You have a small company. You’re thinking of blogging. But you think it might be too expensive.
Maybe you’ve hired a web developer, graphic designer, branding consultant, or someone to handle your marketing. But blogging—paying someone to build, optimize, and run a content marketing plan? I bet you haven’t made that investment.
But I’m here to tell you the investment is well worth it, if done right.
So, you may be wondering, how does your B2B company get into the world of content marketing? And why should your company start blogging?
The first step is to build a blog of course. And below are four compelling reasons why your B2B company should start blogging, today…
1. Blogging is one of the best ways for Google to find your company.
Marcus Sheridan turned his company, River Pools and Spas, around several years ago. If you are not familiar with the story, he and his River Pool business partners were hit hard by the 2008 recession, but they fought back. And the main practice in their arsenal… blogging.
They started a keyword-rich blogging practice by simply answering customer questions. The top customer questions were turned into detailed blog articles written as honestly as possible, crammed with rich detail, and titled with long tail keywords.
The River Pools blogging philosophy? “They Ask, You Answer.”
River Pools and Spas was struggling and the practice of consistent blogging started to turn the company around. Their website currently dominates search in their part of the pool industry. And the company is booming.
This blogging model is one your company could easily emulate. And the River Pools methodology might be exactly what your company needs to get noticed by Google and Bing.
So, how do you start this blogging practice?
Adopt the River Pools method and ponder the specific questions your target market usually asks.
Learn all you can about long-tail keyword strategies. (Take a close look at #2, the River Pools story.
Run through a positioning, naming or tagline exercise. If you go through this process, you’ll be surprised how many great blog titles you’ll generate.
Re-examine your business plan and start your keyword search there.
Get out a spreadsheet and start creating a calendar of post titles.
If you are building a new website, make sure you build it with WordPress.
2. Blogging is the best idea-generator for your ongoing marketing.
Blogging not only drives your marketing, it becomes a catalyst for new ideas. If you adopt the practices above, then write anywhere from 10-50 posts, this is the start of something more valuable than you might think.
For example, maybe one post is titled, “3 Problems in (insert your industry) Solved: Our (insert methodology) explained”
This is a topic your ideal customer will certainly be interested in. So, run with it by…
Expanding on it and creating an ebook for download.
Breaking it down further into email form. Three distinct emails with more details, and answers that link to specific pages on your site.
- And, best of all, this could become the catalyst for …
- Revised copy for your site or collateral.
- Magnetic copy built on the power of story.
- Or the ideas might lead to better sales letters, scripts for your sales department, and on and on.
3. Another great reason why your B2B company should start blogging: Blogging works to continually clarify your brand.
The search engines will notice you. And your potential customers will too. If your brand image is clear, blogging will help reinforce its message. It will also help you refine the brand message.
How does blogging help reinforce your company’s brand?
Your brand is consistently being read and indexed by Google. The more you write the more you’ll refine. The more you refine, the clearer it will be and the more potential customers will notice you. Blogging keeps this process moving. And it’s like creative inspiration for your brand.
Write. Review. Refine.
Your ideal customer sees your services in a way that helps you rise above the competition. This is because you are bringing something new and exciting to them. Your competition might not have a blog, but even if they do, they might be doing it wrong (go back to the River Pools story).
So today, get busy blowing the doors off your competition.
4. Blogging is the best way to find and engage those who love your products and services.
I think it’s the best way to find your brand evangelists.
Many successful companies do this too—work to understand how people process, research, then buy. They then work to create a brand experience around it. We call this brand evangelism.
Here is what Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, has to say about brand evangelism…
“Content marketing is the practice of creating relevant and compelling content in a consistent fashion to a targeted buyer, focusing on all stages of the buying process, from brand awareness through to brand evangelism.”
I will never argue with that statement.
So, is your company blogging?
If done right, ideal customers will start finding you, and you might find more than a few people who will gladly talk about your services.
There you go… 4 reasons why your B2B company should start blogging, today.
Time to get busy.
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The post 4 Reasons Why Your B2B Company Should Start Blogging appeared first on McBreen Marketing.