Every blog needs a purpose, a raison d’être, if you will. A good blog can support lead generation, adds credibility to your B2B brand and boosts your search rankings on Google (…and Bing for that matter). But a good blog can do much more than that – It can help establish you as a thought leader in your area, and the benefits of that exalted position reach far and wide.
Ever since web 2.0 became a thing way back in 2006 or so, there’s been an abundance of stats available from every corner of the web testifying to how marketers are seeing benefits from blogging. Companies that blog regularly win more visibility, gain greater credibility, reach more leads and win more new customers. But the benefits don’t stop there. B2B companies that blog regularly are better able to attract top talents and see better staff retention because it’s easier for the team to be on-board when the company communicates clearly and regularly.
A blog post doesn’t have to be long or complicated, although if your primary interest if gaining better search rankings, you should assume that Google values “juicier” insightful posts of 500 words an up, over short fluff pieces. A good post hit enough right notes to provide value to the reader. This shouldn’t be really surprising – After all, blogging, and indeed all content marketing is just another form of communication, which hopefully as a marketer, you already know how to do effectively.
With that in mind, check out these three blogging tactics that drive B2B lead generation:
Appeal to Your Buyers’ Personas
This tactic touches on two points.
First of all, your audience will want to read only about subjects they care about. If you’re wise, you’ll cater to their needs and interests, and they will flock to you.
Secondly, it’s not enough that the topics are carefully selected, the presentation and quality of delivery has to be such that people are sufficiently engaged. In other words – Your blog needs to project quality and care.
The Subject
The simplest way to gauge whether your efforts pass a sanity check and warrant publication is to ask yourself what value are your readers going to get from the topic you’ve selected? If you’re struggling to give a straight-faced answer you’re heading down the wrong track. Reverse, rethink and find something else to write about.
Don’t worry too much about not writing enough about your services and products.
You’re aiming to generate conversions – If you’re successful at generating the genuine interest you’ll have ample opportunities to pitch your solutions. Not to mention that in such a case you’ll have the added benefit of speaking to a highly qualified and engaged lead.
The Style
Who are your buyers? As we mentioned before, “be your own customer.” With that in mind, it’s easier to nail down the right voice and style to appeal to them.
B2B companies tend to speak to audiences that are short on time and are highly specialized in a particular niche area of expertise. This plays to your advantage – Since they’re focused on a rather narrow set of interests, they tend to be highly appreciative of anyone that can help them gain a better understanding in their space, and they often don’t have an abundance of resources available to them. Being the best source of information about Solar PPAs might not sound highly exciting, but it can be very valuable…
Remember Your CTAs
For B2B marketers the most valuable action a reader of your blog can take is to reach out to you for a chat, but you can’t expect them to do that unless you’ve bothered putting a clear call-to-action in front of them. Don’t expect them to click your “Contact Us” button – They won’t. Have a contact form at the bottom of every page, and spell it out for them, “Leave your details here and one of our specialists will get back to you”
It also helps if you make your content easily shareable – Include buttons for Linkedin, email, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, and Line.
Any time one of your readers shares your content, that’s free marketing for you – and it’s likely to be shared with an audience that’s relevant to you.
Design Matters
You have to keep your audience around in order to convert. That’s the basic principle of the conversion funnel, after all. There are countless ways to engage your customers. Don’t let your blog be sloppy. It should be as visually appealing as any other marketing piece your company produces. This also speaks to your attention to detail and quality of execution – Both points that are great import to procurement agents. We’ve covered how the Halo and Horn effects can impact you in another post.
High readability makes for successful blogging
Tried-and-true formulas in this respect include headlines, bullet points, numbered lists, and content backed by lots and lots of pictures or videos.
Bullet points and numbers signal key content. This is important because time poor B2B readers tend to skip the fluff and head straight to the point.
Images or videos break up daunting walls-of-text. They’re quick-hitting and easy to digest, and that’s more important than you might realize—your customers probably spend all day reading chunks of dry text. Treat them to a medley of multimedia.
That’s about it for now – Let us know if you need help with your content – We’re always happy to help with a quick review 🙂
