Planning a goal-oriented B2B content marketing strategy

Abstract

Purpose

The main objective of this study is identification of the key factors in planning digital content marketing (DCM) strategy in line with the corporate's main marketing objectives in the B2B sector.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to identify the different content types and their corresponding marketing goals, content analysis method was served to analyze the content of Instagram pages of 24 top-ranked corporates from three different industries. SPSS version 22 was used to investigate the significant difference levels and the mean ranks of identified content types.

Findings

The findings uncovered the twelve content types which are commonly published by the corporates in line with their main marketing goals in the B2B sector. Furthermore, the results revealed the most valuable content types from the B2B audiences' viewpoint and the most efficient content types in persuading audiences to participate in conversations.

Research limitations/implications

This study sheds some light on the ambiguous facets of DCM in the B2B sector, and its findings is useful as the starting point for the scholars who intend to investigate the various aspects of DCM and for the practitioners who work in the related fields.

Originality/value

This research offers a novel contribution to using Instagram as a DCM platform in the B2B sector. Also it contributes to identifying the main factors in communicating to B2B audiences through DCM.

Citation

Yaghtin, S., Safarzadeh, H. and Karimi Zand, M. (2020), "Planning a goal-oriented B2B content marketing strategy", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 38 No. 7, pp. 1007-1020. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-11-2019-0559