Short answer — yes — and why you should be creating them

In an age of ever-increasing content, ever-shifting channels, and ever-shrinking attention spans, it can be hard to know who you’re reaching with your B2B marketing strategy. The truth is, many people still actively engage with corporate blogs, perhaps more than you might think. Here are some reasons to consider starting (or reconsider reviving) your company blog.

Inquiring Minds are Searching

In every field, there will always be things to know — things you should know but never learned, things you think you know but need to confirm for sure, things on the cutting edge to wow your colleagues. What’s new, what’s changed, what don’t we do anymore, and what cool things are happening if only we had the resources — these are all great topics for a blog.

Readers of a certain age will remember when it was not so easy to get instant and reliable news or answers. Sometimes it required a trip to the library. Not anymore. A wealth of knowledge is waiting for anyone with access to an internet connection. Yes, there can be a lot of mediocrity (and straight-up falsehoods) to sort through, but the savvy searcher can separate the wheat from the chaff. A good blog, fortified with strategic keywords, can put you in direct alignment with a reader desperate to consume what you have to offer. In fact, simply having a regular blog presence can increase traffic to your website by 55 percent. 

Just be careful not to “overstuff” a blog with SEO terms, which can end up looking like clickbait. Instead, focus on writing the best content you can that will provide real value to your readers. If you are covering a popular topic, be sure to do some additional research and provide your unique take. There’s nothing more disheartening than scanning search results and seeing a spray of identical phrases in every hit. This means that a single article or piece of news has been repurposed and repurposed and repurposed, etc. Don’t be that blog. Be fresh, be insightful, be bold. 

People Crave Authentic Connection

• Have you ever been to a party, resigned to a steady stream of pleasant small talk when what you really want is a meaningful conversation? That’s what it can be like when you are scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, but craving something with real substance. You may hear that readers are simply no longer capable of the attention span to read your long-form content. But it’s simply not true. While short content (like embedded video and infographics) is very effective in building awareness, materials that dive deeper will always provide more value.
• A well-written blog can reflect the nuances of your brand in ways other collateral can’t. Quick-hit digital ads are important to attract attention, but they can’t convey the full depths of your commitments. After reading a single blog post, however, someone should reasonably understand the style, tone, and approach of your brand. A blog presence is also a great place to develop a platform of strong and trusted thought leadership.

Excellent Return on Investment

• Because the internet revolutionized the exchange of information, a blog allows nearly anyone to widely and regularly distribute information at a very minimal cost. The era of potential clients calling your office for information about your company was, long ago, replaced by the Google search. The ability to broadly search for solutions provides a great opportunity for those who are strategic in their marketing efforts. A good blog can provide customers the information they seek and position you as a thought leader in your industry.
• People think of blogs as marketing (and they are), but they should also be an holistically integrated into your overall campaign, sales enablement, and lead generation strategies. The content contained in a rich blog can be repurposed in other formats. In 2021, we saw an explosion of video content in marketing in general. Transforming a single high-performing blog post into a series of videos that supports and reinforces your message can be created with a reasonable budget and create great returns.

While marketing trends will emerge and shift, the blog is not likely to be stripped of its relevance any time soon. Investing in blogs that regularly produce current, thoughtful content that provides value to readers is well worth the effort. Minds On helps clients create meaningful content worthy of a world-class blog. Find out more at https://mindson.com/Services/Content-Marketing.