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Posted By:
TheNanny612
206 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://searchengineland.com)
Category: Blogging
Aside from establishing thought leadership, there are numerous other reasons why B2B companies should be blogging.
9 Comments
Comments
This is avery helpful article on B2B blogging, thank you. We will put this info to use immediately.
Thanks for the great article Galen! I think the most important thing you said was,
"You should use blogging to build corporate and personal credibility and to position your company as having few credible substitutes in the marketplace."
I think one reason B2B blogging fails is that many B2B companies (especially services) are not well positioned. Not being positioned makes blogging harder and ultimately less effective. But if a company is well positioned, if they really do have specialized expertise then blogging is much easier and more effective.
Thanks Again!
Eric Holter
CEO - Newfangled Web Factory
www.newfangled.com
Business blogging is also a great way to communicate with your customers on a mass scale. Often I will hear employees here mention that customers have the same questions or problems. Instead of hearing those employees sound like a broken record, I'll write a post about that topic for them to send to the customer.
Regards,
Michelle Greer
http://onlinebusiness.volusion.com
Agree entirely with your comments, Galen – but [you just knew a ‘but’ was coming didn’t you?] we cannot emphasize enough the time that is required to blog effectively. To work, the blog MUST have useful content that is interesting and well written. That takes time – and no little skill, which, let’s be honest, few people have. And then there is the time to read up, and comment on replies. Ignore them and you have no relationship with any contributors.
I’m not going to claim it is a full–time job [though at a biggish brand, it is], and it depends on your blog itinerary [hourly, daily, weekly, ad hoc], but how many organizations have a useful member of staff whose workload they can reduce by [say] 5 hours a week to free them up to blog? And here’s the kicker : forever – not just for a few weeks.
Of course, we would argue that the 5 hours should come out of the marketing/communications budget and it is well spent, but it’s a hard argument to put to the bean–counters or small business owner with only a few staff.
ooops - here's my reply again - but without the Word-induced punctuation, sorry.
Agree entirely with your comments, Galen - but [you just knew a 'but' was coming didn't you?] we cannot emphasize enough the time that is required to blog effectively. To work, the blog MUST have useful content that is interesting and well written. That takes time - and no little skill, which, let's be honest, few people have. And then there is the time to read up, and comment on replies. Ignore them and you have no relationship with any contributors.
I'm not going to claim it is a full-time job [though at a biggish brand, it is], and it depends on your blog itinerary [hourly, daily, weekly, ad hoc], but how many organizations have a useful member of staff whose workload they can reduce by [say] 5 hours a week to free them up to blog? And here's the kicker : forever - not just for a few weeks.
Of course, we would argue that the 5 hours should come out of the marketing/communications budget and it is well spent, but it's a hard argument to put to the bean-counters or small business owner with only a few staff.
Really really helpful article - B2B blogging is something that I personally find hardest out of any work I do with clients. The hardest part though, is convincing them that they need to actually write on the blog themselves, which they do enthusiastically for about a week, and then completely forget about it - and wonder why they don't see any benefits?
Thanks, Alan. Great comment.
No question about it. It takes time...and skill...and the content does need to be good. But it really comes down to priorities. B2B blogging, done right, can have perhaps the greatest ROI of any marketing initiative. Yet how much time do we spend doing other tasks that have marginal yields at best. How much time do we waste on sales activities with prospects that aren't properly qualified? How much time and money do we invest in a single print ad for a trade publication? In a local networking meeting of questionable potential? On tasks that could be delegated to others to free up those who can write and blog?
The only way it works for me is if I make it a priority. I have to force myself to set aside time to do it. I have to delegate things I need or want to do to others to make time for it. But aside from making sure our current clients get great service (and become excellent brand ambassadors for us), writing articles and blogging is one of the most important things I can do to build our brand. What better vehicle is there for me to build corporate and personal credibility and position our firm as having few credible substitutes in the marketplace?
No, it's not easy...and it is forever, but are we only going to seek to build our businesses, our brands, our reputations, for the next month or year? Building and growing a business is a long-term investment. We simply have to make sure we make things like blogging part of the mix, and prioritize it among other matters competing for our time and attention.
B2B blogging may not be appropriate for every enterprise, but it is for a great percentage of firms. I think many firms that could benefit greatly from it dimiss blogging because they don't want to figure out the answers to the questions I mentioned in the article. And that's not a good enough reason. We've all solved tougher problems than that.
Galen, you have a great style and clear ability to put a lot of information in as little bla bla as possible. We really appreciate your work, thanks.
Galen,
Good article. I especially like the way you managed to slip in the "social networking" links within the context of a B2B article…demonstrating that it can be done.
skip carney