Content marketing has been proven to be highly effective in helping B2B organizations generate leads and ultimately, increase sales. According to the 2016 Content Preferences Survey Report, over half (51%) of B2B buyers use content to research buying decisions. When content marketing is backed by a strategy and tightly coupled with other digital efforts (paid ads, SEO, and PR, to name a few), it can yield significant results.

Payments companies in particular stand to benefit from content marketing. In an industry dominated by rapidly evolving technology that often gets bogged down in jargon, the clear articulation of benefits and customer wins can really boost the bottom line. For organizations that are just getting their feet wet in content marketing, getting started can be daunting. The good news is that the nature of the payments industry lends itself to content marketing; in fact, you probably have enough content in your outbox to product 20 ebooks and you don’t even know it.

If you’re looking to build up your content marketing arsenal, consider some of the lead-generating ideas below:

White Papers

As antiquated as they may sound, white papers can be a great lead generating tool. White papers typically run 3,000 to 5,000 words and can be somewhat academic in nature (though this is not always the case or necessary). Start by gathering information about a pertinent, timely issue in your industry that relates to your product or service. Conduct your own research or gather insights from other sources (industry leaders, web, industry publications) and build a story around the problem/issue, then outline best practices to solving the issue. The last section of the white paper can be reserved for specifically explaining how your product or service addresses the issue or adds value to the customer as it relates to the larger issue. (Note: this last section may or may not be included, depending on the purpose of the white paper and where in the funnel it’s serving as a magnet; you may want to leave out for Middle of Funnel (MOF) but add in for Bottom of Funnel (BOF). Regardless, it should not be overly self-serving and only complement the overarching story you’ve laid out in the rest of the white paper).

Payments Topics/Ideas:

The Impact of the Millennial Consumer Base on Online Payments

Optimizing Payments for Recurring Merchants

Case Studies

Case studies fall in the top 3 of effective B2B content marketing tactics, with a 66% effectiveness rating. People love seeing things in action and showing your product or service in action - and successful - can be a game-changing lead generating tactic. Case studies take a current or former customer and build a story around how their implementation of your solution improved their business or solved a critical problem. You should try to get total buy in from the company you choose to feature; that is, they should allow you to publish their name and specific relevant metrics that illustrate the level of success achieved due to their partnership with your brand. If that’s not possible, a case study can still work if you highlight the right information. The more people and businesses can related to the featured problem as well as implementation of the solution, the better case you make for your product/service.

Knowledge Base

Every business has information and intellectual that is central to the organization and that can be very helpful when shared with users and customers. It may include frequently asked questions and their answers, a step-by-step guide to setting up or managing an account, key industry terms and definitions/relevance, or common customer service issues and tips for resolution. This information can be highly valuable to a great number of people both inside and outside your organization. Using a knowledge management system to host a repository of information on your website can do miracles when it comes to boosting SEO. [Tip: much of this information can be scraped from the outbox of your sales & customer support team, from chatbot transcripts, from searching industry keywords on this site].

Payments Topics/Ideas:

How can my e-commerce business prevent chargebacks?

How does online payment processing work?

What are chargeback reason codes and why do they matter?

e-books

An ebook is an effective way to delve in-depth into a topic related to your industry while educating your client and demonstrating your thought leadership and expertise. It should be a rich source of information that addresses questions or concerns the reader may have about a topic. An ebook is similar to a white paper in that it helps educate prospects and establish your authority on a topic, although ebooks tend to be longer, more casual in tone and have a stronger focus on design and graphics. Additionally, an ebook can be more of a awareness generating asset and may live closer to the Top of Funnel (TOF), but also does well to nurture leads through the MOF and BOF, depending on the topic, content included and optic/angle.

Payments Topics/Ideas:

Everything you need to know about stopping chargebacks

The complete guide to preventing card-not-present fraud

Top Strategies for Reducing Card Declines in 2017

Videos

73% of respondents to the Content Preferences Survey Report said they somewhat or strongly agree they prefer audio or video content they can access on demand. Video is a high-impact visual content marketing tool that is underutilized for B2B. There are so many possibilities to leverage video in marketing and lead generation and even the most unique existing examples have only begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible. People relate to people, even in the B2B arena. Showcasing a customer testimonial delivered by an actual client is a powerful message to prospects. Creating a visual case study that includes b-roll of animated charts, your product/service in action and spoken storytelling by a client about how they used your product to improve can be extremely compelling.

Payments Topics/Ideas:

#FraudFridays: Top tips to preventing CNP fraud (narrated by CEO)

#DataDiveMonday: Three ways to optimize online payments immediately

Buyers are in charge when it comes to making a final purchasing decision and they’ve reported time and time again that educational content rules over sales-driven content. Offering high-quality, informational content enables payments companies to guide prospects and leads through the research process, build trust and present their organization as a viable and worthwhile solution and partner. B2B organizations should always strive to serve the prospect in all content created and to add value by solving a question or problem faced by the target audience.

BONUS: You can catch more ways to elevate the these content types here.

Ashley Poynter is Chief Storyteller at Content Rewired and helps small businesses in Payments, SaaS and Tech create compelling content to drive more leads.







