Writing Blog Posts That Nurture Customer Bases
Writing Blog Posts That Nurture Customer Bases
Erik Frantzen, President, Nurture Marketing
Successfully growing and retaining your B2B customer base requires omnichannel nurturing, which encourages positive experiences with your brand at every stage of a sales funnel.
The key is to nurture trusted relationships with your clients and prospects by sharing informative content that addresses their interests and needs across multiple channels including websites, apps, emails, SMS, and social media.
But how can you engage with prospects at all of these touchpoints? One effective answer is a blog, a highly efficient anchor in any winning omnichannel nurturing strategy.
Blog posts can drive your efforts to nurture prospective customers by serving steady streams of fresh, relevant content that can also be distributed to your social media accounts, email and SMS campaigns, and newsletters.
Smart brands already know this. HubSpot found that B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those companies that do not.
Additionally, blog posts help convey your company’s mission and strengths in your brand voice while also amplifying key messages to intended audiences with frequency.
A blog can also fortify your brand as a trusted industry source. Delivering educational, compelling information on a regular basis is one of the top ways to add credibility to your organization. Furthermore, blogs enhance SEO activities, encouraging new visitors to company websites as well.
Creating Posts That Deliver Value to Target Readers
Yet many B2B companies will tell you it is easier to launch a blog than it is to maintain one over time. According to Zazzle Media, 60% of companies struggle to produce content consistently while 65% find it hard to constantly engage.
It’s worse to abandon a blog with only a few posts from last year than to not have one at all. Establishing some basic foundations for your company blog will help unleash your creativity in generating story ideas:
- What is the main goal of the blog? Convert readers to sales leads? Show your expertise as a problem solver? Demonstrate thought leadership in your industry? Your answer will guide you in identifying topics that will help accomplish your blog’s mission.
- Who are you targeting? Determining your blog’s ultimate reader will generate a number of subjects to address. Ask yourself who are your ideal customers – and what interests them now? Dividing those customers further into specific categories, such as CEOs vs. end-product users, will also trigger ideas.
- Are you delivering value? The key to any blog’s success is to provide a service to intended audiences. Your posts can achieve this by answering questions, providing solutions to “pain points,” or updating current and potential customers on industry news.
Once you’ve answered these questions, start scouring the internet and social media to discover what people are talking about and what questions they’re asking about your industry. On Twitter, people may be discussing a recent article or piece of news. In LinkedIn groups, people might be asking for help with a specific problem. Find other blogs in your field and subscribe to their RSS feed.
Beyond social media, think about the questions your clients and prospects ask you on a regular basis. Create a list of topics and start writing. Build a catalogue of “evergreen” posts. Couple that with occasional timely posts reacting to an article, current event, or a piece of industry news.
Posts don’t have to be long – aim for 150 to 200 words – and they don’t have to be every day. The important thing is to be consistent. If you start off posting once a week, commit to that schedule. Before long, you’ll have a compelling company blog that demonstrates your company’s expertise.
This is the latest in a series of articles by Nurture Marketing to help you identify, create, and grow winning one-to-one connections with customers.
Please contact us to learn more about our solutions for developing compelling marketing and sales content for the Partner Channel, including case studies and more. You may reach us by calling (732) 636-1001, Extension 27, or by visiting the CONTACT PAGE of our website.