The Rise of Content in B2B Marketing

Why should you quickly groom internal resources for content assets and blogging? How should you adapt to the changing trends in B2B marketing?  We asked Galen De Young "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?". Galen De Young, managing director of Proteus B2B and Proteus SEO, helps B2B clients integrate content marketing, social media, email, and SEO to generate and nurture leads.

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"The smartest B2B marketers will master how to leverage and optimize content across search, email, and social"

Galen De Young's Marketing Prediction for 2010

Content marketing will become the first priority of top B2B marketers because of its powerful role in positioning, lead generation & nurturing, social media, and organic search.

The focus and investment on SEO will increase sharply as B2B marketers seek to leverage content marketing across multiple search channels.

B2B marketers will struggle to source people who can write well and effectively package content marketing.

The pursuit of thought leadership positioning and long-tail search will drive a sharp increase in multi-author corporate blogging.

The pace of adoption of marketing automation will quicken, but most B2B adopters will struggle with its effective use.

Galen De Young's Marketing Action for 2010

Conduct an audit to determine nature and effectiveness of content marketing assets vis-à-vis purchase influencers and points in the buying cycle. Strengthen weak spots. Fill the holes.

Good B2B content writers are scarce. Quickly groom internal resources for content assets and blogging. Research and retain outside experts for strategy, ideation, and content development.

Most B2B marketers—even those who think they have things optimized—have major deficiencies. Retain good outside counsel to help optimize your site, blog, and individual content assets for natural search.

While automation providers have tools and insights on best practices, use outside counsel to help analyze and configure lead nurturing processes tailored to you.