B2B business owners and marketers often struggle to create the ideal website content that results in more visitors, increased interest and engagement and sales. You’re likely developing content that includes, news, how-tos, product and service information, and (yes) marketing to entice customers to visit and find value in your website content.
In a perfect world, when ideal buyers land on your small business website they’ll understand fairly quickly that you offer valuable solutions for ‘getting their jobs done’. How?
By finding ideas, answers and assistance for tackling their top of mind issues and questions
By being inspired to interact with you by posting a question, a recommendation, an opinion, or an observation
By converting and contacting us to start a relationship, make a purchase
And (best of all) by sharing your unique content with other ideal buyers who will then visit, engage, buy and refer others. And so on…
In other words your current (possibly stuffy and boring) business website compared to a hub of engagement is:
Old Business Website
- You post 100% of the content
- You answer all questions
- Your content isn’t easily ‘shareable’ via Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites
Your New ‘Hub of Engagement’ Website
- Web visitors post feedback, questions, recommendations and opinions
- Visitors and customers ask/answer each others’ questions
- Every page of your content is instantly shareable using social media badges, buttons
In a recent blog post, Christine Crandell makes some excellent points about what a good B2B website should be doing for your customers and prospects. Christine is a successful out of the box thinker, high-growth company executive, and marketer.
Here my three fave points from her insightful post, “Why Your Old Corporate Website Should Die”:
1. What B2B buyers are (really) looking for on your company’s site. She says,
“Most [website] visitors are looking for peer experiences, useful information, independent validation of value claims, and the ability to ‘talk’ with customers, users and company representatives. “
2. Redefine your business website as a ‘hub of engagement’. Kill off your old business website and rebuild it to achieve these aspirational goals:
- Become your online customer community: a platform for true engagement with your customers and your industry
- Gain traction as a source of interaction with of your all customers and stakeholders including partners, suppliers, employees, customers,
- Make it easy for journalists, bloggers and industry thought leaders to contact the right expert in your company
- Be the active, online resource for customer support and customer advocacy
- Serve as an interface for employee communication, vendor collaboration and training
3. What’s in it for you as a B2B business owner or marketer? Christine’s closing to her post sums up the benefits to you of recreating your website into a hub of engagement. She explains how much more rewarding it will be for you and your team. With a hub of engagement website, you’ll discover “what’s top of mind” for your prospects and customers when they post questions or observations on your website’s ‘conversation pages’.
“I find conversations a whole lot more interesting to read and respond to. I discover what is top of mind and share what I know. If I do a good job, the customer will remember and return, engage again and hopefully transact. So kill your stuffy old website and bring it back to life.”
Christine also shares that when her company, Accept Corporation, decided to make its website less “stuffy” and more a ‘hub’, they knew it would take some time. Check out Christine Crandell’s complete post here.
Also visit Accept Corporation’s Conversation pages here for examples of how to engage your prospects and customers on topics important to them on your business website.
What are you doing with your website content to encourage engagement by your prospects and customers?
image: istock
Much of what you’ve outlined in this excellent primer, Cynthia, we have just finished implementing on a re-launch of our website. (It went live at the beginning of this month.) In fact, the site represents a pivot in my personal consulting practice from purely PR to broader strategic marketing. The business development for this new expanded practice will be driven largely by the content marketing and community engagement that are at the core of our new site.
I’d be over the moon if you took a look at what we’ve done and gave me your reaction to it.
Hi Francis,
Thanks for your comments—I have spent time on your new site, http://francis-moran.com/
Really like your approach for the new consultancy website with group blog posts as the primary content. Especially like the intensive interviews you’ve done with venture capital and angel investors and startups. Also, you’re telling the story of your team’s path to focusing on helping companies take technology to market. Best of luck and I’ll be a follower.
P.S. I wish more (small) B2B tech companies would take the group blog approach. They are so time-crunched and use that as an excuse to not publish a company blog—but that’s another post.
Best,
Cynthia
Thank you so much for stopping in on our new site, Cynthia, and I’m chuffed by your review. We’re pleased with how it’s going so far.
All the best,
Francis.