Is your content marketing plan considered shareworthy content or searchworthy? Determining the goal for content is critical to ensure driving successful results. While both social media and search engine optimization (SEO) may have similarities in content marketing, there are a few nuances to consider. Determining your goal up front can help shape the type of content to be developed.

I was recently reading postings on Inbound.com when I ran across a discussion on clickbait. One of the founders of HubSpot was active in the discussion and it really caught my interest. Clickbait wasn’t a term I had significant familiarity with, but the terminology seemed to speak for itself. According to Wikipedia, clickbait is a term describing web content that is aimed at generating action, even at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines to attract click-throughs and encourage forwarding of the material.

In digital marketing, customers’ needs should always be the primary focus. Not only do all customers have needs, but those needs should be met in the most expedient and fulfilling way. Modern customers are discerning. Confronted with large volumes of messaging at all sides, they know how to get what they want and they will always go down the path of least resistance. Marketing your company successfully involves supporting the customer journey on their terms and considering their key decision points.

Although LinkedIn was originally established for individual-to-individual communications, it has grown to be a viable business-to-business (B2B) marketing platform. LinkedIn isn’t just a networking resource; it’s a hub that many professionals go to for news and for general information related to their industry. As a result, LinkedIn has grown to become a must for B2B marketing organizations.

Successful content marketing starts with a plan, strategy and a deliberate set of actions. However, many
companies report that they don’t have a defined plan for content marketing. Effective content marketing for utilities is driven by frequent posting to blog sites about topics that are keyword-driven and centered on issues that interest both business and residential utility customers. Utility marketing should also take advantage of social media as an additional channel for reaching customers with content that casts the utility as a thought leader.

While content marketing remains one of the most effective methods of B2B messaging, many companies find their digital marketing campaigns are going unanswered. A staggering 86% of B2B marketers report using content marketing, while only 38% of them believe their marketing is effective.¹ Most business people are inundated with dozens if not hundreds of messages every day.
Business people quickly learn to avoid anything that appears to be too sales-oriented. This decrease in content marketing effectiveness may be tied to a new report that states one in three B2B marketers² view their content marketing as focused on their company rather than their customer.

B2B marketing teams report spending more than 25% of their budget on the creation, promotion and delivery of all forms of content intended to drive leads, enhance brand presence and reinforce their authority.¹ Despite allocating more of their budget to content marketing, some companies engaged in B2B marketing don’t always remember that content is most effective when it’s set on a deliberate course. Content marketing tends to be most effective when it is a customer-centric, goal-oriented communication model to attract and retain B2B audiences. Here are 5 reasons that B2B content marketing may be devolving instead of evolving.

There's a reason small and medium sized businesses pose a challenge for utility marketing. It's because business owners typically put their main focus on issues other than utilities and don’t perceive impacts to their utility bill are worth their time. A report published by the National Federation of Independent Businesses¹ revealed that 52% of small businesses list the cost of health insurance as their number one priority. Engagement is possible as energy costs affect operating expenses and ultimately a business’ bottom line. The NFIB's report indicates that 35% of small business owners state energy costs are a critical issue, and that the topic falls within the top 12 priorities. 

Greening trends continue to have a dominant impact on utilities. A recent study on greening and sustainability revealed that over 60% of Americans keep up on energy efficiency and similar issues, and consider themselves knowledgeable on the topic.¹ Many utility marketing organizations are focused on supporting energy efficiency initiatives and determining what role greening trends should play. This article explores some of the top greening trends and considerations for utility marketing communications.

Energy costs, rate plans and customer service will always be important to utility customers and a critical component of utility marketing communications. However, the expectation for utilities to be an authority and thought leader seems to be increasing. According to ResearchScape, a 2013 survey indicated that almost one-quarter of those surveyed would switch to a new energy company if it provided expert advice on how to reduce energy costs.¹ The only issues that ranked higher in this study than the utility’s role as an authority were the basics of cost, rate plans and personalized customer support.