Who will get the most from this blog?: Content marketers, and secondarily growth marketers who are optimizing the marketing funnel, including content distribution

Job titles in content titles seem to help with engagement

The #1 most popular article for Marketers on The Juice in 2021 was “You’re a Content Marketer, Not a Writer”. 

After 1 year of working on a platform that serves up marketing and sales content, I’m convinced that one of the largest drivers of that article’s success is the fact that the job title of the intended reader is in the content title.

During my first year at The Juice, I’ve read/watched/listened to dozens more professional content pieces than I’ve ever consumed previously in my career. 

I’ve noted that the majority of content pieces do NOT put the job title of the intended reader into the content title. 

I’ve recently conducted a number of interviews with members of The Juice, and many of them have told me some version of “There’s too much content out there. It’s hard to know where to start.”

And one person specifically told me that it’d be helpful if more content had a description upfront of who the intended audience is, in relation to:

• Job role
• Size of company
• Size of the marketing/sales team
  

Because we all know that the operations of a marketing or sales team, and thus the tactics and strategies, differ across companies. And that’s largely influenced by the department size and the company size. 

A content marketer that’s working solo at a small company has to manage all of the content media, including blogs, videos, podcasts, etc. 

A content marketer on a team of 5 other content marketers at a company of 200+ might only have to focus on the blog.

I don’t think I’ve seen ANY brands sharing ALL of those details as they relate to a content piece. 

So the closest we get to that is content with a job function or job title in the name. 

“You’re a Content Marketer, Not a Writer”

“How Marketers Can Prepare for Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection”

“From 101 to 501: The Sales Manager’s Ultimate Tactical Refresher”

These pieces were all on the Most Popular Content lists from The Juice in 2021. 

My resolution: for the more tactical content that I create this year, I’m going to include more details upfront about WHO the content is written for. I’m not going to make you guess. 

We all use the same creative for eBooks, and it’s boring

There’s a significant number of companies whose eBook creative is just a picture of a book with the content title on it. And for some reason, companies selling to sales pros (compared to marketing pros) seem to be worse about it. 

A picture of a book is…boring, to say the least. 

Look, I didn’t run a test, so I can’t say definitively that this imagery hinders eBooks. 

But I CAN tell you that this trend has been around a LONG time. And that makes me feel like it’s coming from the “old school B2B world”. 

If you’re a Modern Day Marketer, I’d consider testing new, fresh creative styles for your eBooks. Stand out and avoid getting categorized as “old school”. 

Hardly any companies focus on entertainment value of professional content, and that’s a missed revenue opportunity

Did you all see the Most Popular Videos for Marketers list? 

The #1 piece was “The Stalking | Gated content that turns into stalking is not the best of B2B marketing strategies”. 

If you haven’t watched it yet, do yourself a favor and watch it now.

It’s SO entertaining. And I don’t find myself saying that about business content often.

Like I said before, I consume a lot of professional content, working for The Juice. It comes with the territory. 

I’d estimate that 75% of the time, I can’t recall a brand name accurately after consuming a piece of their content the day prior. 

After seeing The Stalking, I always remembered the brand, Umault. 

In a crowded market, overflowing with content, they stood out. 

That’s the first step towards me becoming their customer some day. I have to be able to recall their brand when I’m actually in-market for a boutique video marketing agency.

Those are my big 3 observations from a year of content consumption.

I’m looking forward to 2022 and applying these observations to my growth testing. 

Let’s all resolve to be more transparent about who our content is for and make an effort to be more unique and entertaining!

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If you want to make your own observation on what's happening with new B2B content in 2022 you can sign up for The Juice for free.