Category Archives: Content Marketing

Blogs can be a powerful and inexpensive way to promote your business. As trust in advertising drops and customers look for reliable content to help make buying decisions, blog posts are a popular way to enhance a brand. And it isn’t just B2C consumers who are reading blogs more now than ever; 71% of B2B buyers reported reading blog content during their buying journey. Whether you have never set up a blog, or you have one that has been long neglected, it may be time to make this marketing channel work for you. 

Why Blog?

As much as we love to educate our customers and let them benefit from our expertise, blog content benefits go way beyond just providing resources. 

Drive traffic to your website

You can drive more traffic to your website by buying ads (SEM), or optimizing your website for search (SEO). Blogs are a great way to boost SEO,and businesses who blog get 55% more website visitors than those who don’t. Writing frequent, original blog posts tells search engines that your website is worth visiting and they will put you higher up in search rankings. Websites with active blogs generate a lot more indexed pages – over 400% more – which leads to higher organic search traffic and more leads. 

Each blog post itself will also bring customers to your website as it shows up in search results and gets shared on social media. If you write a great blog post that others want to reference, you can get backlinks (links to your website from other websites) that also help boost your SEO. 

Develop trust with customers

Writing relevant blog posts for your target audience establishes your credibility and authority. While this is a tough metric to measure, it is important for moving prospects through the buying stages. A customer may read several of your posts and find them helpful before choosing to engage with you. Once they do engage with you, their trust in you will be high since you have already provided useful information. 

Your own internal expertise is important for establishing credibility, but you should also consider bringing in well respected guest bloggers or interviewing subject matter experts. Content from someone from within your industry whether it be a customer, researcher, or a complementary business, tells readers that you also are a respected and important player in the industry. 

Collect Leads

From your blog post, you can add a call to action requesting that readers share their contact information. If you have created something compelling on the same subject, your audience may be willing to share their information to have access. White papers, free trials, and ebooks are examples of content you could provide.

Keep in mind if you decide to require contact information to see your content, less people will see it. Readers are more and more hesitant to give out their information as email fatigue increases. There is another approach favored by some organizations to give their content without any strings attached. The idea here is that if you have a great white paper or infographic, you want it to be read, shared, and referenced as much as possible. 

What should I write about?

The most important thing to remember when deciding blog topics is to write for your customer. Clearly define who your target audience is and what they care about. Define their top challenges and goals. The more specific you can get, the better because you will be attracting the right readers who may turn into customers. Create a content calendar and plan ahead so you will be more likely to keep up with posts, and can make sure the content has some variety. Types of posts could include:

• Educating on niche industry topics
• Interview industry experts and share their responses
• Give your thoughts on industry trade shows and events
• Share an analysis of internal survey data
• Predict trends

Keep your posts focused on education and not on pushing your products and services. Customers are savvy and don’t want to read a sales pitch. You make the case for your products by showing your expertise and helping customers solve problems. 

How often should I post?

Consistency is the key here. More frequent posts will give you the best SEO boost, but not everyone can post multiple times per week. What you shouldn’t do is write several posts and then publish nothing for 3 months. A stale blog makes it heard to develop a reader base and won’t help your web traffic. If you find it difficult to write consistently, engage guest bloggers, internal experts, or freelance writers to pitch in. 

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Sources:

DemandGen 2018 Content Preferences Survey Report

HubSpot 31 Business Blogging Stats You Need to Know in 2020

QuickSprout Guide to Making Your Corporate Blog Relevant

Spending on content marketing is rising, with the most successful B2B marketers now spending 40% of their total marketing budget on content. You know that creating content can bring in leads and grow your brand, but before you go out and hire a writer or social media manager, you need a strategy in place to make sure your efforts will actually pay off.

This may seem like a no-brainer – have a plan before you spend money – but you would be surprised how many small businesses skip this step. Putting together a strategy will help ensure that the content you create is working toward a larger goal, and ultimately pulling in new customers. Here are a few questions to answer as you build your strategy.

Who is your audience?

Some brands try to be all things to all people so they don’t lose any potential business. In reality, if you are small you probably have less resources than a larger company so it is even more important to focus on the customers that are most profitable. When your content is hyper-targeted, you will attract the right audience and let them know you understand their unique problems.

When selecting your target, consider your competition, your pricing, your core competencies or expertise, the segment’s size and growth potential, and logistical realities. Are you producing the highest quality product that commands a premium price? You don’t want to be creating content for bargain shoppers.

What are they looking for?

What problem do they have that you can solve? Your content should seek to address and help solve this problem. If you don’t know, it is probably time for some Voice of the Customer. You can also use Google Trends to find out what people are searching for.

Don’t underestimate the value of good content. Well written articles will keep people on your site longer, boosting SEO, and will get shared by readers and reach a wider audience.

What makes you unique?

Don’t be afraid to get specific with your content. If you truly understand your audience and their unique needs, you can dominate that niche. A digital marketing company could write an article on “How to advertise through social media” and try to out-rank thousands of other articles, or, if they have expertise in advertising to baby boomers they could write “How to reach seniors through social media” and have a higher chance of being found by potential customers.

Where can you find them?

Finally, consider where you will put your content and what type of content to create. This depends on your target audience, but B2B brands typically utilize:

Blogs are a popular form of content, being simple to set up and maintain. They should seek to educate the reader as well as help your website rank higher in search with strategic key words.

Ebooks are longer than blog posts. If you have a lot of expertise on the subject an Ebook can be a good way to gather leads. You can write an intriguing summary and ask for users to submit their information before downloading.

Infographics are visual ways to convey information quickly or to simplify a complex idea. They can get shared a lot, especially on social media. 

Case studies are an excellent way to build trust with new customers. Start by describing a problem a customer had that you solved, and get as specific as possible!

White papers are where you can really show your expertise in a technical field. They are in-depth explorations of a solution to an industry problem. They are also great for generating leads but take a long time to put together.

Social media posts should be frequent and work to build your brand identity. You can share photo or video, or repurpose content shared in other places.

Spending time up-front defining your audience and niche will help keep your content marketing strategy focused. It can be easy to chase every channel and think “we have to be there”, but spending money only where it makes sense for your particular audience is a more efficient use of your resources.

I can help you develop a content strategy that makes sense for your market and business goals. Let’s talk!