by Fronetics | Jul 23, 2020 | Blog, Content Marketing, Covid-19, Marketing, Strategy
The benefits of a B2B blog are too important to overlook. Plus: Three companies that excel at content creation.
If your company blog has gone the way of the bears in winter, there is good reason to bring it back to life. That stale page on your website is more important than may realize. When months and even years go by without a single update, you’re missing out on company blog benefits.
Let’s cut straight to the stats:
- 70% of respondents in a Databox survey said SEO is better than pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for generating sales. (Can you guess what a leading driver of website SEO is?)
- Blogs are among the top 3 tools used in content strategies (HubSpot 2020).
- 51% of companies say updating old content has proven to be the most efficient tactic implemented (SEMrush, 2019). (See our post on reworking content for SEO here.)
- 67% of companies use organic traffic to measure content success (SEMrush, 2019). (You guessed it: A blog is a key tool in boosting organic search traffic.)
- 72% of online marketers say content creation is their most effective SEO tactic.
- Companies with blogs generate 97% more inbound links and 434% more indexed pages than those without.
In other words, a company blog brings benefits beyond just being a source of information, a tool to communicate with prospects, and to build brand. Despite new technologies, text will — as HubSpot points out in its 2020 State of Marketing Report — always be the foundation of search. And no place allows you to add descriptive text for improved search rankings as much as a company blog.
Not seeing company blog benefits? Here are 4 common pitfalls.
But as the significant number of hibernating company blogs shows, the pitfalls tend to come in spades. If your B2B blog is currently on snooze, let us guess the reason falls into one of the following categories:
- Unforeseen events: The most recent example is, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic. Faced with massive upheaval, supply chain companies, in particular, had to reshuffle resources. Although a crisis could be the time to step up communication and position the company as a leader, some blogs went dark after releasing a statement on the pandemic and its impact on the business.
- Unrealistic expectations: More than a few B2B blogs have run out of steam when immediate results fail to materialize. The disappointment tends to stem from unrealistic expectations. As much as everyone wants that first blog post to bring in a bucketload of leads, content marketing takes time to build momentum; but, done right, it is designed to turn into a tidal wave of improved search authority. Let patience rule and you will be rewarded.
- Lack of resources: To stand out in a crowd of tough competitors is not accomplished in an afternoon. Managing a successful company blog takes time. Other than outsourcing, there really is no way around it. If the blog is run on the fly or is low on the list of priorities, the results will suffer along with the motivation to keep going.
- Lack of strategy: Publishing for the sake of publishing will get you nowhere. Who are you writing for? What keywords are they using? How do you evaluate performance? Even well-written content can miss the target if it is not tailored around the audience you want to reach.
- Lackluster content: Although we always stress the need for consistency and keyword optimization when it comes to blog content, there is yet another aspect that is just as important — quality. A company blog that does not benefit your target audience will not benefit you. The most successful B2B blogs combine SEO best practices with useful, high-quality content.
B2B blogging done right: 3 examples of great blogs
For inspiration, it always helps to look at the organizations that get it right. And there are many to choose from. Take a look at three that have realized company blog benefits with engaging and purposeful content. Although conceptually different, the visions of these blogs align with the goals of each company, whether it’s generating leads with persuasive analytics or carving out a niche in social responsibility.
1. Cerasis: Market insights
The transportation management company was one of the early adopters of B2B blogging — and the results have been impressive. And Cerasis is not letting up. The company has published 15 blog posts in July alone, a pace few can — or don’t necessarily need to — match.
2. General Electric: Global vision
A multibillion-dollar corporation has the benefit of ample resources — and GE is putting them to good use. General Electric Reports intelligently humanizes the company with a stream of stories on the impact of GE products on global progress and employee spotlights that tie into current events.
3. Comscore: Analytics first
A look at Comscore’s blog leaves no doubt about its specialty: the collection and analysis of internet data. Comscore draws upon its vast resources to create content that is found nowhere else. The ability to showcase such detailed expertise is sure to sway a target audience looking to leverage customer behavior online.
Time to crawl out
The impact of an effective B2B blog can be huge. It requires research and vision to get started, persistence to keep it up, and analysis to evaluate the performance. In the end, the benefits of a company blog contribute to the health of your entire organization.
How about waking that bear up again?
Read more:
Key step to moving beyond survival mode: Revising B2B buyer personas
Trade show cancellations call for contingency plans (It’s urgent)
by Fronetics | May 6, 2020 | Blog, Content Marketing, Covid-19, Current Events, Marketing, SEO, Strategy, Supply Chain
So much to say, so little time. Supply chain marketing during Covid-19 — leaning in is better than backing out.
Turmoil does not quite begin to describe the situation that supply chain companies have experienced lately. The Covid-19 pandemic threw in just a few weeks the finely calibrated, just-in-time supply chains into a state of disarray. In the midst of the struggle to get product from Point A to Point B — while also ensuring the health and safety of employees — many companies had little choice but to adopt an all-hands-on-deck approach.
We saw it ourselves as our clients were suddenly buried in challenges that only weeks earlier had posed no issues at all — securing electronic parts overseas, locating warehouse space, finding freight forwarders, moving product out of port, and more.
If supply chain marketing during Covid-19 had to take a backseat during the initial phase of the crisis, beware of staying quiet for too long. Letting your marketing channels sit idle for an extended period, or drastically scaling back at a time when communication matters more than ever, is not a risk-free strategy.
Let us explain why:
Covid-19 supply chain marketing: Lean in or risk losing ground
Go silent — or stay strong
In the wake of the first shockwaves of the Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain companies understandably had to devote extensive resources to regain their footing. Few industries felt the impact as deeply as the supply chain. For some, the disruption opened up a flood of new business, sending the entire organization scrambling to keep up. For others, it meant every budget line item had to be scrutinized.
At the same time, we noted another challenge brewing for busy organizations: Maintaining a strong online presence during a tumultuous time. How do instill confidence in current customers and gain new leads if you say little or nothing at all?
After the first flurry of crisis-related marketing emails that many of us received (“We are here to help”), some companies — overwhelmed by the scope of work — let their social media accounts go silent and blog pages seized being updated.
The risk? Taking a break or withdrawing altogether could put your organization in a worse position later.
A McKinsey study underscores this point — conventional downturn strategies can actually hamper recovery. The performance analysis of 700 high–tech companies during two decades of market contractions showed “making obvious moves (for instance, cutting costs) as well as counterintuitive ones (such as increasing sales and marketing expenditures) quickly can improve a company’s position when the recovery begins.”
Interestingly, the best-performing companies increased their marketing and advertising spend relative to their competitors, but also compared to their own spending when times were better. However, from our perspective, the issue is far from just spend but identifying the most effective marketing channels and tactics at a time when resources may be scarce.
Weaken SEO — or make it soar
The risk of cutting back on supply chain marketing during Covid-19 also extends to search engine optimization (SEO). Rather than a one-time project, SEO needs constant attention to hum. It is the foundation of your effort to improve the quality and quantity of unpaid website traffic by increasing the visibility of your site or page to search engine users.
SEO and content go together
The completion of a well-designed website is only the beginning. If there is anything SEO demands more than anything else, it is content. You simply cannot ace one without the other. New, key-word optimized content is what makes SEO tick. Google Search has for years used a freshness algorithm to index pages. This means fresh content gets rapidly indexed and lands higher in search rankings than older content.
Backlinks — other reputable sites linking to your content — are also crucial to building SEO. When you provide up-to-date, insightful content, chances increase others will notice and link back to your site, especially during a time when so many are online searching for information. The same goes for backlinks and traffic to your site generated by social media.
So, what is the risk of going quiet?
The short of it: SEO can suffer. If content was the backbone of your marketing strategy before the pandemic hit, your organization has likely established a history of domain authority and is, as a result, in a better position to weather the storm. But not even the best of sites can escape the reality of what matters to search engines. Although you can still squeeze juice out of old keywords, lack of new content puts your organization at a disadvantage when search engines evaluate your pages in competition with countless others.
So much to say — can you find the time?
In many respects, supply chain marketing during Covid-19 comes down to this: Who would you want to do business with during a time of great uncertainty? What signals do you want to send to your audience? What do you want to tell them? As challenging as it may be, leaning in is better than backing out.
by Fronetics | Jun 18, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain, Website Development
The percentage of visitors that stay on your site is key to lead conversion and search engine rankings. Here are our top tips to reduce your website bounce rate. Highlights: A high bounce rate will compromise your site’s search engine rankings. Slow website load times...
by Fronetics | Dec 12, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Our most-viewed social media posts confirm there’s only one thing that stays the same with social platforms: they’re always changing.
Today, more than ever, companies are turning to social media to engage with customers and reach new audiences. But staying current with updates and new technologies is no easy task for marketers.
2018 was the year of video. From the soaring popularity of Insta Stories and Snapchat to the continued success of YouTube, users want to watch content (over reading it). In fact, video is the most popular form of content being consumed online today — and it shows no sign of slowing down.
[bctt tweet=” From the soaring popularity of Insta Stories and Snapchat to the continued success of YouTube, users want to watch content (over reading it). In fact, video is the most popular form of content being consumed online today — and it shows no sign of slowing down.” username=”Fronetics”]
Here are the top 10 social media posts in 2018, including why (and how ) to start implementing video into your content marketing strategy.
Top 10 social media posts in 2018
1. 10 Social Media Statistics for B2B Marketers 2018
Social Media Examiner’s 10th annual study, 2018 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, surveyed more than 5,700 marketers from across the world in a variety of industries — including manufacturing, industrial goods, and a variety of other B2B verticals. Here are some of the most relevant social media statistics from that survey for supply chain and logistics marketers. Read full post
2. An Example of Successful Social Media in Supply Chain Management
Sometimes, a success story can be a powerful motivator. FIFA and Adidas have been extremely successful in using social media in supply chain management. Here’s how it works for these organizations and why your business should consider it. Read full post
3. 10 Tips for Using Instagram for Business
Recent research on social media use shows that 66% of brands now use Instagram. It’s the second-most used platform by businesses, up from fourth in 2017. If you’re considering using Instagram for your business, which you should be, here are some tips for getting started. Read full post
4. Video: Social Media Trends for 2018
As always, good content will be as important as ever. With over one million new-data-producing social media users each day, high-quality content is the only way to stand out from the masses. But we also think you should pay attention to a few social media trends that we have highlighted in the following video. We’re certainly planning to adjust our strategy and those of our clients to consider these things. Read full post
5. 4 Things Your Business Should Do in Light of Facebook News Feed Changes
Mark Zuckerberg once again rocked the world on January 11 — at least for businesses — when he announced that Facebook News Feed was evolving to include less public content, meaning content from Pages of businesses, brands, and media. The algorithm now prioritizes posts from friends and family (over public posts) and those that “spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people.” Here’s how you should change what you’re doing in response. Read full post
6. Infographic: Social Media Statistics Your Business Needs to Consider When Publishing Content
A strong social media presence is key to successful marketing in 2018. Social media is simply unavoidable these days. So, you jumped on board and you’re posting and tweeting. You’re creating content. You’re learning about search engine optimization and how to improve your rankings. But you’re still not reaching the audiences you were hoping to attract. What’s going wrong? Read full post
7. What Supply Chain and Logistics Marketers Need to Know About Organic Reach on Facebook
In a recent social media news post, we mentioned that Facebook was experimenting with an Explore Feed feature. You may or may not have heard about how this might affect businesses’ ability to achieve organic reach on Facebook. Read full post
8. Facebook Boosts Local News, Twitter Launches Sponsored Moments, and More Social Media News
Updates to the most popular sites have included longer character counts, more advanced conversational skills with chatbots, and new tools for easier sharing. All of these changes are working to improve user experience and help keep users active on the biggest sites. Read full post
9. Facebook Updates News Feed, Instagram Allows User to Send Live Videos, and More Social Media News
I’m sure by now you have heard about the updates to Facebook’s News Feed that are having major impacts on business pages’ organic reach. But the changes don’t stop there. Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram are trying to follow Facebook’s lead and enhance their user experience. Through updates that include video counts, enhanced data collection, and recommended posts, social media is working overtime to make sure its active users are staying active. Read full post
10. 5 Ways to Improve Your YouTube Marketing Strategy
I’ve written a lot about YouTube and how the supply chain should be leveraging it as a marketing tool. Of course, I don’t recommend just creating videos at random and throwing them up on your channel. Like any content or platform, you should approach YouTube strategically. Read full post
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by Fronetics | Oct 4, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
Guest posting can help you build your reputation as a thought leader, grow your contact list, improve your SEO, and expose your content to new audiences.
At Fronetics, we use guest posting as a part of our own — and many of our clients’ — content strategies. Essentially, we partner with a relevant influencer or company and swap content to post on each other’s blogs. It can be a really effective way to reach new, relevant audiences and provide interesting perspectives and voices to keep your core audience engaged.
What’s so great about guest posting?
Guest posting has all kinds of benefits. Every time you post as a guest, you expose your content to a whole new audience. We talk about the importance of exposure all the time when it comes to content marketing. Your biggest asset isn’t your products or services; it’s your expertise. Guest posting helps you establish your brand as a thought leader.
[bctt tweet=”Guest blogs can be a really effective way to reach new, relevant audiences and provide interesting perspectives and voices to keep your core audience engaged.” username=”Fronetics”]
In addition to posting with industry influencers and peer brands, guest posting for larger publications can be hugely beneficial, for obvious reasons. Not only are you introducing your brand and content to a broad audience, you’re associating yourself with an established authoritative source.
By the same token, having other brands author guest posts on your own blog is a great idea as well. When key influencers write for your blog, they bring their audience directly to you, allowing you to tap into a new and relevant set of prospects. Not only that, by inviting peers to contribute to your content, you’re forging and strengthening relationships within the industry.
Guest posting is great for SEO
We’re always talking about how to improve your SEO. One benefit of guest posting that’s often overlooked is that it can significantly improve your search engine rankings.
Search engines use backlinks from other websites, particularly popular ones, as part of their algorithms that determine how search results are ranked. According to online business expert Sarah Peterson, in a guest article for the Huffington Post, “You can use the opportunity of your guest post to include 1-2 backlinks to strong pieces of content you want to rank for.”
Grow your contact list
We all know that email marketing is hugely effective and profitable, if your contact list is strong and effectively segmented. Another often overlooked benefit of guest posting is that it has the potential to strengthen and enrich your email marketing efforts.
Because you’re being exposed to new audiences, both as a guest blogger and when guests write for your blog, you have the opportunity to target and cultivate new leads from relevant sources. Use guest posts as an opportunity to usher prospects to lead generation campaigns on your own website.
Says Peterson, “if you’re not using this marketing strategy, you could be leaving a ton of email subscribers on the table.”
How do you use guest posting in your content strategy?
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