3 reasons your telecom growth strategy needs content

As the sun set on 2023, we predicted the key B2B telecoms trends that would shape the industry this year. Now, nearly halfway through, it’s clear– remarkably, that all three predictions have become top priorities for telecommunication companies as they come to fruition.

But today’s telcos need to do more than simply stay up to date with and adapt to the latest industry shifts to gain a strategic advantage.

To really get ahead and plant the seeds for success for their telecom growth strategy, companies need content. High-quality content that adds value and meets business objectives – in this case, growing and scaling.

Content plays an important role in the ability to scale effectively. From case studies, whitepapers, and blogs, to emails, social media posts and videos, you need relevant, useful content that will yield results.

Here are the three key reasons you need compelling content as part of a successful telecom growth strategy.

#1. To differentiate yourself from the competition and showcase your solutions

Let’s be honest: there is a plethora of technology products, services, and solutions available on the market today. Wading through it can be overwhelming, especially for busy, time-poor executives and decision-makers.

With almost three-quarters (74%) of B2B tech decision-makers in Europe and North America using content to learn about the features of the technology, products, and services they are looking to invest in, it’s clear that they want to know upfront precisely what it does to establish if it will meet their needs.

They also want to know what sets it apart from other solutions, and how it is going to help them overcome specific pain points and unique business challenges as well as modernise and streamline efficiencies for better business outcomes.  

It’s important to get this information across in a simple, bold, impactful, and easy-to-understand way. Over the years, we have seen some solid B2B telecoms campaigns that did such an effortless job of delivering creative, meaningful, and memorable content.

The SuperSmart Security graphic novel that Cisco created to explain how international cybersecurity threats work and their approach, complete with villain and hero in an epic battle, presented challenging concepts in an accessible way while also showcasing that they understood the preferences of their target audience. 

Other successful examples are those that harness the power of storytelling and humour driven by insights and a deep understanding of the target audience. Like this Mint Mobile video asking ChatGPT to write a brand ad. It’s funny, taps into a major current trend, and gets the message across.

Exploring creative and different ways of delivering content not only creates a bond with your audience, but it also helps build and maintain relationships with them while simultaneously meeting a business need.

#2. To demonstrate real business value to prospective and existing clients

Getting this one right requires carefully crafting the right content for your target market. But when you do it well, the results speak for themselves.

Take our content marketing strategy with long-standing client, international real estate developer and smart office technology provider HB Reavis, which resulted in 3.6 million c-suite social media impressions. We knew we had to do more than just speak to the decision-makers at the very top – the content we produced had to really resonate with them.

So we took a four-pronged tactical approach:    

1. Figuring out exactly what the c-suite are asking questions about – and then giving them the answers: Together, we realised that c-suite audiences worldwide and across industries were looking for an expert voice to tell them what the office would look like after the remote working of lockdown. By identifying this gap, we were then able to tailor our content to answer what every boardroom was asking. Researching and putting yourself in the mind of the persona you’re targeting is the critical first step to create content they want to consume. 
2. Offering a fresh perspective: We did this by challenging the assumption that remote working would become the new normal. Then, we conducted a series of surveys that questioned both employees and employers on what they wanted from the future of work. This allowed us to not only create thought-provoking content that went against popular thinking at the time, but back it up with strong market research. Don’t go with the flow when it comes to creating content, think differently about the issues and trends that are impacting your target market and your audience will thank you for it.
3. Showing how it will impact the business: Executives always come back to the bottom line, they need to know how both internal and external forces will impact their operations. So if you can show them that, you’re onto a winner. We created a comprehensive report, combining the results from our market research and layering these with four ‘megatrends’ tipped to drive business productivity and employee wellbeing in a post-pandemic world. This offered a fresh perspective but also demonstrated how trends at the time would impact on businesses going forward.
4. Track results: This feeds back to the previous point on showing business impact and value. Through this campaign, we were able to generate 500 qualified leads in the first four weeks of active promotion. Since then, it has driven organic leads, led to HB Reavis winning new enterprise-level business, and generated 1:7 ROI.  

#3. To generate and convert leads

Today’s telcos have ambitious growth strategies to stay competitive, and tactics conceptualised as part of these strategies need to convert into tangible results. That means sales leads and won deals.

Content is no exception. It plays a critical role in the marketing funnel, so you need relevant high-quality content that moves decision-makers from awareness and consideration to conversion, loyalty, and advocacy.

Different types of content serve different purposes and can be used to best effect at varying stages of the purchase process depending on the business objective. Some examples include:

B2B videos, which are a popular and visual way to provide valuable insights, product demonstrations, or tutorials in a way that captivates your audience. Videos provide a good opportunity to illustrate your product’s or service’s differentiators, and how these features and characteristics will help them address challenges.

Case studies can demonstrate real results of where services and solutions have solved specific problems and resulted in efficiencies and savings for the business, making them the most trusted type of content among B2B decision-makers. The key is to focus on the value generated, such as the increase in sales leads generated. People want to know exactly what they’ll get out of their investment.

Content is the springboard for a truly effective growth strategy to take off. Quality, timely content can help telcos differentiate your solutions and offering, demonstrate business value, and generate and convert leads into tangible results.

If you would like to discuss how Isoline can help you take your telecom growth strategy to the next level with powerful content, get in touch on hello@isolinecomms.com