We hear it all the time: “But we don’t have anything interesting to write about. We’re really niche. No one cares what we have to say. Why in the world would we ever blog?! B2B blogging just isn’t for us!”
In fact, we heard this exact same sentiment just last week on a call with a potential client. We asked for a day’s time. We told the guys on the other end of the line that we’d prove that the company did indeed have something to write about, and that we’d provide data from Google to back up that argument.
We did just that. And the discussion roles on.
B2B blogging must be a part of your marketing strategy
I could write a book about why B2B blogging should be a part of your marketing strategy. There are lots of reasons. More blogging means more website pages which means more opportunities to capture potential customers in the search engines. More blogging means a stronger argument that you are THE industry expert and thought leader. More blogging means a more engaged company, utilizing the expertise of everyone that wears your company logo.
You have much to say – I promise
You see, in the age of the web, we all have something to write about. No matter how niche or how boring our industry might seem, as long as there’s a customer looking to solve a problem, there is something to write about. And data, freely available from our friends at Google, proves it.
For instance, we have a process engineering company we do work for that is seeing a surge in web traffic. The reason? They’re blogging, with careful focus on answering questions, highly technical questions, that potential customers are searching to answer with Google.
We have a Design-Build contractor we do work for that is seeing strong results from people searching for a particular warehouse construction method that we’ve written content about.
How about a industrial coating manufacturer ? No one searches for information related to paint manufacturing do they? They absolutely do. And we’ve the data to prove it. Try searching “coatings maintenance plan.”
“Okay, but where do I even start?”
Start your B2B blogging efforts by brainstorming the questions you get frequently. What is your team answering constantly? We always preach that if a question is being asked in person, or over the phone, you can bet it’s being asked in Google as well. This is your chance to answer that question for a potential customer. A chance to help them when they need it most – in the depths of a Google search!
So sharpen your pencil…
In closing, I wanted to share an example of a book that is 218 pages long about how to sharpen a pencil. It’s called “How to Sharpen Pencils.” I own it and it’s incredible. It’s more parody (okay, entirely a parody) than an informative guide – but it’s very entertaining. It’s also proof that even the simplest, most mundane things can be written about in great, informative, interesting, humorous detail.
So what was that again – you don’t have anything to write about?