B2B tech companies in sectors such as broadcast and OTT, telecoms, IoT, cloud solutions, and retail technology are increasingly turning to long-form content and multimedia to engage with customers.
A recent content benchmark report by Isoline, a B2B tech content marketing agency, highlights this shift as brands navigate budget cuts, longer sales cycles, and economic pressures.
The report, which analyses content strategies from 50 leading B2B tech companies, reveals a significant move towards deeper storytelling and sustained customer engagement. These strategies involve long-form written content, such as whitepapers and eBooks, as well as extended audio and video formats like webinars and podcasts. According to the report, this content evolution is emerging as a key differentiator in a crowded marketplace.
“Marketing leaders have had to become more strategic with their resources to achieve business targets amidst ongoing uncertainty and budget constraints,” says Anu Ramani, Managing Director of Isoline. “The research shows that long-form content plays a vital role in building brand awareness, driving engagement, and nurturing leads into deals.”
Content Strategy Trends in B2B Tech
The report highlights that the top 50 B2B tech brands produced a total of 1,353 content pieces, with each company publishing an average of 27 assets over a 12-month period. This equates to more than two content pieces per company each month, marking a growing emphasis on consistent content creation to maintain engagement with target audiences.
Among the content formats, webinars accounted for the largest share, comprising 41% of all content produced. Podcasts followed at 22.5%, while whitepapers made up 14.6%. These figures underscore the growing importance of multimedia content in driving customer interaction and maintaining long-term engagement.
The report also examines the role of content gating as part of these strategies. Content gating—where access to assets is restricted until users provide details such as email addresses—was applied to 41.7% of the content analysed. However, the approach to gating varied by industry. The broadcasting and OTT sector gated the most content, with 56% of assets, especially whitepapers, being locked behind gates.
Evolving Approaches to Content Gating
The decision to gate content remains a critical tactical component in B2B marketing. However, approaches to gating differ across sectors. While some industries favour gating to capture leads and build databases, others are more selective, focusing on offering free access to certain types of content to maximise reach and engagement.
In the broadcasting and OTT sector, the decision to gate 56% of content reflects a strategy designed to capture high-quality leads. Whitepapers were the most commonly gated assets across the board. In contrast, sectors like IoT and telecoms showed more variability in their gating strategies, depending on the specific type of content and its intended audience.
Despite these differences, the report suggests that long-form content continues to be an essential tool for building credibility and trust. B2B tech brands are increasingly using long-form pieces, such as reports and research papers, to offer in-depth insights, build thought leadership, and provide valuable information to their target markets.
Long-Form Content: A Key Differentiator
Long-form content, defined in the report as written pieces over 2,000 words or multimedia assets exceeding 10 minutes, has emerged as a powerful tool for B2B tech brands. Companies are leveraging this format to provide detailed insights, explain complex solutions, and offer expert perspectives. The extended nature of these assets allows for deeper engagement with audiences, helping brands to stand out and foster long-term relationships with potential customers.
“Even with some variation in content strategies across sectors, long-form content has consistently proven to be a powerful method for building brand awareness and driving growth,” notes Anu Ramani. “It helps brands engage more deeply with their audiences and create more meaningful connections that can lead to deals.”
The report, which can be accessed through Isoline’s website, offers further sector-specific insights and detailed analysis of content strategies used by leading B2B tech brands. It sheds light on how different sectors are responding to industry challenges and using content to drive business success.
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