Content strategy check: Which of these 3 approaches suits your market position?

Nowadays, content marketing is part of the daily business of every B2B company. It should be practised more effectively though – especially regarding the direct competition in the market, which is sometimes paid too little attention in B2B.

Providing your target group with the optimal content does not only depend on yourself but also involves the content of your competitors in a significant way. After all, creativity and originality are decisive characteristics for good content – to do what everyone else is doing is simply not differentiating enough.

In this blog post, Our German partner wob shows you central focal points in your content strategy, elaborate on how to select the right content formats, and how you can set yourself apart from the content of your competitors.

Before you think about content: What is your position in the market?

For following a more efficient content marketing strategy you should at first make an evaluation of your situation: Clarify what position you actually have in the market and what kind of content your competitors distribute. Thereby, try to answer the following questions: Is your company currently conducting business in a field without much competitive pressure? Are there already some competitors in the same product or service area? Or is the market already utterly competitive and the competition between you and your rivals extraordinarily high?

Answering these questions should help you determine the most effective content strategy. Because when it comes to content, it makes a big difference how strong and numerous your competitors are since you and your rivals share the same target group.

To offer you some guidance in this regard, we distinguish between three overarching positions in which your company can be situated in relation to your competitors. And, of course, we give you recommendations on how to conceptualize your content in accordance with your respective market position.

1. Content strategy for pioneers.

Your company is entering new territory. You’re offering products or services without much competition in the market. The good news is that there are no restrictions in regard to your content creation and no limits to your creativity.

There is no excessive rivalry yet in terms of the most popular topics or most searched keywords. The top ranks on the Google SERP can be occupied relatively easily, which will help you to attract the attention of prospective customers. 

THIS IS HOW YOU ESTABLISH YOURSELF IN THE MARKET

When it comes to content formats, the principle of “anything goes” very much applies here. You can either experiment or rely on best practices, at this market stage your company is free to try things out diligently, so engage in the content production and start to fill your content hub.

The flipside of the coin here is that you can’t take inspiration from your competitors and need to be more independent in finding topics. Pay attention to which contents and formats resonate well with your target audience and align your content strategy accordingly.

“Content is only effective after looking left and right!”

2. Content marketing for late adopters.

As a late adopter, your company does not enter an entirely new market. Instead, you compete with businesses that have been active in the market for quite some time which is why these rival companies have the advantage of increased brand awareness among the target groups.

In this stage, content marketing cannot be considered a blank sheet. Certain contents and formats have been well-established and are primarily used by the pioneers of the industry. As a result, the rivalry for topics and keywords is more contested and the market leaders are clearly ahead of the competition.

HOW TO MAKE UP GROUND

As a late adopter, you should focus on side issues and less popular keywords. Since the mainstream topics and most popular keywords are dominated by the industry leaders, you have to compensate for this handicap with the help of a well-conceived content strategy: The approach to finding topics for content should be more specific and systematic, in addition, the usage of keywords should be planned more carefully.

A focus on slightly longer keyword phrases or variants with the highest search volume is a proven way to catch up in terms of online visibility. When it comes to the selection of topics, it makes sense to orientate yourself towards the competition. However, in order to differentiate from the mainstream content of your competitors, you should consider taking opposing standpoints in your content. This enhances your company’s profile and makes you attractive for the target group that is looking for alternatives within the mainstream content.

3. Content tips for latecomers.

As a latecomer, you are entering a market where a hard-fought competition already takes place and market leaders play an utterly dominant role. These leaders have established a thought leadership and therefore determine what the trending content topics are.

Adopting the content strategy of the market leaders does not really make much sense here because the big players of the industry, who have been active in your branch since day one, possess a much bigger brand awareness than you. The domain authority of the website of these big players also leads to higher visibility.

HOW YOU MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR OUTSIDER ROLE

Instead of copying the content strategy of the market leaders, you should rather find your own niche and deliver contents that are tailored to the specific needs of your target audience. You can differentiate yourself from competitors by working on unconventional alternative topics or by creating white papers in which you elaborate on studies that you have conducted yourself. List these assets as gated content on your website in order to generate leads.

Disadvantages in regard to your online visibility can be compensated by distributing your content directly with the help of newsletters or via social media. Furthermore, use long-tail keywords for SEO. Even if these keywords are less frequently searched, they can still capture the exact interests of your target audience provided that these long-tail keywords are properly researched and conceptualized.

Conclusion: Content is only effective after looking left and right!

When it comes to content, you should literally widen your focus. This includes, above all, that you keep an eye on the content of the B2B competition rather than working one-dimensional by only being focused on yourself.

A rule of thumb might be: The smaller the competition, the bigger are your liberties when it comes to the creation of content. The greater the competition, the more differentiated you should be in terms of your own content strategy.