B2B Content Marketing, The Forrester Way

Forrester defines content marketing as a subset of inbound marketing activities that drive topical authority and engagement with audiences and build a stronger digital footprint. Misunderstanding content marketing’s purpose leads to weak content marketing execution and disappointing results. B2B organizations that build content marketing into integrated marketing plans experience the best results from their efforts.

Many B2B organizations unintentionally present a content bait-and-switch to their prospects and customers. For example, a company might promote a blog with a headline that promises information about industry trends, but the article itself trumpets a new product and its latest features. Alternatively, a company might publish an interesting article that generates good traffic but isn’t relevant to the industry or target audience and therefore produces irrelevant Web traffic. In this report, we define content marketing, describe why it is now a required discipline within B2B organizations, and explain the key principles of effective content marketing.