Think about the types of content you enjoy consuming.
Is it YouTube videos? Books? Podcasts? News articles?
You probably have more than one favourite format. In fact, you probably consume a dozen different formats on a daily basis.
Just because you prefer books, doesn’t mean you ignore movies.
Source: Giphy
The same should go for your B2B content.
People aren’t just reading a dozen blog posts a day.
They’re watching videos, listening to podcasts, scrolling through Twitter, and engaging in LinkedIn discussions to keep up-to-date on their industry.
That’s why, according to the Content Marketing Institute, the average B2B marketer uses eight different tactics in their content marketing strategy.
That’s also why you’re doing your B2B strategy a disservice if you’re ignoring one of the most-consumed content types:
Audio content.
What Does a Hybrid Content Marketing Strategy Even Mean?
In that same Content Marketing Institute report, we learn that just 12% of B2B marketers are using a form of audio content in their content marketing strategy.
Source: Content Marketing Institute
This represents a major opportunity for B2B marketers to get ahead of a trend.
And while marketers have been slow to adopt it, digital audio-marketing is growing rapidly, with 20% of all Wi-Fi ready homes already using smart speakers like Alexa to consume content.
So what exactly is a hybrid content strategy?
Well, as any B2B marketer knows, blogging is the name of the game when it comes to organic and social growth.
But it has its shortcomings.
For example, to pump out a consistent stream of content, you have to rely on copywriters — who often aren’t an expert in the industries they write about — to write a blog that aligns with an SEO strategy.
How does audio fit? Easily.
Don’t Sleep on the Future of B2B Podcasts
Turning Regular Blogs into Audio Blogs
Creating audio content doesn’t necessarily mean podcasting — that’s an entirely different beast. At Jumpfactor, we’ve been leveraging audio to enhance our typical blogging strategy.
This helps us:
- Future proof for voice search SEO
- Leverage the in-depth knowledge of our clients
- Create higher quality blogs at a faster pace
To do this, we interview industry experts (in a podcast-like manner) and then use transcriptions to create high-quality, authoritative blog posts — with the bonus of having the raw, unedited audio-interview ready for publishing.
Not only does this deliver on the three benefits listed above, but it is a great way to test how audio content — like podcasts — will perform in your particular niche without investing a lot of resources into them.
Below, we explore those three benefits in greater detail.
The 3 Benefits of Adding Audio Content to Your B2B Digital Marketing Strategy
Future Proof with Voice Search SEO
SEO is an enormous component of any B2B digital marketing strategy. But SEO is constantly changing — and ignoring its audio-based future may prove risky.
Just consider these statistics on how voice search will be changing in the immediate future:
- By 2020, 30% of web browsing searches will be conducted without a screen. (Gartner)
- 41% of adults perform a voice search at least once per day. (Location World)
- Half of ALL searches will be via voice search by 2020. (ComScore)
A significant factor in this trend is the rise of smart assistants — mainly Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Google Assistant.
eMarketer reports stronger-than-expected adoption of smart home devices. In the US alone, smart speaker users will rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 47.9% between 2016 and 2020.
In 2020, eMarketer expects 76.5 million smart speaker users in the US — nearly a quarter of the entire US population.
Source: Giphy
While it is easy to focus on the consumer aspect of this trend, it is inevitable that B2B marketers are impacted as well.
And if AI assistants are any indication of the future of voice search — then we should also prepare for voice search results in the form of quick audio clips (industry insights, for example), newsreels, and even podcasts.
Leverage the Knowledge of a Domain Specialist or Expert
In B2B niches — such as technology, healthcare, and AEC — the value of your content marketing strategy will come from subject matter experts (SMEs).
Whether it be executives like Chief Innovation Officers (CIO) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMO), or even the surgeons/doctors, IT developers, or architects, a hybrid content marketing strategy leverages their industry-knowledge to create multiple content types with ease.
While the best copywriters in the world spend exorbitant amounts of time on research — just to create a piece that resonates with your audience — they’ll never have the same level of insight as a critical decision-maker in your industry.
And B2B company wants to be viewed as a ‘thought leader’ in their niche.
By leveraging SMEs via audio blogs, you can truly create unique content that meets that objective.
Improve Efficiency and Output
Let’s revisit some more statistics.
- B2B marketers that use blogs report 67% more leads than those who do not. (Hubspot)
- 47% of buyers viewed 3 to 5 pieces of content before contacting a sales rep. (Demand Gen Report)
- Companies that publish 20+ blogs per month see the most return in traffic and leads (Hubspot)
In any blogging strategy, the goal is to publish high-quality content as fast as reasonably possible. Obviously, focusing on quantity over quality will result in diminishing returns and high bounce rates (and decreased trust in your brand).
Adopting an audio blog strategy can increase the rate of your blog production and improve the quality.
You are leveraging a SMEs knowledge in an interview, thus improving the quality of a blog with unique insight. Plus, you’re cutting down on the time and resources it takes to produce a quality blog by removing unnecessary research and revisions.
Read More about B2B Content:
Get Started with Audio Blogs in Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy
The audio wave is coming and no matter how you cut it, it will impact your B2B digital marketing strategy. Most importantly, companies who get ahead of the curve now will be better suited to generate leads from those new avenues of traffic.
To get started with audio content — and to make sure that new content fits within your strategy — you may need the help of a B2B inbound agency.
At Jumpfactor, our team of expert copywriters and SEO specialists are equipped to outfit your business’ digital marketing strategy for the future. Contact us today to learn how a hybrid content marketing strategy is the right move for your business.
