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GUEST COLUMN: B2B brands need to think beyond lead generation
New Delhi: In business-to-business (b2b), marketing often comes to a halt at the lead generation funnel. Given the economic environment created by the pandemic, the stress on lead generation is not surprising, but working on the lowest hanging fruit is not a long-term strategy.
In the aggressively competitive environment, B2B brands need to think beyond just lead generation for their content marketing strategy. Simply put, what is your answer to this? What are you doing to help your customers succeed?
Your content marketing needs to be a method of helping your customers succeed. Under the pressure of an immediate lead and conversion, we tend to lack business empathy, and thus our content intended to be educational ends up being more transactional. I encourage B2B brands to use content marketing as a tool to support and help meet customer goals. That is what the purpose of your brand is in the first place. Keep connected to the roots of why you thought customers would come to you and choose your product or service.
There is a specific problem that your business solves for your customers, and that should be at the heart of your B2B content marketing strategy. It’s a whole new ball game possibly from what most B2B organizations are doing currently. Here are a few things to consider. I have outlined must-haves, good to have, and great haves for your content marketing strategy.
B2B Content marketing ‘must-haves’
Blog: While all organizations have a blog on their website but usually, they are sparsely populated and more focused on SEO than on content value. The resources section is Important and needs its due.
Case Studies: I recommend case studies that are not just a synopsis of what the process was and what the ROI was but also a customer’s point of view. It may take a lot more work but in this case, it is an excellent differentiator, a brand will earn 10X in credibility vs the increase in effort.
White papers, guides, and research: What is on ‘top of mind’ for any business is ‘who else is in my boat’ and what are they doing to navigate a circumstance. White papers are must-have tools in the arsenal. Remember that being unique is the key. Creating content is fairly easy. Creating good content that isn’t ‘hard selling’ and provides customers with genuine value — that’s a tricky, time-consuming business.
B2B Content marketing ‘good to haves’
Webinars and events: Online webinars and events are a good way to get your product or service to your customers, it is also an opportunity to build an improved relationship with your customers, it can be the platform to create thought leadership. Profiling and targeted invites are a great way to reach customers with whom you may not have engaged in the past.
Training & courses: Training is an important part of the B2B marketing content strategy. If you understand your customer then I recommend that based on your customer persona, develop training and certifications which not just train customers on your product but also add skills and learning beyond your product.
Co-Creation & collaborations: Customers are in the same storm, and very slightly different boats; they are stressed for leads and under pressure to build engagement. Create a partnership with your customer, build value with combined resources, co-host events, webinars, build joint resources, create PR opportunities. You will be surprised that in addition to goodwill and visibility, the value it builds for your business in hard number crunched ROI.
No matter which tools you choose, remember the Everest of marketing is getting your communication right and that peak is scalable only if you know and understand your customer.
(Ambika Sharma is the founder & MD of Pulp Strategy. The views expressed in the column are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)
MAM
Coca-Cola appoints Tapaswee Chandele as Global Chief People Officer
Succeeds Lisa Chang from May 1, reports to CEO Henrique Braun
MUMBAI- When leadership refreshes, culture often follows and The Coca-Cola Company is pouring a new mix into its global people strategy. The company has appointed Tapaswee Chandele as its Global Chief People Officer, marking a key transition in its human resources leadership as long-time executive Lisa Chang steps down after seven years in the role.
The appointment, effective May 1, positions Chandele at the helm of Coca-Cola’s global people agenda at a time when multinational organisations are rethinking talent, culture and leadership pipelines in an increasingly hybrid and competitive workforce landscape.
In her new role, she will report to chief executive officer Henrique Braun, signalling the strategic importance of HR within the company’s top leadership structure.
Chandele brings over two decades of institutional knowledge to the role. She currently serves as senior vice president and executive assistant to president and chief financial officer John Murphy, a position she has held since May 2025, placing her at the centre of the company’s financial and operational decision-making. Prior to this, she spent six years, from 2019 to 2025, as senior vice president of global talent, development and HR system partnerships, where she led Coca-Cola’s worldwide talent strategy and worked closely within Chang’s leadership team.
Her journey with Coca-Cola began in 2001 in India, and over the years she has built a cross-market perspective through roles spanning human resources and talent development. Her international assignments across Turkiye and South Africa, followed by a relocation to the United States in 2017, reflect a career shaped by both geographic and functional diversity, an increasingly critical trait for global leadership roles.
The transition also marks the end of Lisa Chang’s seven-year tenure, during which she played a central role in shaping Coca-Cola’s global people practices through a period defined by organisational transformation and evolving workforce expectations.
Chandele’s elevation comes at a time when HR is no longer a back-office function but a strategic driver of growth, culture and resilience. As Coca-Cola looks ahead, the focus will likely be on aligning talent strategy with business agility ensuring that the people behind the brand remain as globally adaptive as the product itself.
