The transformation of content marketing is upon us, and firms who have not adopted this will begin to fall further and further behind the curve. Content formats can range anywhere from a book, article, webinar, video and blog posts. But whatever format your organization chooses to move forward with, you need to make sure that it educates your audience and positions you as the thought leader in your industry.

The thought of implementing a content marketing program can be somewhat daunting. But with rationale into the importance of it, hopefully it will become clearer that content marketing is what your firm should be doing!  Wouldn’t you choose to have an inflow of warm qualified leads, compared to spending numerous hours networking and cold calling unqualified leads? I think the answer is fairly simple.

As your organization embarks into the world of B2B content marketing, one of the most intuitive elements to start with is your blog.  So why does blogging matter so much?

Demonstrate Expertise

Blogging is an excellent way to demonstrate expertise and build trust with your audiences. Educational and relevant content helps nurture your leads and provides a better understanding of your brand.  Speaking authoritatively on topics that are important to your industry will spotlight your firm’s expertise and present you as the thought leader.  Over time, as you build trust from your reader base, they will begin to turn to you first for the latest and breaking information.

Improve Search Engine Optimization

If you haven’t heard already, search engines love content! As you add content to your website, you increase the amount of pages your site can be indexed for by search engines. And if your organization is blogging on a consistent basis (say 2-3 posts a week), these posts serve as great opportunities to rank for specific keywords that are important to your business.

If you have properly optimized your blog posts for keywords and the content is seen as valuable, you will start to see an increase in traffic and links back to popular posts.  Just one word of advice, however, be sure you’re targeting the right keywords and addressing your audience’s needs. 

Increase Leads

Your readers are likely going to be in different phases of the buying process and will be facing various types of challenges. Someone visiting your blog most likely will be in the early buying stages and will be looking for information on industry trends, how-to’s and best practices. As you educate and nurture your readers through your blog, they will begin to share your posts through online channels like social media. Your content will begin to spread, resulting in networking and increasing inbound leads without even leaving your desk!

24x7x365

Unlike your employees who more than likely would prefer to get sleep every night, content marketing works for you 24x7x365. Another bonus is if your firm is looking to expand services nationally or even internationally. The good news is there are no geographic limitations to your blog or other content. The fruit of your labor will be well-qualified and educated leads waiting for you at 9am. Who wouldn’t love that?

Of course excuses can be made against blogging and B2B content marketing in general, but making the case for blogging is hopefully a little bit clearer for you now. And excuses are just that…excuses!  If you want to increase your online presence, inbound leads and thought leadership, blogging is a no brainer.

For more tips on including blogging into your content marketing plan, download the Content Marketing Guide for Professional Services.