Can you respond, with impact, to those big industry moments when projecting integrity, trust & credibility becomes key?
On Friday 19th July 2024, the biggest global IT outage to date caught leading service and security providers completely off-guard. Banks, manufacturers, media firms, airports, airlines, rail services, payment systems, the London Stock Exchange, multiple news organisations, and many public and emergency services platforms held up by Microsoft all reported severe interruptions.
Put simply: because resilience is a growing buying priority.
The world’s largest and most industry-critical enterprises are held up by increasingly complex supply chains and vendors.
In the wake of the debacle, thousands of buying groups (including downstream suppliers, partners, industry ecosystems and less-affected but increasingly cautious organisations) will be questioning the reliability of their current IT systems.
And they’ll be asking themselves one thing: do they have the capability to keep the lights on when the next Big Moment hits?
Cutting-edge data from 6Sense reveals that B2B buyers spend 70% of the buying journey doing their own research before talking to vendors.
(view image in blog here.)
Here are the biggest headlines steering optimised B2B content performance in 2024:
Source: 6Sense Point of First Contact Research Summary
If your content and campaigns rely on buyer conversion via a landing-page form or traditional lead generation it’s time to rethink. You won’t be getting your brand in front of key decision makers and influencers when they’re gathering the information that will heavily influence their purchase decision.
It is urgent for B2B sellers to increase their roster of ungated, educational content. You need to remove as much friction as possible for potential buyers wanting fast insights without a form.
Blogs, external product validation, helpful articles, videos, even some higher-value guides/buyers guides should be readily available to your audience without requiring an email. Concerned about tracking conversions when using more ungated content? We can help!
Whether you’re a fledgling startup or an established technology vendor selling into enterprise, Google and LinkedIn are likely your hero channels for paid media. Most organisations have not activated a key superpower: using the two platforms in combination. Deployed correctly, you can build trust with your audience and maximise awareness of your brand during that crucial first 70% of the buying journey.
Installing the LinkedIn Insights Tag on your website pages means you can track visits to specific website pages from your upper-funnel traffic-driving activity. And funnel those people back into LinkedIn. Now you can filter that audience down to your ICP profile (specific companies or industry, job function + seniority), and offer higher-value site visitors a better-connected content experience. Showing them the most relevant assets based on what they have seen and the strength of their engagement. That builds trust faster and accelerates the time between browsing and buying. And it can keep customers loyal when that next big crisis hits.
It this all sounds incredibly complicated, we get it! You want to make sure your content is making an impact on today’s buying journey. That you’re getting the most out of B2B paid media in the do more for less era. And that your digital communications are robust enough to achieve the right impact in a global emergency! That’s where we come in. Talk to us and find out how we can help build you a robust B2B platform.
Looking for a new jacket? According to Ibis World, there are 298,036 apparel manufacturing businesses globally. So how do you choose where to buy?
There’ll be several elements that affect a purchasing decision – particularly cost, quality, and/or location. But other factors that play a major role in where consumers shop are values and authenticity.
In fact, 90% of consumers say that authenticity is important when deciding which brands they support. In addition, 75% say they are likely to buy a product from a company that shares their values.
So, why are values and authenticity in marketing so important?
We’re now in an age where fake news, deep fakes and influencers peddling products they don’t actually use is the norm. And with the rise of e-commerce, we’re constantly being sold items and services every hour, of every day.
This bombardment of false promises and shallow marketing has driven customers to look for companies with more substance; companies that support their claims with actions.
Customers typically see straight through – and don’t appreciate – inauthentic and impersonal marketing tactics.
So how can you ensure your business doesn’t make these mistakes? It all starts with ‘why’. Why do you do what you do in the first place?
Being authentic and having strong values go hand in hand. But there are some important distinctions between the two.
AUTHENTIC: According to Oxford Languages, the definition of authentic is ‘of undisputed origin and not a copy; genuine’.
VALUES: The definition of values is ‘principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important in life’
While values are about beliefs and one’s outlook on life, authenticity is about who you are as a person (or in this case, business).
Unfortunately, an all-too-common occurrence is businesses falsely claiming they have certain values and beliefs to gain social clout and more customers.
This is also known as colourwashing (which we’ve written a blog about here). Not only can colourwashing slow down progress towards positive and important changes, but it also creates distrust in your company.
Stretching the truth about your values, and not being transparent in your marketing activities, will weaken the connection you have with your customers.
Not convinced?
According to a 2016 study, almost 94% of all consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand when it commits to full transparency.
And when you obtain loyalty from your audience and customers, you’ll see business growth, more people making repeat purchases, and an enhanced company reputation.
Almost 94% of consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand when it commits to full transparency.
You may be wondering where to start when conveying your values truthfully to your audience.
First you need to establish what your values as a business are.
Next, start showing you mean what you say through action.
For example, you could raise awareness of issues and organisations that align with your values, or donate some of your business’ profits to relevant causes.
It’s also important to note that this action isn’t a one-and-done situation. You need to continuously back up your claims to build audience trust.
Now, it’s time to tell people about it!
Communicating your actions and values both internally to your team and partners, and externally to your customers and stakeholders, is vital for a business. It deepens connection and understanding between your company and your audience.
Communication examples include:
What to do: Mind Corporate Partnerships
Mind is a mental health charity that stands up to injustices in healthcare, work and law which make life harder for people with mental health problems.
A section of their charity is dedicated to corporate partnerships so businesses can work with Mind to support their work and help fight for mental health.
This feature is so effective because not only are they starting a conversation with individuals, but they’re opening connections with businesses so even more people can get involved.
Their website contains plenty of resources and support for those struggling with their mental health, including workplace wellbeing.
By pairing their business statements with tangible resources, more people are likely to work with them and recommend their services.
What not to do: Naked’s lack of transparency
For this example, we’ll look through a more B2C lens, although the principles still apply to B2B businesses.
Naked offers a range of juice drinks, manufactured by PepsiCo. These products are marketed in such a way as to lead consumers to believe they’re a healthy option.
Statements on its packaging once included ‘only the best ingredients’ and ‘no sugar added’, but the Centre for Science in the Public Interest filed a lawsuit in 2016 because they were misleading.
In fact:
Following the lawsuit, Naked amended the erroneous claims and offered compensation to those who purchased products between a certain timeframe.
But despite its attempts to rectify the situation, both trust – and therefore loyalty in the brand – was lost.
Authenticity and values are interlinked – being authentic is about staying true to said values and being intentional about them.
However, authenticity is about also showing people who you are as a business. It’s about transparency in your marketing. It’s about being open with an audience, even if you’re not perfect.
This vulnerability leads to brand trust.
“Your audience is used to ignoring inauthentic marketing attempts from other businesses. Differentiate yourself by being genuine.”
So how do you go about being authentic as a B2B business? And how do you share this with your audience?
It’s crucial you remain honest in your statements and efforts.
Establishing brand guidelines early on also plays a key role in exhibiting your authenticity. This is because it will help you stay consistent in your messaging, your marketing materials, and your goals.
A major part of authentic marketing is having direct communication with your customers. This may be through:
By opening the door to discussions in real time, you’ll receive invaluable feedback that will allow you to make profound improvements.
In fact, according to a report by Microsoft, 77% of customers have a better opinion of brands that ask for and accept customer feedback.
Another interesting method to show authenticity and gain brand buy-in is through ‘behind the scenes’ materials. Whether this is showing your audience where / how your products are made, the team behind the business, or a Q&A session.
And finally, testimonials are a great way to offer transparency. Sharing feedback from those not necessarily invested in the company itself – i.e. objective opinion – creates believability. This is known as social proofing.
Social proofing is:
“the psychological concept that people are influenced in their decision making by others, compelling them to act within societal norms or expectations.”
Social proofing done well
Airbnb utilises the power of social proofing in their marketing brilliantly. In fact, as a platform that’s built to both enable people to host strangers in their properties, and for people to stay in strangers’ properties, their business success depends on it.
Airbnb includes reviews from guests and hosts which can include photos, stories about people’s stays, and their names.
This adds a personal touch to the platform, which increases trust from users. But it also provides details of others’ experiences using the service, giving clear evidence of customer satisfaction.
Authenticity and value-based marketing ultimately comes down to 4 things:
It’s as much of a benefit to you as it is your audience. In return for your honesty, and so-called vulnerability, your audience will be significantly more likely to invest time (and money) into your brand.
With a loyal customer base, you’re increasing your chances of seeing more growth in your business as people recommend your products/services to others.
And it’s important to remember – this isn’t just for B2C companies, B2B companies should be doing the same.
We’re now in an age where businesses are trying to sell as much as possible and advertise wherever they can. So, when 57% of consumers think that less than half of brands create authentic content, make sure you’re standing out for the right reasons.
After all, people now value quality over quantity, and neither you nor your customers should settle for anything less.
Looking to find out how you can tell your audience about your authenticity and values? Get in touch at [email protected] to find out how we can help.
Are you feeling like your blogs and social posts are shots in the dark, fired out without a clear aim and, ultimately, missing the mark?
Or maybe you feel there are never enough hours in the day to be consistently updating your digital platforms, like you’re always catching up.
There are a number of reasons why your B2B digital strategy might be falling flat.
So, how do you keep the conversation about your brand, products, and services fresh and engaging, without sounding like a broken record? And why does it feel so challenging?
“…58% of businesses don’t have a digital strategy in place…”
It turns out, 50% of businesses don’t have a digital strategy in place. Those that do certainly aren’t immune to avoidable marketing mistakes. And, as Roger L. Martin – strategy and management expert, and author of A New Way to Think – puts it, strategy is NOT planning:
“A strategy is an integrative set of choices that positions you on a playing field of your choice, in a way that you win.”
In essence, strategy is a theory, meaning there is a ‘how’ and a ‘why’. The ‘why’ is the reason you choose to do it. And the how, is the way you plan to beat your competition – playing to your organisation’s strengths to gain opportunities and sidestep risks.
Why do you need a digital strategy?
Every business will have different aims, but here are some reasons you might want to dial up your digital strategy:
Your competition is growing a strong following and gaining market share
Digital platforms give you the opportunity to test what works and what doesn’t, helping you hone your messaging and stay competitive. If your competitor is gaining traction online, it’s likely no accident – you can bet they have a solid strategy in place.
You’re under pressure to do more with less where your marketing budget is concerned
Compared to traditional OOH marketing, TV and print, digital marketing can offer low-cost opportunities to reach even more people – both organic and paid. A robust digital strategy will help you prioritise where you spend that limited budget to maximise returns.
Your sales and marketing teams don’t have enough data to confidently modernise their approach
It’s a misconception that B2B sales are all about meeting rooms, suits and handshakes. In fact, a recent report from Sana found that 58% of B2B buyers prefer placing complex and high-value orders online. By harnessing the power of data in your digital strategy, you can learn a lot about your audience and their preferences. This has the power to transform your marketing communications, your sales patter and direct messaging, and dictate how and where you choose to advertise.
Your audience needs your products or services, but they don’t know it yet
Sometimes an extra step of awareness and education is needed to nurture prospective customers. If you have products or services that require a bit more explanation, digital marketing offers numerous opportunities to build anticipation and understanding, guiding them into the next stage of the funnel. LinkedIn advertising is a particularly effective way to educate a B2B audience.
How will you plan your strategy, to ensure success?
“Invest deeply in understanding the problem before proceeding. You create a strategy; you don’t pick one. Design and imagination are critically important to strategy.”
– Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters.
Diving deep into the complexities of your industry and consumer behaviour isn’t just helpful – it’s essential groundwork for crafting your B2B digital marketing strategy.
You’re battling lengthy sales cycles, multi-seat buying committees, and high-stakes transactions. So, it’s crucial to nurture your audience with a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy.
This means catering to every key audience persona, at every stage of the marketing funnel – from awareness, right through to decision.
Equally, business-to-business marketing is a competitive game. Developing an effective B2B marketing strategy requires an in-depth understanding of not only your industry and audience, but your competition.
Once you have your market research in place and a solid understanding of the pain points your audience is facing, you can figure out how you want to position yourself.
Key challenges when developing a B2B digital marketing strategy:
What to do?
1. Choose the channels you want to reach your customers on
Where can you find your audience? How do you want them to engage?
2. Develop a content strategy
Provide content that speaks to your audience in every stage of the buyer journey: awareness, consideration, decision, as well as making it unique and reflective of your brand. What value are you adding to your audience? How is your content going to solve their problems?
3. Use paid promotion to your advantage
Decide where you want to put your budget that will be most effective for you. For instance, do your customers mainly search for your product on Google? In that case PPC may be the most viable option. Or perhaps you offer a product that appeals to Gen Z – if so, consider TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat. Be sure to track your spending and the conversion rate to optimise wherever possible and get the most bang for your buck.
4. Map out the customer journey
Use tools like Hotjar and GA4, and any other analytics tools you’re subscribed to, and map the journey of your customer from awareness of your brand (social media engagement, for example) and first website visits right through to purchase.
5. Decide which tools best meet your aims
Ensure you research marketing tools carefully before subscribing, and select ones that most seamlessly slot into your processes, providing the most efficient and effective support for the least investment.
6. Get your hands on as much data as possible
Use it to evaluate the effectiveness of your digital marketing strategy, which should be flexible enough to adapt with your findings. Then, be sure to make use of A/B testing to find out how your data works in practice.
Not sure where to start?
Chat to us today for a free consultation and we can provide some tips to help breathe new life into your B2B digital marketing strategy, boost engagement and get you those all-important conversions.
Our Google Ads campaign achieved a Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) of 16.09 and helped Holt Farm sell every pitch at their independent campsite for Glastonbury 2024. And all that in just eight weeks.
Holt Farm is a new luxury camping concept for Glastonbury 2024, created by one of our long term clients, Yurtel.
With guaranteed pitches just 200 metres from the festival’s main entrance and amenities such as clean toilets, hot showers, organic food vendors, and even a wild spa, Holt Farm is designed for comfort and community, allowing groups to camp together in a secure, well-equipped environment.
Holt Farm was a brand new offering around one of the most famous and popular festivals in the world, Glastonbury. After a delayed start, the challenge wasn’t selling the festival but selling a large number of pitches in a relatively short window of time (just a few weeks).
With so much noise and buzz in the build up to the Glastonbury festival, standing out and making sales via Google Ads needed to happen quickly and effectively. This was a high pressure, high speed campaign.
We also had the support of this being a multi-channel campaign, with brand awareness being built by the client on Facebook and Instagram as well.
Our results can be seen in the tables below:
Conversion Rate: 3.44%
Bristol integrated brand agency saintnicks has announced a further senior appointment with the hiring of Marcus Culloty as the agency’s new Creative Director.
Marcus joins saintnicks after holding the title of Creative Director at McCann Bristol. Before that, he was the Creative Director of The Mix Dublin, part of Pernod Ricard’s global in-house agency network.
With more than 17 years experience working for some of the UK and Ireland’s leading network and independent agencies including Havas, Publicis, and The Leith Agency, he has created a raft of award-winning campaigns for global clients such as Toyota, O2, Jameson and Dunlop.
Now as saintnicks’ Creative Director, Marcus will be leading the agency’s conceptual output alongside supporting with the mentoring, shaping and development of its creative studio.
On his appointment, Culloty said: “saintnicks has a great philosophy for crafting great work that helps their clients and their brands really fly. That’s why I can’t wait to dive in, be part of this experienced agile independent agency’s senior team and take things further than ever.”
It’s a time of continued growth for the Bristol agency with further new talent joining across the business. This month sees the arrival of Richard Canueto-Cook and Hannah Bain into the Client Services team as Account Directors. Both join with previous careers at Ogilvy, Havas and McCann.
The appointments coincide with another strong year for the agency after a consistent period of new and existing client growth within the automotive, sport and audio sectors and a string of industry award nominations.
Steve Davies, ECD of saintnicks commented: “The quality of talent and the versatility of skills in the agency has enabled us to generate stronger campaigns and deliver better performance metrics across the board. With over 65% of our business from international brands we are always seeking talent who can help us to take clients further, and Marcus is a most welcome and exciting addition to the team.”
Werkshop Weekender (formerly known as Werkhouse) is finally back! This year they’re changing it up, and the torch for hosting has been passed on to Halo.
The weekend, where future designers, copywriters, and strategists are given the chance to connect with the industry and get a taste for agency life first hand through a real brief, is happening in Bristol on 16th and 17th November 2024.
Breaking down barriers
As Halo takes over the mantle, they are continuing to dial up the focus on diversity and inclusion. The weekend is open to anyone over 18, no matter their previous experience or education, and all applications are being judged blind.
“We know that university isn’t accessible, or even the right route, for everyone but yet there’s still such a heavy onus on having a degree when trying to move into the Creative Sector. We don’t think this should be the case. Creativity is open to everyone, and always should be, no matter where you are in life or what you’ve been (or are going) through. “ ~ Bryony Greenwood, People & Studio Coordinator at Halo
Werkshop Weekender brings together professionals from some of the best studios in Bristol and Bath, with curious individuals looking to enter the creative industries. Participants are divided into squads to tackle a real life brief from a client in the charity sector, developing ideas and communicating their concepts, with the support of assigned team leaders and on hand professionals.
Studios that so far have signed on for the weekend are:
How to apply
Applications open on 2nd September and close on 1st October, but if you for any reason need more time to finish, please contact Halo at [email protected] and they’ll do what they can to accommodate you.
The Werkshop Weekender team has made it clear; the weekend isn’t for those with experience. It’s for those with an interest in communications, design, and commercial creativity. They aren’t looking for professionals, they’re looking for those with a curious attitude and drive, who want to gain insight into agency life.
“If you’re passionate, if you have ideas, if you’re curious, we want to hear from you. Good ideas come from every aspect of life, and the experiences and the way people perceive life right from day one are what forms rounded ideas. We know life isn’t linear, and your journey into the creative space may not be either (mine wasn’t), so if you have even an inkling to apply, please do!” ~ Bryony Greenwood, People & Studio Coordinator at Halo
Go to the Werkshop Weekender website to find out more and to access the application when it opens.
Bristol-based CRM specialists Flourish have today joined forces with the creative services agency Curious and The Harbour Collective, in what is the first step in the development of a new marketing company – the Harbour Group.
The group will be led by Paul Hammersley. Previously founder of Harbour Collective, Hammersley will become the CEO of Harbour Group, with Hugo Varney taking on the role of CFO. Before forming Harbour, Hammersley was a chief executive of DDB and Cheil. He launched Harbour in 2017.
Hammersley said, “For some time we have been discussing with a number of our Collective member agencies how to more closely align their shared interests and create a more connected plan for future growth and value creation… central to those discussions has been our desire to allow for the continued autonomy of the agency Brands.”
Founded in 2004, Flourish built its reputation in CRM and Customer Journey marketing, working for clients such as Nissan, Twitch and ASOS. Today, the agency employs over 50 people and operates from offices in Bristol and Dubai.
Of Flourish’s three founders, Neil Hecquet and Rich Hartson will be departing the agency, whilst Keith Nichol will remain, taking a position on the Harbour Group board. Nichol said, “The last 20 years have been such an incredible personal experience. I couldn’t have hoped for better partners than Neil and Rich and both have been instrumental in Flourish’s success. The time has come to push on and this opportunity with Harbour enables us to add our strength to a wider group proposition.”
Ian Reeves, Flourish’s Managing Director, said “The Harbour Group vision is clear and offers our clients tangible value through vertically integrated and complimentary services. We’re excited to start the journey alongside Curious and believe their offering can help push the creative barriers of what can be achieved within CRM.”
For more information, please contact Aimee Blakemore, Marketing Manager at Flourish on 01173 117620 or [email protected].
About Flourish
Flourish, which has offices in Bristol and Dubai, is a CRM agency “specialising in the development and delivery of personalised data-driven experiences, direct communications and content”. Its clients include Nissan, Bet365 and Asos.
About Curious
Curious is a “tech-driven agency that provides design, artwork, photography, video, CGI, and content distribution services”, with clients that include Diageo, Specsavers and Patek Philippe.
About Harbour
Harbour Collective, described as a “standalone company which manages a membership base of a number of independent agencies”, includes Live & Breathe, Pretty Green, Thursday, Platform, Digital Natives, TCO, Just So and Mi Media.
We are thrilled to announce that Varn has been selected as a finalist for The Small Business of the Year Award, at the prestigious Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards 2024. This is a real honour and a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team.
The Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards are the UK’s largest awards programme celebrating the best of British business. These awards welcome and celebrate businesses of all sizes, from entrepreneurial start-ups and SMEs to well-established key industry players in the FTSE 100. Being selected as a finalist in this prestigious awards process is an incredible milestone for Varn, particularly as this year there has been an unprecedented number of entries.
The Small Business of the Year Award is a highly competitive category open to organisations with up to £5 million turnover in their last financial year. This category celebrates companies that demonstrate strong growth & resilience, plans for sustained growth and innovation, as well as customer/staff engagement, an ethical approach to business and strong business results.
Rob Wilde, Managing Director of Varn proudly shares that, “Being named a finalist for category of The Small Business of the Year Award at the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards 2024, is a fantastic recognition of the hard work and dedication of our wonderful team at Varn. We are truly honoured to be acknowledged alongside such outstanding businesses and are excited for what lies ahead.”
The winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony, to be held at Grosvenor House Hotel in London, on 12th November 2024. Being part of this esteemed awards process is a remarkable achievement for Varn. We are immensely proud of our team’s efforts and delighted to part of the awards process, as we eagerly look forward to the next stage of this journey.
If you would like to find out more about the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards or have any questions for our team, please get in touch and you can contact us here
It’s always important to consider potential restrictions and regulations before deploying a paid advertising campaign. It is clear that restrictions will always impact some sectors such as pharmaceuticals, alcohol or financial services. However, even if you think that your particular industry or sector may not be impacted by advertising restrictions, both Google and internal policies could have the potential to impact your advertising’s approval.
Before running a Google Ads campaign, our advice would be to give Google’s advertising policies section a read, no matter your industry. It’s important to note that policies can significantly alter by location targeted, and some violations can easily result in a permanent account suspension.
The same applies before running any campaign on Meta. Running ads on Facebook or Instagram have additional restrictions to consider. For example, you are unable to infer any personal attributes about the user such as age, gender or medical conditions in your advertising. If this is a concern and you want to find out more it’s helpful to view further details about Meta’s advertising restrictions here.
If you’re running ads in what may be considered a ‘safe’ industry, for example a D2C apparel ecommerce site, then it’s vital to be aware that there still needs to be careful consideration of restrictions when running advertising. With Google Shopping and Performance Max campaigns, despite advances in Google’s AI, their review tools can get tripped up easily. We have frequently seen instances of totally innocuous products being flagged as weaponry, tobacco or other heavily restricted categories – which then require a manual review before being able to advertise and can take several days to remedy.
It’s always valuable to have a read through product titles and descriptions and see if there’s anything that could potentially flag them for restriction. For example, maybe a specific item colour is described as ‘tobacco’ or ‘gun metal’ which could be an issue. Doing this won’t prevent all errors, so it’s important to ensure you’re frequently checking disapprovals in your Merchant Centre account and that your product feeds are optimised.
On Google Ads, using trademarked terms in ad copy can limit them or cause disapprovals. If you’re launching a product in collaboration, it’s vital your partner has cleared their trademarks for you to use by filling in this third party authorisation form. This can be quite a time consuming process to complete. Even if not running a collaboration, your ad text could accidentally use a trademarked term, which would then require editing.
Aside from trademark restrictions, it’s good to note that copy sign-off can be a complex process which needs to be planned for and will potentially take longer than you anticipate. It can involve many departments or have to go through multiple companies in different locations. Ensuring brand restrictions and guidelines are met can take months, especially if requiring review by legal departments.
Our recommendation is to start building a draft of your paid media campaign well in advance of a potential launch. Ideally do this four weeks for a new account, and only after carefully reading policy documents, no matter your sector. If working with partners in other companies, ensure you have a contact who can assist you in providing access and clearance to prevent delays.
If you need support with your paid media campaigns contact our expert team to discuss your challenges and any concerns about restrictions, we would love to help.
If you’re struggling to write content that ranks well on Google, you aren’t alone. Business owners, content creators, and marketers often face this challenge. They struggle to find a starting point for writing content that not only meets Google’s high standards but also ranks well in SERPs, and drive conversions. For years, SEO techniques have been designed for search engines, rather than users. However, the SEO landscape has been changing, with algorithm updates, innovative AI, and SERP feature updates / changes. This has led to a shift in the industry and the need to reassess strategies to align with Google’s request for user-first content; accessible and helpful.
At Varn, we take a holistic approach taking into account the wider aspects of technical SEO, AI-driven analytics and content optimisation, that align with the latest user experience principles. This helps to guide our clients through an ever-evolving and increasingly complex digital landscape.
Google’s E-E-A-T Principle is a cornerstone in raising your website’s SERP profile and rising through the ranking to the first position. By producing consistent useful and helpful content, a steady stream of traffic and conversions will follow. This article outlines the techniques to write quality content that both users and search engines value and ensuring you are writing with E-E-A-T at the core of your content strategy.
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. E-E-A-T content should be part of any long-term SEO strategy to boost your website’s credibility and ranking. These guidelines are used by Google’s algorithms to help to evaluate the quality of the content on websites and in 2022 Google announced they were adding an extra E to the original EAT Guidelines.
So what does EEAT stand for?
This refers to the first-hand or personal experience of the content creator.
This identifies the creator’s knowledge and skill in the subject matter.
Assesses the credibility and recognition of the creator or website.
This evaluates the reliability and integrity of the content.
You may be thinking, what does all of this actually mean? In short, it means creating helpful and people-centric content.
E-E-A-T factors help to keep high-quality, reliable and relevant information available to users on the SERP. A content strategy that keeps ahead of keyword opportunities, utilises cross-functional teams, and produces organic content ensures your website’s content matches the high quality that Google is looking for. It’s also important to update existing content with contemporary research and updates so that this becomes evergreen content. Evergreen content refers to high-quality, valuable content that is relevant and useful to readers over a long period of time and unlike news articles or trend-based content that can quickly become outdated, evergreen content is designed to provide long-term value, attract ongoing traffic and continually engage audiences.
Organic SEO-first content is something we specialise in at Varn, whether for our client’s on-page content, blogs and product landing pages, through to off-page data-driven articles, guest blogs or PPC landing pages.
When creating or updating content for your website, we recommend you incorporate the elements explored below, into your overall SEO strategy to match E-E-A-T guidelines. Ultimately it’s about ensuring your content is as attractive as possible for the search engines to find, understand and rank.
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness can be shown in various ways. For example, you can include detailed author bios on your website when someone writes and shares an article demonstrating your expertise. It’s vital to produce high-quality and well-researched content, cite credible sources and engage with the industry.
Social-proof your content with reviews or client testimonials, accreditations or awards you’ve achieved. Help the reader understand why they should listen to you. If you don’t have credentials to be speaking about a certain topic, be sure to collaborate with someone who does. Industry partners, influencers, and expert quotes featured in your content will help you to create user-first E-E-A-T content.
Include a brief section about your business, explaining your expertise, the areas you serve, and the scope of your services. Why should people listen to you? Remind users why they should choose you for a service or trust your advice on a subject. A ‘Why choose Us?’ section or a succinct ‘About Us’ that mentions the years you’ve been in business, and partners you have worked with, will help to position yourself as a credible expert.
An internal link is the hyperlink on your website that takes the user to another page within your website. Contextual internal linking extends the user journey and helps search engines understand your website’s hierarchy structure and the importance of content. It doesn’t just add SEO value, it also aligns with improved user experience and conversion. Internal links add context to the relationship between pages in your website and shares page authority to important pages. Before diving into creating an internal linking strategy, make sure you understand why internal linking is important.
Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink. Rather than using generic phrases like “click here”, use descriptive anchor text that aligns with your destination page’s keyword mapping strategy. Build on a page’s keyword authority with descriptive anchor text. This will help users and search engines understand your content’s purpose.
You can align the anchor text with keywords informed by Google’s perception of keyword authority for a page with Google Search Console. If you haven’t set up Google Search Console, take a look below at these helpful tips.
Make sure your call to actions (CTAs) for a page match the page’s intent. If you’re unsure of a user’s intent, understanding search keyword intent will help. Use CTAs to encourage users to take specific actions, they can be particularly effective at the end of your introduction and content. If in doubt, prompt users with your company’s credentials and offer to get in touch or speak to experts.
It’s vital to think of the user journey, so for example, if you have a blog about the benefits of a service or product, you would expect to see the service or the product page linked. Understand where in the marketing funnel your user is, if they are looking at a blog that is an introduction to a product or service, then they have just started their journey. Therefore you can make them aware of problems with the solutions that you offer, speaking to their pain points, challenges and desires. To do this effectively, you will need to know your audience inside out.
Focus on high-quality, informative content. You and your team are experts, real people with a breadth of valuable first-hand experience that people want to learn from. Your team’s first-hand experiences are invaluable. They match the Experience part of the E-E-A-T guidelines. Share them to create authentic, informative content.
Here are some helpful tips how to write user first E-E-A-T content:
Write for your audience first, then tweak and structure for SEO. Google is discouraging SEOs from writing content just for search engines. And rightly so, we’ve all clicked on a result in the SERP and been met with AI-generated nonsense. Google asks us to provide ‘Helpful, Reliable, People-First content.’ The days of writing content based on search volume alone are over. Search engines are now flooded with AI content – Google struggles to find the most helpful content to rank. In this new age of SEO, business owners, experts and SEOs must work together to find a middle ground, that is both helpful for users and optimised correctly for the search engines.
Work with a marketing/ SEO expert to perform user research. This should consist of understanding pain points, desires and the audience’s buying journey. For example, in the decision stage of the buying journey, we need to catch users when they are in the consideration stage of that journey. So think about your blog content, and capture solutions to help solve their pain points, queries, worries, wants, and needs. It’s vital to capture your audience’s attention by writing content that resonates with their experiences and aspirations.
Reflect on the next steps you want users to take and use internal links to support their decision-making process. Think about what makes sense for them, and explore this around aligning the actions you want taken which are based on your business goals and the user journey you want them to experience? Is it a brochure download, to get in contact or book an appointment?
You can use existing data from Google Analytics to help inform your decision making. The GA4 Page Path explorer can tell you which blog pages were part of the converting/purchasing users’ journey. Use this information to guide your internal linking, and take your user on a journey through the buying funnel. You can take this a step further with natural placements where a related topic is introduced. It’s important to remember that there is no need to add links for the sake of it, it must be natural, and these links need to add value.
It’s vital to ensure your content is accessible and engaging. One element to consider is the readability of your content or article on a desktop, compared to when people may be scanning the content when using a mobile. Additionally without good content structure, even the most insightful/helpful information can be dismissed as untrustworthy or irrelevant by search engines.
Structuring E-E-A-T content with keyword-rich headings doesn’t just have SEO value, it also improves user experience. These headings make it easier for users to navigate the content, find the information they need and hence perceive the content as authoritative and trustworthy. Clear, relevant headings also help the search engines understand the content’s topic, making it more discoverable and likely to rank higher.
Eye tracking research can be used to help understand how users interact with headings on webpages, revealing their role in capturing initial attention and guiding navigation. This data informs effective design decisions to enhance readability, user engagement plus overall user experience. Eye-tracking research studies found that when people read on the web, their approach depends on what they are doing, what they expect based on their past internet use, how the page looks, and the type of content it has, like text or pictures.
The most common scanning patterns are:
The F theory – where the user will mainly look on the left side of the webpage and examine the top of the page.
Spotted pattern – where the user will jump around to the most interesting spots – often influenced by effective website design and UX.
The layer-cake pattern – where the user will focus on headings and subheadings as they act as signposts for information.
Incorporating FAQ sections into a website’s content strategy aligns well with E-E-A-T principles, as this helps to create content that is not only informative and reliable but also highly valued by both users and search engines. You can use Google Search Console, to help you uncover long-tail keyword opportunities to feed into your FAQs.
If you want to find FAQ opportunities in Search Console you can do the following;
Don’t forget to structure your FAQ content to appear as snippets in search results with schema mark up optimisation, to help increase click-through rates.
On a final note, user-first content that adheres to E-E-A-T principles isn’t just about chasing low-hanging fruit or seeking quick wins. It’s about building a foundation of trust and authority for your brand and business that will continuously fuel organic search growth over the long term.
Still not sure where to start? Our team of innovative SEO experts can support you to develop a robust E-E-A-T content strategy that will drive traffic and conversions. Contact our expert SEO team to discuss your E-E-A-T challenges, we would love to help.