Top 10 Content Marketing Opportunities for Tech B2Bs

Technology services and solutions providers face very strong competition in a huge market: According to recent market research, the global tech services and software market size was valued at around $1.3 trillion in 2023, with projections to reach approximately $2.95 trillion by 2032.

To get your piece of that huge pie some of you have begun to focus on content marketing over traditional sales channels like trade shows and cold sales outreach. After all, content marketing, when done right, should be getting you 6x the conversion rates of other marketing methods.

Yet I know many of you are frustrated with a lack of results, and when I start looking under the hood of content programs I can often see why. Let’s explore the top 10 opportunities I see in content marketing in the tech space.

1.   Dare to actually, truly be different

Many tech companies sound the same: there’s loads of lookalike content about technology and AI, customized solutions, ‘synergy’, and ‘creating cost efficiencies’. While it may seem that there is no jazzy way to talk about cost or process efficiency and this doesn’t mean you should keep writing that boring content. It’s difficult, but not impossible to sound different. However, it does require:

  • figuring out how you really are different – is it because of who you serve, how you do it, or what you stand for?
  • nailing your messaging, which probably involves hiring a messaging strategist to help you. Your staff copywriter should not be saddled with this big of a job.
  • taking a risk and having the willingness to be a little bold in both what you write about and how you sound. But please do not agree you want to sound ‘bold’ and then have every piece of content get genericized through a community editing process.

2.   Shift away from boring, top-of-funnel (awareness) content

There is way too much online content in the tech space that falls in the ‘what is’ category. These define concepts and problems in your industry. For example:

  • “What is xx?”
  • “What you need to know about xx”
  • “The problem with xx in xx industry”

This level of content does not provide solutions or approaches to problems…and yet that’s exactly what you need to be doing to keep customers engaged and to keep google happy.  Yet this content is the easiest to write – it doesn’t require a writer with subject matter expertise, internal SMEs, or much more than writing skill and a search engine.

Why is it so bad?

  • People are now going to AI to get their questions answered and SGE is serving up basic information quickly
  • You won’t rank for it
  • Your competitors all have it covered
  • AI is making it a commodity.

Unless you can explain the concept way better than anyone else, you can just stop writing it.

Time to pivot.  Businesses must make a shift to middle of the funnel (how to) and bottom of the funnel content (how we) that begins to talk about your solution to customer problems.

3.   Develop real thought leadership

Very few tech companies have an expert who produces content with spicy opinions and new insights on industry topics. Yet thought leadership is of critical importance in the tech space where content is so homogenous and brand differentiation is so challenging. This level of discourse humanizes your brand, makes you memorable, and draws ideal customers to you.

Yes, this type of content takes more time and commitment than “what is” or “how to” content. It is harder to write for several reasons: it requires that a very busy person take the time to go write content or a collaboration between a thought leader and a writer who can pull out and craft those ideas.  (Many thought leaders dislike writing and don’t have time anyways. Expecting them to write is a dead end).

Another thing that blocks companies from advancing here is that many companies confuse SMEs with thought leaders. Thought leaders have opinions about things and are happy to talk about them, while SMEs are just very well versed in what they do. A thought leader can be a SME but doesn’t have to be.

Thought leaders and a thought leadership program needs to be built, and a content strategist can help you with this.

4.   Stop just posting on the corporate LinkedIn handle; build a complete social strategy

Many tech firms post on social platforms, in many cases daily. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg and the barest minimum when it comes to an effective social strategy.

I talk to a lot of marketing managers who are very frustrated because they are not seeing results like increased follower counts, higher engagement and leads on social. Most of them are not involving their teams at all or working on engagement yet it’s critical to know that personal handles get 561% more reach than corporate handles. Yes, that takes a lot of time and support, but that’s where the magic happens. You are very unlikely to see results if you just ‘post and ghost’ on the corporate handle.

So, your approach must include:

  • Teaching your teams how to use their social handles to benefit themselves and your company. Training should cover building a strong profile and learning how to post content beyond just reposting the corporate content.
  • Helping your team with an engagement strategy which includes commenting and sending direct messages.
  • Having a social media manager follow key industry and customer accounts, interact on their handles, and respond to all comments on the corporate posts

(Check out a further exploration of this here.)

5.   Get your leaders to show up online

Very few C or V-level leaders at LSPs are active online. They aren’t blogging, posting, being podcast guests, or hosting live events.  There’s a huge opportunity here.

There is nothing quite as powerful for your brand as a senior level person having conversations, publishing content (even if it’s ghost-written), and engaging with peers, customers, and companies online.

Along with this, everyone on your leadership team (directors and up) needs to have a strong social profile: a good picture, a banner with a tagline and call to action, and a well-written about section are the minimum here. There is a huge credibility difference between a current, well-developed profile and an outdated one that’s skimpy on details. It is inexpensive to hire help to build a highly polished and impactful profile.

6.   Create great case studies

I see so many case studies that are just project profiles: we did xxx in xx weeks, and everyone was happy. There is no description of a tricky challenge solved and there are no metrics showing results.

A powerful case study outlines a problem, describes your company’s custom solution, and shares big outcomes often in terms of money saved, timelines shrunk, and quality improved. It’s true that getting access to those success metrics is tricky: you often don’t get that kind of feedback on outcomes from clients unless you really press them for it.

If you only have 2-3 complete case studies, that’s fine: it’s way better than having 20 on your website that don’t tell an interesting and complete story.

7.   Stop writing so MUCH content

I meet lots of teams who are on a hamster wheel of content creation. Two blog posts a week, a lead magnet a quarter, social 2x a day no matter what.  This means you have a lot of content but the velocity and volume you’re producing might mean your team is spread too thin, you’re talking about too many topics, and it may not be high-quality differentiated content. It also probably means you are ignoring your past content.  Stop this overproduction and do these 4 things to save you money and time and get your message out there more broadly:

  • Only write content that answers customer questions or solve customer problems. Think twice about writing anything that doesn’t do one of these 2 things.
  • Repurpose what you already have by creating other content formats from it. For example, a blog post can become 10 social posts or a newsletter. Three related blog posts can become an ebook.
  • Refresh and republish older posts. This costs less and takes less time than writing new posts, and if you’ve got a winner why not get extended life out of it?  See here for a good checklist.
  • Distribute broadly. Put your content out there on all the channels where your customers hang out (newsletter, social, blog, etc.), and don’t be afraid to distribute the same thing multiple times. Broadcasting one piece of content is much better than posting 6 pieces no one sees.

8.   Stop writing for everyone

Many tech firms sell a broad array of services, in different verticals, to different buyers. This makes for a very complex content matrix. If this is true for your business, there is literally no way to write content that covers it all.

Instead, you should write only for your top-value audience. Fine the 3-4 buyer types who spend the most money with you (past or forecasted) and focus on creating content that is specific to the way they speak and the problems they have. From there, you can move on to customize the content for specific verticals or client if you want (i.e., as part of an ABM campaign).

9.   Write about fewer topics

Start by doing 2 things:

  • Note down all the topics you’ve been covering in your content
  • Look at the breadth of topics your competitors cover

Take this complete list and pick 4-5 topics that really matter to your audience and your business. Your topics should reside at the intersection of your customer’s problems, what your company wants to focus on, what people search for, and where your expertise / thought leadership lies.

Claim these 3-4 themes (called pillars) and cover them in depth. Each theme will have multiple topics.  Own those topics in the market and be known for them.

This is not only easier to execute and repurpose, but when you can align your brand with a few topics by covering them very well, then you will stand out. It’s that simple.

10.  Hire the right team to support content efforts

A highly effective, fully functional content team has these roles:

  • A content marketing strategist – this is the person who nails down the buyer personas, your differentiator and messaging around that, your content pillars, your content types, distribution channels, repurposing strategy, and promotion plans. They may also write but I feel that may distract them from their primary purpose and highest skills.
  • Writers – these are the people who put the strategy into action by creating blog posts, ebooks, social content, case studies, emails, etc. Note that not all writers can do all content types.
  • A social media manager – if your writer isn’t a social media person, then you will need a separate resource to write posts and manage aspects of social selling.
  • Specialists like videographers and graphic designers, if you do those kinds of content.
  • A project manager – this role is very important but often overlooked. You need somebody who can manage the work, including review cycles, in a project management tool.
  • Analytics and tools – you need someone, if not the project manager, who can manage your toolset and own your metrics.

You don’t need all these people at the start and they don’t all need to be full time hires. Check out my ebook on building a top-notch content team here.

Next steps for those of you who really want to commit to content strategy

First, find yourself that content strategist. If you have a small budget or are just getting started, this person should be your first hire, and you can subcontract the rest.

While most tech companies already have a writer on contract, don’t saddle a writer with these responsibilities: to grow, you really need someone with broader skills who has strategic know-how, SEO expertise, social media knowledge, messaging chops, and writing skills.  A content strategist will build you a strategy and plan that considers the right topics, content types, channel strategy, and messaging for your top-value buyer.  They’ll help you distribute and repurpose content as well, helping you get the biggest bang for your buck.

There is no reason to hire a content strategist full time, and this is where fractionals come in.  A fractional can build your content strategy and run the program for you, whether that means managing your existing team, hiring subcontractors, or bringing their own team of specialized writers.

If your 2025 content strategy address the 10 opportunities above, you’ll be on a good path for seeing your ROI improve.

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