5 Ways B2B Blogs Can Fast-Track Marketing Efforts

These days, virtually all marketers – B2B and B2C – at least recognize the potential impact of blogging when integrated into the marketing mix.

But for many B2B marketers, the decision to put a B2B blog strategy in motion may not come as easily. In 2008, Forrester Research found that more than half of B2B marketers either did not have a blog or were still figuring out their blogging strategy.

Successfully integrating a B2B blog into the marketing mix can provide organizations a wide range of benefits, from increased leads to improved brand awareness. Below we’ve identified the top 5 reasons why blogging fast-tracks your B2B marketing efforts.

1. B2B blogs provide an avenue for thought leadership content.
As part of the lead nurturing process, B2B organizations have to prove to prospects that they truly understand their unique business challenges. Offering thought leadership blog content – rather than simply pushing product information – is an effective way to do so.

By offering insight on trends and interviews with industry thought leaders, blog content can help B2B marketers prove to customers they’re an integral and involved industry player.

2. B2B blog posts can provide additional in-links to products and services pages on websites.
One of the most critical elements on B2B websites are products and services pages. The importance of building links to these vital pages is two-fold. First, the more links to products pages, the more traffic that’s directly driven there. Secondly, a major component of search engine rankings involves the number of in-links from reputable and relevant sources.

When blog content is relevant to a product or service page, keyword-optimized hyperlinks can be used within posts to provide readers with additional information.

3. Consistently updated blog content can keep customers returning to the website.
For many B2B organizations, typical website content is relatively static. New products may be added from time to time, and copy might be refreshed every so often. But by and large, new content isn’t added on a regular basis.

With B2B blogs, marketers can add new content weekly or even several times a week. By consistently posting interesting, informative information, organizations will encourage prospects to regularly visit the blog in search of fresh content. Plus, frequently updated, optimized content can help improve a website’s visibility in the search engines.

4. B2B blog content can be repurposed in other channels.
By integrating blogs with other marketing efforts (i.e., social media, lead nurturing), B2B marketers repurpose content to extend their reach and do more with less.

For example, images in blog posts can be optimized to be found in the search queries, as well as posted to sites like Flickr. Interesting pieces of information from blog posts can be used to create social media messages for sites like Twitter. If an industry thought leader is interviewed for a blog post, that exclusive interview can be leveraged in an email campaign or press release.

On the converse, marketing assets like whitepapers or webinars can be leveraged as blog posts. B2B marketers aren’t always tasked with creating completely original content for blog posts.

5. B2B blogs enable organizations to engage with customers.
Social media marketing is quickly becoming one of the most impactful elements in the B2B marketing mix. By allowing prospects to comment on blog posts, B2B marketers can gain valuable information about their interests and intent to buy. Moreover, by responding to prospects’ comments, B2B marketers can interact with and nurture those leads.

If you haven’t already implemented a B2B blogging strategy, now is the perfect time. From the ability to interact with prospects to increased search engine visibility, the potential benefits of integrating a blog into the marketing mix are endless.

This content was originally posted by Maria Pergolino on http://blog.marketo.com/

Do you have a media channel strategy? (You should.)

Twenty years ago, only big companies and TV stars worried about media channels.

Oprah was on TV, then she added radio. Two channels. Then a magazine.

Pepsi set out to dominate TV with their message, and billboards and vending machines. Newspapers, not so much. The media you chose to spread your message mattered. In fact, it could change what you made and how you made it. [Stop for a second and consider that... the media channel often drove the product and pricing and distribution].

Today, of course, everyone has access to a media channel. You can create a series of YouTube videos, or have a blog. You can be a big-time tweeter, or lead a significant tribe on Facebook.

Harder to grapple with is the idea that the media channel you choose changes who you are and what you do. Tom Peters gives a hundred or more speeches a year, around the world, for good money (and well earned). But this channel, this place where he can spread his message, determines what he does all day, impacts the pace of the work he does, informs all of his decisions.

Oprah lives a life that revolves around a daily TV show. Of course it would be difficult for her to write a book... that's a life dictated by a different channel. And she's a lapsed twitter user because it demands a different staffing and mindset than she has now.

This applies to non-celebs, to people with jobs, to entrepreneurs, to job seekers. We all spread our ideas, at least a little, and the medium you choose will change your ideas. If you only pay attention to the world when you need a new job (your channel is stamps and your message is your resume) you'll spend your day differently than if you are leading a tribe, participating in organizations or giving local speeches all the time.

We've come a long way from a worker having just two channels (a resume and a few references) to having the choice of a dozen or more significant ways to spread her ideas. Choose or lose.

This content was reposted from http://sethgodin.typepad.com/