“Content marketing” has been a big theme in marketing circles for quite awhile. The concept is nothing new, but with significant advances in social channels and digital platforms the last few years it has become an important investment for many B2Bs, partly because content can support every stage of the sales process.

There are lots of articles about content marketing but these are particularly insightful for B2B leaders wanting to analyze content marketing’s increased potential to drive sales.

Q&A: Content Marketing Requires Coordination Between Marketing and Sales – Chief Marketer
Q&A-styled content is a good way to understand why you should care about something. This Q&A between Chief Marketer and Dyn includes the answer to: “What would you say to a B2B company that isn’t convinced about content marketing?” and other nuggets that help bring the benefits (more and better B2B leads) of content marketing to life.

B2B Content Marketing Report
There are several reports on trends and insights that confirm content marketing is starting to go mainstream for B2Bs. B2B marketers are increasingly using compelling content to educate, inform, entertain and guide prospects along the buying journey. When talking with someone considering strategic content initiatives for their firm, I often point to this deck from LinkedIn’s B2B Technology Marketing Community on 5 top trends, for example: “Companies with a documented content strategy are much more likely to be effective.”

Hey Marketers: Sales Doesn’t “Get” Your Content Strategy
This post from Ardath Albee’s Marketing Interactions blog takes a different look by focusing on potential gaps in content marketing’s success due to breakdowns in sales and marketing alignment and integration. A survey referenced indicates 50% of sales reps and 35% of sales managers don’t understand the content strategy. A good read if you want to close these gaps.

The Future of Content Marketing: 5 Beyonds 
This is a fantastic presentation on Slideshare from Velocity Partners. It validates (for me anyway) that content marketing’s role in driving business could be at risk if we’re not smart about how we go about it. There’s still a learning curve for many (particularly in B2B) and we need to focus on effectiveness (how we tell our stories can be as important as what we tell).