B2B Blogging: It’s More Than Just “Publish

Mar 11, 2018 — B2B

According to a recent survey, about 76% B2B companies use blogs or contents as a method to generate traffic and increase sales. One of the main ideas behind a blog or content is the will to publish free articles for people who may be interested in your business. If blog or content writing is done the right way, then you can use it to improve other aspects of marketing which will eventually help you to reach a wider audience. The blog or content that you share will help you to attract new consumers of the product and services that you provide to them.

So, what is a blog or content marketing?

Simply put – Blog or content marketing is the combination of newsletters, info graphics, videos and case studies required to study and analyze wide range of marketing tactics. One of the key elements that need to be added in a blog or content is distribution. Distribution helps blogs or contents to get the type of exposure needed to build brand awareness, increase traffic and convert into sales.

These are few steps while adding distribution to your blogs or contents –

1. Gather all the necessary information of existing distribution platforms –

Firstly; try to figure out what types of platforms your company uses. These are some to consider.
a. Email newsletters.
b. Case studies.
c. Company website.
d. Social media accounts that already exist like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc.

2. Start creating content cycle around your blog –

Based on the availability of resources like availability of staff, time and money, start building content cycle around your blog. Content cycle includes –
a. Article distribution.
b. New email newsletters.
c. Press releases.
d. Optimized SEO content.
e. Premium content offers.
f. Ad retargeting.
g. Podcasts.
h. Video.
i. Info graphics.

3. Determine the frequency of the distribution –

This is the hardest part of distribution plan. This is because a piece of content needs to be re-purposed. The advantage of re-purposing the same content is its value on different platforms of social media. For example:
a. Premium Content Offers –
Premium content a digital type of content which requires certain fees to be paid. They come in different various different forms like white papers, ebooks, videos etc which offers high-quality of information compared to free content. While making a compilation of blog or content posts to re-purpose, it’s alright to use the combination of forms. One of the main advantages of using premium content offer is, each premium content offer is unique compared to the past offers.
b. Email newsletters –
Email newsletters is one of the most effective channel to attract current and future clients to your websites. Re-purposing blogs that already exists can be effective as much as 3 times depending on the newsletters sent frequently. However, you should avoid this on a constant basis because if your clients receive the same newsletter frequently then it may force them not to open that particular newsletter.
So, remember to create distribution strategy for your blog or content in order to give your already existing blogs or contents a longer life-shell compared to your past blogs or contents.

Limitations to blog or content marketing –

Though you may an awesome blog or content with all the necessary information, it’s not as easy as it sounds. These are some of the reasons.
a. Building a blog or content takes quite a while and even more time to make your blog or content for optimization and effective.
b. It takes more time to make your blog or content more productive to attract people and measuring the results.
c. There are some companies that promote content marketing in different forms like paid advertising, social media and social network. So, analyzing how successful the content was will require more time.

But despite its drawbacks, blog or content marketing works and is here to stay. So, if you’re a blogger or someone who just wants to write something, remember that content writing isn’t just about blogging. There are different types of content with each having its own strengths and weaknesses. These are the different types:

1. Graphic design formats –

a. Info graphic – Info graphic is the cousin of charts and diagrams. Info graphics makes it easy in combing loads of data into an easy-to-read format.
b. EBook – With the availability of phones, tablets and computer, eBooks are easily readable. Although physical books are good but eBooks makes it so enjoyable to read because of being light-weight, easy to create and having the ability to publish by it. The best part about eBooks is you can sell them via your own website or Amazon.
c. Case study – In terms of psychology and business analysis, case studies are really helpful solving problems of your customers as it provides scientific and in-depth information.
d. White paper – Although white papers were introduced by the government, now it’s become very common with businesses too. White papers help to combine complex issues and offer solutions in most-simplest terms.

2. Video or audio formats –

a. Video/audio contents – This type of content are widely used and are very popular for many purposes. Video helps to spread about your brand awareness, inform about your product or service, and provide case studies and so on.
b. Webinar – Presentations or seminars which are done on the web are called webinars. The presentations are done with the help different type of platforms like Webinarjam, Crowdcast and Google Hangouts.
c. Podcast – Podcasts are audio shows which can be heard online and then downloaded on a computer. Podcasts help you to spread a message over a larger geographical area. Depending on the audio shows, some podcasts are only for a shorter time while some are for longer duration which offers in-depth content.

Conclusion –

Content marketing is an important job if you are a business owner or not. In order to create an effective content in order to attract many customers is to be in their shoe and think like them. Based on your content, you can improve and strengthen your business or brand in the eyes of the customers via online or face-to-face. So, ask yourself one question, what kind of content do you need, if it’s blogging then go for it. Just keep in mind about the various elements mentioned above. You can also add info graphics or videos as certain customers do prefer them. But, if you’re new to blogging or content writing, there are few good digital marketing companies in Pune who can help you out in your blogs or contents.