B2B Blogging: Beyond the Hype

Ask anyone about content marketing, and you’ll probably find yourself talking about blogging. Blogging seems to be go-to tactic for creating and publishing content. But it’s far from being the be-all and end-all of content marketing success.

Despite what you may have read – or heard – blogging might not be the best choice for your business. It’s only one tool in your arsenal, and you don’t even have to pick it up to reach your business goals.

Content marketing is the process of using information to make an impression with your target audience – from new prospects to existing customers.

Note that the description didn’t include the words blog posts, blogging or blog. It’s all about creating non-promotional, informative content that reaches out to your target audience directly or through word of mouth.

According to research from the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, there are 26 identified channels of content marketing for B2B marketers – and blogging is only #5 on the list. Social media, articles on your website, enewsletters and videos all outrank blogging in terms of usage.

So why are so many B2B businesses focused on blogging as a first (or best) tactic? It comes down to lack of research.

There’s been so much published about blogs and blogging as a B2B tactic because it’s accessible at the entry level. It’s the Goldilocks of content marketing – not too much, not too little in terms of time and cost.  It doesn’t take the research time and strategic approach of a white paper or webinar. It’s less time intensive than a social media campaign.

However, if you want to take your B2B marketing from boring to breakthrough, you can’t sit in the Goldilocks spot forever. A blog may be a great tactic for your company and your target market – but you won’t know unless you’ve done some competitive analysis and determined your best approach. You might be better served by an infographic, a presentation or a combination of tactics. In fact, blogging gets the best results when it’s supported by other content marketing tools – like social media.

A lot of B2B companies treat content marketing like a box they have to check. They see that blogging is popular, start up their own blog and then mentally check out. They pat themselves on the back and think “We did it. We’re using content marketing.”

But they’re really shooting themselves in the foot. Content publication is becoming a stronger part of search engine rankings and social attention. Without a multi-faceted content marketing plan that is based on research, incorporates several tactics and has measurable goals, they’re going to get left in the virtual dust.

Blogging can be a valuable part of your content marketing plan – but you need a plan to begin with. Don’t buy into the blogging hype without figuring out if it’s the right move and developing a strategy to support it with other content marketing tools.

If you need help determining how to tackle content marketing, drop us a line or give us a call. It’s what we do! 😉