There’s a huge opportunity for content marketing in B2B

Content marketers are living in uncertain times:

• SERPs are drowning in AI-generated content
• Google’s algorithms seem to be really biased towards big brands like Reddit or Forbes
• AI Overviews are gobbling up all the clicks from informational queries
• Google removes the num=100 leading to loss of keyword visibility for 77% of sites

On the surface, content marketers are losing the plot.

Or is it? *vsauce music starts playing*

Well, it’s not all doom and gloom. In fact, I see that there is a huge opportunity moving forward for content marketing, especially in B2B.

B2B content marketing is usually boringly done

Welcome to the blog.

A lot of people think the blog is a nice-to-have where you write about industry topics, updates on the company and some sort of “thought leadership”.

Head to most B2B companies’ websites, and you’ll see generic content that makes you wonder: does anyone really read this?

• Filler content.
• Over-optimized SEO content.
• Company-focused content that nobody reads except people from that company.

We need a brave-new-way of doing content marketing.

A new type of content written in a way completely different from what 80% of the industry is doing.

Very few B2B companies are investing in the right type of content, which is why there is such a huge opportunity for content marketers who have had enough of the “old way”.

Note: Want to learn more about what we do? Read about how we help B2B companies make the most of their content with our methodology. 

What opportunities are there for B2B content marketing?

Here’s why I believe so firmly in the potential of Content for B2B:

1. Content can assist Sales really well

In B2B, the buyer isn’t looking for a quick fix. They’re evaluating a solution to a strategic business problem, and that can mean:

• Multiple stakeholders are involved (technical, operational, financial).
• The sales cycle is really long and layered, lasting for months.
• Buyers often don’t fully understand the problem yet, let alone the solution.

To guide buyers to realize the value, there’s a lot of education and consulting involved from the Sales team. The content team then plays the role of Sales Enablement by providing Sales with the right materials to shorten the sales cycle.

However, most content marketers are not doing that. In fact, it’s even rare to see Sales and Content work together.

And it’s a huge missed opportunity.

The trick is to create content that clicks and prospects actually want to read. If you’re evaluating a $10K cybersecurity product, would you want to read a generic, AI-generated piece of content called “What is cybersecurity”?

If you are a high-level leader looking for a B2B solution, you don’t want to read another “What is [basic concept]?” on your vendor’s blog. You would want to read something that genuinely solves problems at your company.

People who search those “What is […]” terms are:

• Laypeople
• Newbies
• Students
• Researchers

If you’re creating those articles, you are generating brand awareness for the wrong audience. They don’t have the pain to need your solution, they just want to learn something. The result is a disconnection between the content you create and the content Sales needs to close deals.

That’s the first opportunity: content is usually disconnected from Sales and is being used solely for “brand awareness” purposes, and more often than not it doesn’t even generate the right kind of brand awareness.

2. Leaders still use Google

Google is going nowhere. According to a research from Search Engine Land, 95% of ChatGPT users visit Google, but just 14% of Google users go to ChatGPT.

Yes, business leaders and decision makers use Google. In fact, before they even visit your website, they have conducted incredibly extensive research across the entire Internet (using Google). With a shortlist of potential vendors, they then start interviewing to find the perfect solution.

Appearing on Google means that you get to be considered, and when more and more solutions are being introduced to the market on a daily basis, getting considered is already an advantage.

That’s the second opportunity: the more content appears on Google, the higher chance it gets into the vendor shortlist of potential buyers.

3. B2B content is not being written that well

This is where the real opportunity lies.

As I mentioned, as you head to most B2B companies’ websites, you’ll see generic content that makes you wonder: does anyone really read this?

The root cause of this is what I term “The Marketer-to-Techie gap“.

In B2B, products are often technically nuanced. Instead of watering down that complexity, good content can leverage it as a differentiator.

However, there is usually a huge communication and understanding gap between those who understands that technical part and those who create the content.

This gap leads to surface-level content pieces that talk about innovation without ever showing how it works or why it matters:

• Case studies that don’t go beyond buzzwords.
• Blog posts that restate what competitors already say.
• Landing pages that sound good but say nothing.

And the end result is a lot of fluff copywriting:

There is a huge opportunity here to create good B2B content that is:

• Technically accurate and advanced
• Written for the right audience
• Ranked on Google to attract customers
• Distributed widely across the entire Internet.

I have seen so many B2B companies have incredibly intelligent experts on their team, but the Marketing team is not leveraging this “wisdom” to inform their content.

That’s the third opportunity: content should be created for technical experts, informed by technical experts, written and distributed by the talent of writers who know how to translate technical concepts into specific marketing copies (no fluff allowed).

Does content marketing generate SQLs?

In B2B marketing, there are many ways to gauge content performance: social shares, gated asset downloads, email CTRs, etc. But few B2B companies fully capitalize on the most valuable metric: blog-driven sales opportunities.

In our experience, generating 5–10 Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) per month via blog content is well within reach for B2B companies. Tools like HubSpot or Google Analytics can attribute both first-touch and last-touch conversions. You can even break it down in a spreadsheet.

The natural question is: Are these leads qualified?

They sure are, if you’re targeting the right keywords. Bottom-of-funnel content focused on long-tail, high-intent search terms like “parcel tracking API” or “real-time delivery status API” attracts prospects who are actively searching for a specific type of solution. They’ve already defined the problem, explored the technical requirements, and are now looking to compare or implement.

By contrast, top-of-funnel keywords like “shipping software” or “logistics tech trends” may bring traffic, but rarely bring pipeline. They’re too broad and typically attract researchers, not buyers.

Conclusion

Most B2B companies publish beginner-level content that never reaches decision-makers. The real opportunity lies in producing technically sound, expert-led content targeting specific use cases and bottom-of-funnel search terms.

And right now, there’s a wide-open window. If every competitor started publishing high-quality content targeting these keywords, the competitive edge would disappear. But that’s unlikely, for two reasons:

1. Quality is hard to scale: Great B2B content is rare. Few freelance writers understand the technical part well enough to produce technical, revenue-focused material. Even fewer content agencies do.
2. Budgets are under pressure: With B2B companies tightening budgets in 2023, content is often deprioritized, especially blogs, which are wrongly perceived as low-ROI. It’s your chance to shine.
3. Good content ripples: content also impacts your business intangibly. It positions you as an authority in the field, and in markets where products look and sound the same, trust and tone of voice really matter. Content is your lever to shape brand perception at every stage of the funnel, and that is the true brand awareness you need to create.