B2B Marketing Blogs: Where is the Love?

The good news: An increasing number of businesses are not only blogging, but they are doing it well. The not-so-good news: Most businesses have yet to realize the power of blogging for B2B marketing. The worst news: Too many businesses only use their blog to sell.

B2B marketing, which involves the buying and selling of solutions between businesses, has changed dramatically since social media and blogging arrived on the scene. Online marketing provides huge opportunities for companies by allowing them to reach more people in more ways. Sales results vary of course, based on how and to whom businesses go about spreading their messages. However, there is no denying the increased potential which is available for doing more business. What hasn’t changed in B2B marketing strategy is the importance of building strong, solid relationships between buyers and sellers. In fact, relationship-building is probably more important than ever within B2B marketing. Those businesses that write blogs which provide the value their current and potential clients deserve are going in the right direction.

Where is the love? These are a few suggestions for creating B2B marketing blog posts to help you woo your audience and build positive relationships with them.

Develop your B2B marketing blog’s strategy by defining personas

As Jeffrey L. Cohen states in an article for Social Media B2B, “blogging for B2B companies starts with personas.” In marketing terms, personas are fictional characters which represent the real people who may be interested in purchasing your company’s solutions. These are the people who primarily need to hear about and understand what your company’s offering(s) can do for them. Having these personas in mind helps you create valuable content which appeals to them and helps drive their decisions – without a sales pitch.

Tell your company’s story through blogging

Since effective B2B marketing depends on building relationships with your potential and current clients, it’s essential for them to get to know you, too. You can easily accomplish this by telling your company’s story, either as one blog post or through a series. Another way to build relationships with your audience is by letting your employees write blog posts. Either of these approaches will help your audience see your organization’s “human” side, which goes a long way towards building trust and credibility.

Create content your audience loves to share

Many of us continue to cling to the idea that B2B marketing is “boring.” Unfortunately, for some B2B industries, this belief is true. However, this shouldn’t stand in the way of creating content which can both educate and entertain your audience. Some B2B blogs are written so well that they bring value to their own audiences, their audiences’ followers, and beyond. Find a creative writer or writers who have the ability to use the right words in the right ways; you may be pleasantly surprised by how far your company’s message travels.

So, are you ready to get started with your own B2B marketing blog? I’m always open for your ideas and suggestions, too. Please feel free to leave a comment or tweet me @jennghanford anytime.