Why Blogging Makes Sense for Small B2B Companies

Katie Meurin, of Komarketing Associates, an SEO firm, posted a stat that I found interesting in her post, “15 Content Marketing and Social Media Takeaways from the B2B Marketing Summit.”

Of the 79% of B2B marketers using social media, only 28% use a blog.

If you’re a B2B company using social media, including Twitter, FB or LinkedIn, then a blog should definitely be part of your strategy. Why do I say this?

Simply put, a blog is how you easily, quickly and cost-effectively create fresh content on a regular basis. And if you’re using social media anyway, why not use these tools to get people back to your Website via this content?

Unlike an e-newsletter, which has its own specific format and publication schedule (generally once or twice a month), a blog gives you a number of benefits as it allows you to:

1. Respond to news and industry events as they happen — This is especially good if you work in an industry where timely response can position you as a thought leader and/or expert. I had one prospect say, for example, “Yeah, we wish we had a blog because so much has been happening in our space. We need to write about it.” A once-a-month newsletter, while good, doesn’t give you this timeliness.

2. Post customer stories / pictures — If you manufacture products and then install them at customer sites, you can take photos and post these to your blog along with a testimonial. In many cases, these photos and testimonials are much easier to obtain (and cheaper, too), than a case study.

3. Answer customers’ questions — If you’re like many small business owners or marketers, you probably hear the same questions repeatedly. You can write blog posts answering these questions. Or, consider using one of your engineers or product specialists and creating an “Ask Bob,” type of column where Bob answers technical or other types of questions. (Bob doesn’t have to actually write it — you, the marketer, can write it but get the info from him.)

Tip: Go through your Google Analytics keyword report to see what types of “How to” searches you’re getting and create “Ask Bob” posts from those, too.

4. Publicize your reports, case studies, company news, etc. — A blog is a great place to post your new content as people can link to it, retweet it, etc. Also mix in news about your company, including tradeshows you’re attending, new products, and anytime your company is featured in a mainstream or industry publication.

5. Show your personality — The one thing I love about working with small companies is the fact that they have so much personality. Once I get to know the owners and/or marketers, I hear all kinds of neat stories about the company and the owners themselves.

These stories make great blog posts. Why? Because people do business with people they trust. As you post more about the people inside your company, the people who read your blog get to know you. As they get to know you, they build trust in you so that when they’re ready to do business with you, they already feel as if they know you.

So instead of posting pictures of your building (zzzzzzzzz) or sticking with safe but really boring bios of your management team on the “About Us” page, let your hair down a little bit and post what’s happening inside your company. That’s the stuff people like to read — and keeps them coming back for more.

Notice I didn’t say that having a blog helps your content show up in the search engines. Yes, yes, yes, that’s a benefit, but it’s not the main reason you should write one. Writing for search engines means you’re writing for a bot, not people, and bot-driven, keyword dense content is pretty yucky, in my opinion.

What other benefits can a small B2B company derive from having a well-written blog? Leave your comments below.

Edited to add: Just read this great article by Robert Rose in the Chief Content Officer Magazine, “Best Practices . . . mediocre results” about why focusing on ROI can suffocate your “escape from the herd” thinking. He gives a great example of how this type of thinking killed what was going to be a great company blog.