Eight success factors for the corporate blogs of B2B companies

B2B corporate blogs as the heart of a content marketing strategy

In many companies today, corporate blogs have become established as a key content marketing platform. The particular strengths of a business blog as the crux of a content strategy really become evident in the B2B sector when a company wants to boost its visibility and reputation, generate leads, and develop long-lasting customer relationships. It’s not without reason that 59 percent of B2B marketers regard their corporate blog as the most valuable content channel, according to a survey conducted by marketing software developer Demand Metric.

A Demand Metric survey found that companies that publish corporate blogs generate 67 percent more leads a month than companies that don’t have a blog.

Corporate blogs are therefore one of the most relevant communication tools in B2B business and address a wide range of corporate goals. These include, for example:

• Increasing online visibility, website traffic, and interactions
• Raising brand awareness
• Strategic brand positioning by conveying the company’s messages
• Establishing thought leadership and placing experts where they are needed
• Communicating expertise, skills, and know-how
• Building trust through informative persuasion
• Generating high-quality leads
• Strengthening customer loyalty and retention
• Steering the decision-making process along the customer journey
• Using the B2B corporate blog for recruiting purposes

Successful corporate blogs take into account the specific aspects of the B2B market

To use a corporate blog effectively, you especially need to consider the unique traits of the B2B sector, such as:

• Diverse target groups with different informational requirements
• A much more complex and long-winded customer journey
• A greater need for information on the customer’s side

Our eight strategic tips for a successful corporate blog will help you master the challenges of B2B communication and benefit from the particularities of the sector.

#1 Reach out to all decision-makers

In companies, purchasing and investment decisions are generally not made by one single person. Whether CEOs, sales directors, marketing managers, or heads of IT – when communicating via a corporate blog, you need to address not only the top decision-makers, but also other stakeholders from different departments. To do this, the first step is to clarify how purchasing decisions are made in your target group and which people are involved in the decision-making process. The more information you gather about your target group, the more accurately you can align your content strategy.

#2 Cater to the different needs of your target group in your corporate blog

An effective B2B corporate blog is one that is tailored to the specific informational requirements of the decision-makers in question. For example, while economic aspects tend to be prioritized by CEOs or marketing managers, technical issues are likely to play more of a role for engineers or the IT department. As part of your content strategy, it is therefore important to consider the focus of your content and reach out to the various decision-makers with content that is geared toward them. Representative and carefully created personas offer a valuable aid here in understanding the individual needs at play and aligning your content to the different members of your buyer group.

#3 Clearly structure your blog posts

Neatly structuring your blog posts and categorizing them by target group will allow you to separately address the different decision-makers within your customer companies. Individually defined categories will also help your readers quickly and easily find the posts that are relevant to them.

#4 Opt for informative content with added value rather than marketing jargon

Purchasing and investment decisions in the B2B sector usually follow defined processes and demand a great deal of information. A corporate blog is therefore anything but an advertising channel. Instead, it should deliver sound content with added value that specifically addresses the challenges faced by decision-makers and provides practical support in their day-to-day work. A B2B blog is thus not about promotional image building, but rather about showcasing your problem-solving skills and industry expertise to positively influence the decision-makers.

In order to provide relevant content, it is advisable to use as wide and varied a range of formats as possible because every persona likes their content to be prepared in a different way. High-quality whitepapers, practical checklists and guides, informative infographics, and useful videos will accommodate these different preferences.

#5 Management and individual departments should join in with the blogging

The people writing the corporate blog shouldn’t be exclusively limited to the staff in the communications department, the management team and other departments should be involved as well. Your colleagues will generally know best what the needs, issues and concerns are on the other side and can address the relevant perspective in a targeted and solution-oriented way. By bringing knowledgeable specialist authors on board, you put a face to your company, position experts at the heart of various issues, and at the same time increase the significance and authenticity of your B2B blog.

#6 Regularity is everything when it comes to a corporate blog

To showcase your expertise and problem-solving skills, it is imperative to publish blog posts at regular intervals. A well-managed, up-to-date and varied corporate blog makes a professional impression and generates more traffic. Insightful, interesting blog series and the presentation of content in different blog formats also keep readers interested and accompany your target group on their customer journey.

#7 Use the reach of social media and similar platforms

Spread the word: the more frequently your posts are found on the Web, the more readers will discover your corporate blog. As part of your content marketing strategy, it is therefore particularly important to seed your blog content on various social networks, portals and media in order to create additional touchpoints. In this context, a number of social media tools offer you the option to directly link your corporate blog to the channels relevant to your target group, for example. There are also a multitude of news and specialist portals and forums that can serve as traffic sources through content positioning.

#8 Your B2B blog should not be seen as a communicative one-way street

What are your readers actually interested in? And what topics get the strongest response? Especially when combined with social media, a corporate blog can be turned into an effective feedback channel that provides two decisive advantages. First, by analyzing readers’ reactions and comments, you can gain useful insights for producing additional relevant content. Second, and just as valuable, the personal contact with interested customers lets you directly interact with them and provide further support.