B2B Content Marketing
How to Create BOFU content

How SMBs Can Create BOFU Content That Doesn’t Suck!

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Updated:
December 23, 2024
Published:
December 23, 2024
How SMBs Can Create BOFU Content That Doesn’t Suck!

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Key Takeaways

No-click searches are the new rage. 

AI-generated search results, like Google's featured snippets, now provide instant answers to queries such as “What is beta testing?” or “Things to do in Greece.” Users no longer need to click on individual search results, as Google summarizes key information directly on the search page.

For marketers, this shift means that top of the funnel (TOFU) content targeting informational queries like “what is x” or “how to y” is seeing a reduction in traffic. 

To overcome this, businesses are now prioritizing bottom of the funnel (BOFU) content. BOFU content is tailored to potential buyers with transactional intent, addressing their needs as they actively search for products or services.

While larger companies can afford to continue focusing on informational keywords, SMBs are shifting their focus to content designed for prospects ready to make a purchase.

What is BOFU Content?

BOFU content is created to address the needs of potential buyers who are already in the market for a product or a service and are ready to make a purchase decision. 

Unlike TOFU or middle of the funnel (MOFU) content, BOFU content is targeted at leads with high intent, helping them choose the right product or service and convert into paying customers.

To better understand BOFU content, imagine this: your girlfriend gives you cold looks every time there’s a wedding scene on TV.

You become AWARE that she’s expecting a proposal.

You start to CONSIDER whether you’re ready for the commitment, browsing through countless jewelry catalogs and deciding which store to visit.

Finally, you breathe a sigh of relief when you find the perfect ring and make the DECISION to pop the question.

The B2B buyer journey is similar, moving through awareness, consideration, and decision stages.

Enterprises create content for every stage of the funnel, including problem-aware audiences who might search for “How to pick a wedding ring design” or “What are the different types of wedding bands?”

In contrast, SMBs often need quicker results and focus on audiences ready to make a purchase. BOFU content addresses queries like “Is Tiffany’s better than Selfridges?” by providing the clarity buyers need to finalize their decision.

BOFU content plays a critical role in driving conversions. However, many marketers struggle to create content that resonates with high-intent buyers. In this article, we’ll explore how to craft BOFU content that turns visitors into customers.

5 Types of BOFU Content and How to Make Them Conversion-Focused

BOFU content is sales at scale. Much like a sales representative, BOFU content highlights USPs, addresses objections, and showcases how your solution compares to competitors. To create effective BOFU content, alignment between marketing, sales, and customer success teams is crucial. Customer success teams can identify the most commonly used queries, pain points, and feedback to pinpoint the most pressing problems and valued features. This helps the marketing team craft persuasive messaging that resonate with the audience that is already at the bottom of the funnel..

Once the messaging is solidified, your marketing team needs to look into these four key aspects of creating successful BOFU content:

  1. Research: Deep dive into customer insights, analyze sales calls, and leverage customer success feedback to understand the target audience's needs and objections.
  2. Writing: Craft compelling copy that clearly articulates the value proposition, addresses common objections, and incorporates social proof.
  3. CRO: Optimize the content for maximum impact through A/B testing, clear CTAs, and visually appealing design.
  4. Distribution: Utilize various channels to reach the target audience, including email marketing, sales enablement, and content syndication.

Let’s explore the different types of BOFU content strategies you can use:

1. Comparison pages 

Comparison pages help companies to differentiate themselves from competitors and attract new customers. By directly comparing your product to alternatives, you can highlight unique selling points, address common objections, and build trust.

To create an effective comparison page, focus on the following key areas:

1. Targeted research

The first step is to identify your key competitors. Analyze search volume data to understand which tools are popular and conduct customer discovery calls to identify their past experiences and tool preferences. Once you know which tools to target, utilize sales enablement tools like battle cards and competitor analysis to gather insights. This also ensures alignment between sales and marketing teams to ensure consistent messaging.

2. Content

Your comparison page shouldn’t read like a feature dump. Concentrate on the key differences between your product and the competition and highlight them. Since the audience is close to making a decision, incorporating social proof like customer testimonials and case studies will help build credibility and address any inhibitions or objections they have. 

3. CRO

A/B testing is crucial to optimize your comparison page. Experiment with different headlines, CTAs, and page layouts to maximize conversions. Use data-driven insights to test variations of your BOFU pages to identify what resonates most with your audience and drives conversions.

4. Strategic distribution

While keywords like “X vs Y” are high-intent searches, the search volume for these keywords is low. To ensure maximum ROI from your BOFU content, consider additional distribution channels. You can send these pages in a direct mail campaign to relevant prospects.

Take the Dyte Vs. Agora page for example. They’ve ticked all the boxes for the best practices- 

Focus on key differences:
Key differences between Dyte and Agora as listed on the VS page
Leverage visuals to highlight features:
visuals showcasing Dyte's features on the VS page
Strong headline and social proof: 
Dyte's VS page: social proof

2. Alternatives page

Alternative pages serve the same purpose as comparison pages. They provide an opportunity to position yourself among your competitors and highlight how your features and benefits compare your competitors. The difference between the two is that the comparison page targets the most popular direct competitors whereas the alternatives page presents an opportunity to position yourself in the market. 

These are the elements that help create a good alternatives page: 

1. In-depth research

It’s important to tie alternative pages to user-intent. This starts by conducting thorough market research to identify the most competitive/popular alternatives and their target audience. Since we aim to highlight the shortcomings of these tools, user reviews, social media, and forum discussions help understand common pain points and preferences. This will help you build a strong base for your content. 

2. Content 

To sound more authentic, you need to craft content that highlights the unique benefits and drawbacks of each alternative. Since you’re relying on customers as sources you should incorporate social proof, such as customer testimonials and case studies, to highlight this fact.

To make the content skimmable and appealing, use visual comparisons, like tables and charts, to summarize or illustrate the differences between options.

3. Optimize for conversions 

Maximize conversions using A/B tests. Try different headlines, CTAs, and page layouts. Frictionless user experience also plays a major role in the decision making process. With clear navigation and intuitive design customers are more inclined to finish the purchase process. Don’t forget to optimize your page for mobile devices to reach a wider audience.

4. Strategic distribution

Much like alternatives pages, Vs. keywords will have lower search volume and require additional distribution channels for better results. ABM strategies work great here as well. You can even leverage performance marketing for B2B on social media platforms to boost these pages and reach a wider audience.

Let’s take this page by Gloroots, for example: 

They’ve taken the time to address all problems that arise with their competitor, Deel, and provided strong reasons to consider an alternative: 

Gloroot's alternatives page: problems with Deel

Once the stage was set, they presented Glooroots as an alternative and highlighted the ways it could help with a feature listing and social proof for the same: 

Gloroot's alternatives page: highlighting Gloroot

3. Case studies 

Case studies are powerful social proof to demonstrate the value of your product or service. By sharing real-world examples of how your solution has helped customers, you can highlight how the product helps similar customers, attracting your ideal customer profile (ICP) to choose your product over competitors. It helps build trust, and credibility, and eventually drive conversions.

To create effective case studies, consider these key steps:

1. In-depth research

Conduct in-depth interviews with satisfied customers to gather insights into their experiences. 

Note: The best way to increase responses for these interviews is to reach out in a happy moment- after a positive customer review, upgrade, or even repeat purchase/contract ren]ewal. 

Frame a questionnaire that helps identify key pain points, challenges, and desired outcomes. Tripledart, for example, focuses on quantifiable results and metrics to highlight the impact of your solution.

Tripledart's case studies: how to highlight metrics

2. Engaging storytelling 

Craft compelling narratives that capture the attention of your audience. Use clear and concise language, avoiding jargon and technical terms. Incorporate visuals, such as infographics and videos, to enhance the storytelling experience. Tripledart highlights the problem statement, challenges, and strategy through crisp sections in their case studies, supporting their statements with graphs and charts: 

Tripledart's case studies: How to write a case study

3. Strategic distribution 

Share case studies on various channels to maximize their impact. Utilize social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to reach a wider audience. Include case studies in your email newsletters to nurture leads and drive conversions. Consider submitting case studies to industry publications and websites to increase visibility.

4. Pricing pages

Pricing pages are usually the most visited pages on a B2B website, making them a critical touchpoint in the customer journey. A well-crafted pricing page can significantly impact conversion rates and revenue.

1. Content: The pricing page is an opportunity to present your pricing tiers in a clear and easy-to-understand format. If your pricing page visits aren’t leading to conversions, you’re making one of these common mistakes: 

  • Assuming your audience knows your value proposition 
  • Missing social proof gives you another chance to handle objections that arise. 
  • Not having an FAQ section: Addressing common questions and concerns like cancellation, upgrades, moneyback options, etc helps reduce friction and increase conversions.

The other key areas to concentrate on are: 

2. CRO: Experiment with different pricing models, layouts, and CTAs to find the most effective combination. Pay close attention to the headline and subheadline, as these elements can significantly impact user engagement.

Sprout Social has done a great job with its pricing page

Explaining features by plan: 

SproutSocial's pricing page: features per tier

Including social proof (testimonials): 

Social proof on Sprout Social's pricing page

FAQs addressing pricing queries: 

FAQ on Sprout Social's pricing page

3. Distribution: Pricing pages are easily accessibel from a brand’s website and are often shared by sales teams during pitches and demos. Ensure that the page is optimized for sales enablement, with clear and concise information that can be easily understood and communicated.

5. Product videos and demos

Many customers dislike talking to sales representatives, opting instead to conduct their own research and complete up to  70% of the buying journey before interacting with the sales team. By this time, the decision has been made and there’s little you can do to change it. 

Why wait to show your product features and demos? Use explainer videos throughout your site to help customers get a taste of your UI, and complex features before they contact you. Here’s the key to creating good product demos- 

1. Research

Before creating your demo or tutorial, it's crucial to understand the target audience so that you know what features and materials to use in the demo: 

  • Do they have the required coding/technical knowledge to understand the product? 
  • What tone and language do they prefer?
  • What features grab more eyeballs and need to be highlighted?

2. Content

The script should be based on user behaviour and their intent. Use a strong opening hook to capture your audience's attention and clearly state the purpose of the demo or tutorial. You can use visuals like screen recordings or no-code tools like Walnut or Saleo to create these demos. Many of these tools offer features to incorporate interactive quizzes or polls to increase appeal.

3. Distribution

Demos are a versatile form of content and you can share them on your website, social media channels, and email newsletters. Here are some ways to utilize them:

  • Retarget website visitors on social media with demo videos, especially if they’ve browsed specific features or solutions.
  • Use lead scoring to identify high-intent audiences and share personalized demos with them.

Supademo, for example, uses a video on its home page that helps users understand their product. The catch here is that they can go through the product in 7 clicks, showcasing how easy it is to use- 

Demo video on Supademo's home page

TripleDart: An Agency That Aces BOFU Content

Creating effective BOFU content requires a delicate balance. It's about striking the right tone: informative yet persuasive, product-focused yet customer-centric. The challenge lies in crafting content that not only resonates with your target audience but also ranks well in search engine results.

In-house teams often struggle to achieve this balance, juggling multiple responsibilities and facing resource constraints. This is where TripleDart can help. Our team of experienced copywriters, SEO specialists, and subject matter experts collaborate to create high-quality BOFU content that drives results.

Why Choose TripleDart?

  • Deep Understanding of Your Business: We work closely with your team to understand your unique needs and goals.
  • Data-Driven Approach: We leverage data and analytics to create content that resonates with your target audience.
  • Expert Copywriting: Our skilled copywriters craft compelling content that is both informative and persuasive.
  • SEO Optimization: We ensure your content is optimized for search engines to drive organic traffic.
  • Strategic Distribution: We help you distribute your content through the right channels to maximize impact.

Ready to take your BOFU content to the next level? Contact us today to learn more.

Manoj Palanikumar
Manoj Palanikumar
Manoj, with over 9 years of experience, has had the privilege of working with and advising more than 50 B2B SaaS brands. Specializing in organic growth strategies, Manoj has consistently driven predictable pipelines and revenue for his clients. As a growth advisor, he has helped B2B brands achieve sustainable, long-term growth through SEO, content, and organic strategies. His expertise has been sought by renowned brands such as Zoho, Glean, Helpshift, Monograph, HowNow, and many others, enhancing their organic acquisition and revenue.

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