by Fronetics | Nov 15, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing
People don’t want to read it. It does you no good. So why are you still using your blog to talk about your business?
It seems like a natural use for your company blog. But I’m here to tell you that writing about your products, services, and business is hurting your blog more than it’s helping it.
You shouldn’t write posts to push certain products. You shouldn’t conclude every post with promotional language about your company and what it does. In fact, your business should be virtually invisible in your blog content.
That may seem counterintuitive to some. But it all goes back to basic content marketing principles: Demonstrating expertise and building trust will drive profitable customer action when the customer is ready to purchase.
Why your sales pitch is bad for business
Today’s consumers have no tolerance for overt, interruption-based marketing. You can probably think of examples from your own life to prove this point.
For example: when you’re trying to find something to watch on TV, how often do you stop on a channel to watch a commercial? Probably never, right? If you’re flipping around, it’s probably because you’re looking for content that is appealing to you, not seeking advertisements.
Or, consider this scenario: You are in the market for a new car. You’ve done extensive research on different makes and models and have narrowed your list down to a choice few. You head to the dealership to do a few test drives. Once there, you are greeted by an enthusiastic salesman. Brushing aside your questions, he launches into his pitch about his dealership’s unbeatable prices and repeatedly pushes a model that you that isn’t what you’re looking for. Turned off by his tactics, you make a quick exit.
Remember those two examples when you think about blog readers and internet browsers. They have their pick of the 27 million pieces of content shared on the internet every day. If they sense a sales pitch, they’ll ex out of your website faster than a Google search query.
What’s more, studies show that B2B buyers are about 60% of the way through the purchase decision-making process before ever engaging with a sales person. That means they are actively avoiding sales pitches in favor of their own research. If your blog is just another avenue to pitch your products and services, your content will fall on deaf ears.
Well, then, what should you write about?
DemandGen’s 2016 B2B Buyer’s Survey Report offers some interesting insight on why buyers end up choosing a particular vendor. After timeliness of vendor response (98%), 97% of respondents said that the winning vendor “demonstrated [a] stronger knowledge of the solution area and business landscape.” Not that the vendor had the most modern products. Not that they got the best deal. That the vendor understood the solution area and business landscape.
That’s what your blog should be all about.
Write about the problems your products solve (without mentioning your products). Write about the kinds of businesses you can help (without mentioning your name). Use content to demonstrate your expertise and to inform prospects about the solution area and business landscape in which your clients operate.
See, it’s not about you. It’s about them. They want a vendor who understands their pain points and how their business operates. If you and your content provide value, offer information, and demonstrate expertise, your audience will come to know you as a trusted source of knowledge.
And that’s who buyers purchase from. Vendors who understand their business. Not those that can only talk about themselves.
So, please, don’t use your blog to push your products or your business. Salesy and self-promotional language will only turn buyers off. Instead, use this platform to show your prospects that you understand their situation, and they’ll come running when it’s time to make a purchase, no sales pitch required.
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by Fronetics | Oct 12, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing
Make sure you’re not making these seven common mistakes when starting your B2B blog.
So you’ve started a B2B blog for your business and are standing at the ready, waiting for those leads to start rolling in. But you’ve only gotten three views so far (you, twice, and one by your mother). It’s not working out exactly how you pictured.
For one, it takes time — and patience — to build up readership for any blog. The more content you publish, the greater its quality, and the more consistently you post, the more quickly that success will happen.
But, chances are, you’re making one (or more) of the rookie mistakes that prevent B2B blogs from driving traffic, leads, and sales. Take a look at the seven common blogging errors that are holding you back.
7 common blogging mistakes for new B2B blogs
1) You’re promoting your products, services, and/or business.
Believe it or not, your sales pitch is bad for business. While your blog seems like another avenue for advertising your products, that’s actually counterproductive. Today’s consumers have no tolerance for overt, interruption-based marketing. They can smell a sales pitch from a mile away and purposefully avoid them. There is plenty of content available on the internet that they have the ability to do so.
Here’s another way to think of it: When have you ever changed channels while watching TV to find a commercial? If you’re flipping around, it’s probably because you’re looking for content that is appealing to you, not seeking advertisements. Blog readers feel the same way.
Solution?
Your posts should provide information, value, and/or entertainment relevant to your area of expertise for your target audience. They will read it — and, ideally, subscribe — because they regard you as a trusted source of knowledge. When they are ready to purchase, you will be top of mind because of the rapport you’ve built through your content.
2) You write about anything and everything.
While it’s important to publish content that is meaningful to you and relevant to your area of expertise, your B2B blog shouldn’t be a dumping ground for every thought that crosses your mind. It’s not a forum for you to discuss what seems interesting to you on a given day. Unless you’re a celebrity whose lifestyle is your brand, your blog is not the place to make it about you.
Solution?
On the contrary, your blog is all about your target audience. Your posts should answer their questions, satisfy their needs, or cater to their interests. You should put considerable thought and planning into what you write to ensure it aligns with their expectations. An editorial calendar can help you map out content for your blog and make sure you are evaluating your posts from the 1,000-foot view as well.
3) Your writing stinks.
Writing a blog is different than writing an academic thesis, a business proposal, or a product catalog. If your content is boring, stuffy, error-filled, unintelligible, or otherwise difficult to read, people are going to move onto the billions of other content available on the internet.
Your readers need to understand what you’re saying, and, what’s more, they need to connect with your content. Of course, that’s easier said than done. It’s ok if you’re not a great writer — the first step is admitting that and then deciding what to do about it.
Solution?
Hire someone to write it for you. At the very least, have a colleague glance over your posts for errors and clarity.
4) You’re a copycat.
There are so many good ideas and well-written articles out there that some people might be tempted to copy and paste without fear of retribution. Unfortunately that will only hurt your B2B blog.
Firstly, discerning readers can tell when something’s not quite right. It’s easy for them to find the original source with a quick Google search, and even easier for them to never trust your blog again. Further, search engines can penalize your site if you’re caught plagiarizing content, which can dramatically impact your potential growth.
Solution?
Make sure your blog contains original content and ideas. If you use information or images from another site, make sure to properly cite them.
5) You’re not posting frequently enough.
Blogging frequency impacts factors like search engine rankings and audience engagement. Posting rarely or without any kind of regularity will negatively affect both, and thus your readership.
Solution?
How much is enough? A recent analysis of the top business blogs found that 90.5% blog at least once a week. Figure out the blogging cadence that allows for the most posts with your available resources, and stick to it.
6) You don’t have the option to subscribe (or you’re not pushing it).
A blog is an excellent way to gain organic traffic. But part of your goal should also be to establish a regular readership. After all, you want to build a rapport with potential customers, who come to trust your expertise because they regularly read your content.
Now, people like to do what’s easy. It’s possible that your biggest supporters type in your blog’s web address everyday to see what you’re saying. But it’s more likely that more people will read your content if it arrives in their inboxes on a regular basis.
Solution?
Make sure the option to subscribe to your blog is easy to find and easy to do. Most content management systems make this simple to set up right on your blog. But you can also encourage people to subscribe by adding a call to action to your emails, your social media accounts, etc.
7) You’re not distributing it.
Don’t let your content live in a vacuum. Certainly readers will find your B2B blog through organic search. But you don’t have to just post and pray.
Solution?
Distribute your content through whatever channels you have available to you: social media, email newsletters, paid content-promotion platforms, sites like Reddit and Quora, and more. And don’t just tweet about it once and consider distribution done. Keep distributing it whenever it’s relevant to do so.
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by Fronetics | Oct 3, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
The top-performing business blogs have these six things in common, from posting frequency to outsourcing writing.
Maintaining a blog for your business can be somewhat of a guessing game. How often should you publish? Should you do all the writing in-house? Will anyone read our posts?
A recent survey of 428 marketers conducted by Curata sought to identify any patterns or trends among those with the most successful business blogs. Specifically, the authors grouped together those whose blogs had more than 10,000 views per month and compared them to those with less than 10,000 views per month.
The most successful blogs (those with over 10,000 views per month) have several things in common. Here are some highlights:
1) Size doesn’t matter.
You may suspect that the larger the company, the more traffic its blog gets. That’s not the case. In fact, two-thirds of the most successful blogs were run by smaller companies (<$100M revenue).
2) Age is a factor, but it’s not everything.
Of the most successful blogs, 44% had been up and running for 5+ years. Time gives companies a chance to build up their readership and perfect their content strategy. Yet 65% of businesses who have had a blog for 5+ years did not get 10k+ views/month — meaning there is more to successful blogging than age.
3) Frequency is key.
Blogging frequency impacts factors like search engine rankings and audience engagement. So it’s no surprise that 90.5% of best bloggers blog at least once a week.
4) They set standards.
Interestingly, 80% of the best bloggers have a governance team for blogging activities. This can be many things: ensuring post quality and accuracy, determining best practices, outlining a code of conduct, etc.
5) Outsourcing helps.
The best bloggers rely more on external resources and less on internal resources. They outsource an average of 23.6% of their content production, compared to only 11.8% by blogs with less than 10k views per month.
6) They send more subscriber emails.
To promote their posts, 39% of the best blogs send a newsletter with their blog content to their subscriber base at least weekly. More than half of blogs with less than 1,000 views per month sent subscriber emails as infrequently as once a quarter or, in some cases, not at all.
Read the full report from Curata’s survey here to get more insight into the best business blogs.
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