What we should really be asking ourselves is which type of content is going to speak to customers more effectively at each stage of their buying journey.
This is particularly important in the context of sustainability and ESG because we are dealing with relatively new services and inexperienced B2B buyers. According to Boston Consulting Group, businesses struggle to decide which aspects of their sustainability transformation they should prioritise, how to implement the right transformational process, and how to fund it.
In other words, your ideal customers are facing confusion and uncertainty at each stage of their buying journey. Your role is to turn this confusion into clarity and action.
You can do this by using appropriate types of content to suit each B2B buyer's level of expertise and boost their engagement with the issues your company works to solve.
The most effective content understands what buyers need at each stage of the buying process
Customers in the awareness stage need to know what their problem is and that your offering exists
You are in the priming stage of the buyer’s journey. Your main objective is to show prospective customers that there is a problem and position your business as a solver of that problem.
You can do this by producing content that directs customers to your website and introduces them to the key experts within your company who will guide and educate them along the journey. The most effective types of content at this stage are:
Blog posts
Thought pieces
E-books
Blog posts are great for boosting SEO and increasing traffic to your website. This is important in the early stages because a B2B buyer spends 27% of her time in the purchase journey independently researching online using search engines.
Thought pieces are the natural next step after blog posts: they connect your customers directly with your experts and help shape your brand's identity. This is key because research shows B2B buyers want to build relationships and work with individuals and account managers when purchasing from suppliers.
Thought pieces help your company build personal connections between your employees and ideal clients. This pays dividends as the buyer moves along the buying journey and establishes trust with your brand.
Finally, e-books are a great way to add depth and analysis to your B2B buyer's awareness of their pain points without overwhelming her. E-books typically provide a high-level analysis of a common industry problem but are worded in an informal tone.
An effective e-book balances written content with visuals such as illustrations, graphics, and tables to give it a lighter and more digestible style. E-books are more conversational, anecdotal, and less data or jargon-heavy than white papers and are a good option for adding deeper value to a buyer in the awareness stage.
E-books are also useful for gathering data on early-stage buyers who are engaging with your content: they can be published as gated material and made accessible to readers in exchange for providing their email addresses and basic details.
Buyers in the consideration stage need in-depth information and analysis of potential solutions to their problem
Buyers in the consideration stage are more discerning. They want to understand the different options available to address their pain points and achieve their desired change and they have by now developed a sophisticated level of comprehension.
By this stage, they are looking for a deep dive into the subject, to gather and analyse data, and understand what the right solution is for them. They are starting to envisage how their chosen solution could be implemented and what results they might see. The most effective types of content for this stage are:
White papers
Testimonials
White papers are data-driven and detailed: they provide in-depth analysis on the subject and suit already knowledgeable readers who want to explore the issue in more depth or from a different angle.
White papers are a great form of content to target buyers in the consideration stage because they allow you to demonstrate your expertise, provide value to your prospects, and guide your B2B buyer toward your company's services.
You should also be adding testimonials to your marketing toolbox at this stage. They are social proof of your ability to implement the proposed solutions to your buyer's pain point and validate the expertise shown in your white papers.
The decision stage is where the buyer envisages how your solution will be implemented in her business
You have successfully developed a relationship with your buyer in the previous two stages and now you want to close the deal.
The decision stage is all about practically implementing the solution in a way that meets the buyer's needs and fits her vision of the desired change.
You must transform yourself into a solution architect and provide more detailed social proof of the results you can achieve for the buyer. The most effective content for this stage includes:
How-to guides
Case studies
How-to guides are a fantastic tool to showcase how your business can design and practically implement the buyer's desired change process.
A well-written how-to guide can provide prospective buyers with a blueprint for implementing their solution which links directly back to your brand and offering, thus positioning you as the natural choice of service provider.
Add to this some more detailed social proof, in the form of in-depth case studies from existing customers in your target sector or industry, and you can significantly increase the chances of the B2B buyer selecting your services over those of your competitors.
Case study: content ideas for an ESG consultancy that helps businesses reduce travel emissions
Let’s take an example of a sustainability consultancy that helps businesses reduce carbon emissions from their employees’ business travel.
The following types of content will effectively target buyers at each stage of the buying process:
For buyers in the awareness stage:
A blog post:
on how business travel increases companies’ carbon emissions, negatively impacting their reduction targets, climate reporting, and reputation among key stakeholders.
A thought piece:
An e-book:
For buyers in the consideration stage:
A white paper:
on the various solutions for businesses in the target client’s sector who want to reduce their travel emissions without compromising their operations, client relationships, or bottom line. The white paper would look at the “trade-off” angle in more depth and include detailed data and statistics.
A series of short testimonials:
For prospects who have reached the decision stage:
A comprehensive how-to guide:
on drafting an effective sustainable business travel policy.
An in-depth case study:
Are you using content marketing in a way that maximises returns for your ESG services business?
Has reading this article made you want to have a re-think about the type of content you are producing to attract your ideal business customers?
Is it time to go back to the drawing board and re-consider what information your target clients want at each stage of their buying process?
Would your business benefit from having a roadmap of content targeted at each stage of the B2B buying journey?
We can put together a detailed content marketing plan specifically tailored to attract B2B clients in the sustainability and ESG services industry at all stages of the buying journey.
Get in touch with us today to receive a free initial audit of the current content on your website.
At Green Path to Global, we provide sustainability, ESG, and legal content writing services to businesses, NGOs, and media organisations. We can craft clear and compelling content that cuts through the noise, reaches your ideal customers, and drives meaningful action and change.
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