How Brands in B2B Space Are Using Blogs

“80% of B2B marketers are using Blogs as one of the most favored content marketing tactics,” says the recently published 2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks study.

Source: B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends—North America

Why does content marketing strategy of B2B marketers revolve around blogging?

Why do businesses, B2B or B2C, blog CONSCIOUSLY and CONSISTENTLY?

Before we unravel why brands in B2B space rely heavily on Blogging, we need to get our basics right.

So, let’s start with a few radical questions.

Are you into B2B market and trying to shorten sales cycles to drive revenue for your business?

Wondering how to connect the dots between leads and conversions?

Are you wondering how to influence potential customers and prospects?

If you are in B2B market, you all marketers need to be well-versed in devising strategies and executing them to catch today’s customers, who are more informed, connected, and empowered than ever.

It is your diligently devised content strategy that helps you lift prospects out of their ordinary worlds and drive them to a path that finally leads to a transaction.

Continual interaction, drip marketing, is a key to shortening lengthy sales cycles.

Blogging as a channel to have continual interaction is one such important element of your overall marketing strategy, which paves the path to sales and eventually helps you in sales funnel conversion.

Blogging is simply the centerpiece of the effective and efficient practice of online content marketing,” says Brian Clark, founder and CEO of Copyblogger.

Still wondering why you should use blogging as a marketing tool! Let’s have a look at the benefits of blogging.

Benefits of Blogging for Business

Let's put it straight. Apart from being a low-cost way to create opportunities and generate new leads and customers for your business, there are a wide range of benefits for businesses that use blogs.

• It helps drive traffic to your website
• It helps convert that traffic into leads
• It helps establish your thought leadership
• It drives long-term results

Also to understand better the benefits of blogging and how to include it in your overall marketing strategy, you need to read and learn leading marketing strategy blogs to have a better learning curve to the benefits of your brands.

Stats Show Blogs Rank favorably with Businesses

Here are some interesting findings from various authentic sources that speak the importance of blogging:

• Brands that create 15 blog posts per month average 1,200 new leads per month (Source)
• Blogs give websites 434% more indexed pages and 97% more indexed links (Source)
• 82% of marketers who blog see positive ROI for their inbound marketing (Source)
• B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not blog (Source)
• 95% of small businesses view blogging as an effective marketing technology tool–second only to email marketing. 15% say blogging is most effective at engaging existing customers; 11% value it more for attracting new customers; and 69% say blogging is equally effective for both objectives. (Source).

You can also have look at the following table to understand not only the benefits and metrics but also value proposition of Blogging.

Image Source: “Calculating the ROI of Blogging: A Case Study,” Forrester Research

Right, you are in business, and the basic of business prudence wants to see the return on investment (ROI) doing blogging.

Blogging isn’t free, it needs time and investment of resources to create and continue with a good blog for your company. Can we calculate the impact of blogging on the bottom line? Let's explore.

How to Measure ROI with B2B Blogging?

Stats given above have enough to substantiate the very importance of Blogging. However, measurement of ROI of blogging is a challenge for B2B marketers, states the B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends—North America study.

Is there any standard formula to measure ROI of blogging?

No. As such there is not any standard ROI for blog. But, yes, following metrics supported with stats can help measuring ROI with B2B Blogging:

• Increased number of unique visitors and page views of blog
• Improved search engine rankings
• Increased number of qualified leads from blog posts
• Increased customer and sales insight for greater efficiency and qualified sales leads

To delve deep inside how to calculate ROI of blogging, we suggest you to read: New ROI of blogging report from Forrester , ROI of Business Blogging is not a Myth, by Jeremiah Owyang and Calculate Your Blogging ROI in 9 Steps by Jay Bayer.

Now, we would explore how B2B marketers are leveraging blogging to elevate their brands’ awareness, create a deeper level of engagement with internal and external audiences, build loyalty and earn media coverage unattainable through traditional outreach.

How Brands in B2B Space Use Blogs

Many B2B marketers have used their company blogs to their advantages. To them, content marketing starts with blogging.

Let’s look at how brands are taking advantage of blogs to connect with their fans, generate buzz and promote their business.

HubSpot Relevant Content Improves Search Engine Rankings

All the major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo compensate websites that include fresh, relevant content material. With the addition of a blog for your web site, you will improve your online presence considerably. Fresh content material assists increase your position in search, and a blog is really a great method to frequently share new content material.

HubSpot updates regularly its site and blogs with fresh and relevant content.

Copyblogger Creates a Brand for Itself in Content Marketing and Blogging

Do competitors blog as well? If they are not, then this may be the very best purpose to begin a blog of your own! Blogging might help you be noticeable inside your niche and create a business in the professional way. Copyblogger has created a brand for itself in writing, copywriting and blogging.

Are your blog posts helping grow your business?

Marketo Blog Establishes Relationship with Clients

A blog is definitely a superb method to offer a continuous drip-drip -drip of communication to have relationship with your clients and remind them of one’s goods, solutions, and why you are unique. You can also transform your content material into consumer newsletter and sales supplies and send them to the users that don`t study your blog.

Marketo does continual communication with content, email, white papers, etc.

Moz Generates Sales for Its Analytics Products with Blog

Your blog provides you with a unique and efficient way to promote your products or services. Moz promotes and generates sales for its analytics products right inside its blog’s sidebar, with Moz Trial. It also provides actionable insights in blog posts to educate and build trust with its audience.

Moz generate leads for its product with free 30- day trial.

SalesForce Generates Leads with Its Blog

When a reader gives you his or her email address with the understanding they’ll be receiving some sort of marketing material from you. It ensures that your contacts have opted into receiving information from you, and is an important element of generating leads.

SalesForce reaps the benefits of a strong following, with opt-ins.

American Express Open Forum Seeks Members Advices

Numerous businesses make use of blogs like a method to indulge clients to resolve issues and produce new suggestions. Occasionally, crowd sourcing suggestions may even result in new goods or service lines.

OPEN Forum is an advice-sharing platform where entrepreneurs can exchange advice to make smart decisions.

Flipkart Communicates with Clients in a Crisis Period

A blog truly works as a crucial channel to clarify the problems faced during a period of crisis. It provides a medium to distribute essential information to your workers, important stakeholders as well as the press, since all business responses presented on a blog are frequently shared by those who are constantly searching for quality information.

Flipkart, India's leading ecommerce site, sent apologies to customers for not meeting their expectations

Over To You...

What do you think?

Are you considering seriously doing business blogging? Must have a look at our recently launched eBook (Free Download): How To Do B2B Blogging- Secret Sauce for Growth Hackers and Marketers

We invite you to share your thoughts on B2B Blogging below and what you're looking to get out of it.