In most cases, the company’s website is focused on lead generation, and all information is located so that a person can leave a request. This works if a user comes to the site with an already existing need and a willingness to buy something. If a person is in doubt or chooses between the offers of different companies, a call-to-action button is not enough. This is where corporate blogs can help. Yes, they do not directly affect business performance, but they do affect indirect factors that are related to sales. How exactly? Let’s demonstrate this with examples.
Why use corporate media
According to Content Marketing Institute, blogging helps to:
- create brand awareness by 79%
- build credibility and trust by 67%
- educate audience by 65%
- build loyalty with existing clients by 63%
- generate demand and leads by 57%
- generate sale and revenue by 52%
- build a subscribed audience by 45%
- nurture subscribers, audience, leads by 42%
- support the launch of a new product by 40%
- drive attendance to an in-person event by 33%
1. Blogs build trust
The issue of trust is always relevant for companies regardless of the market in which they operate. Those who are going international may face a great deal of apprehension from the local public. A corporate blog is a great opportunity to win over your audience. For example, in the US, 81% of users trust the information they get from blogs, and more than 90% find it useful.
For example, Press, which produces fresh juices, has launched the online magazine Squeeze. The blog focuses on every aspect of a healthy lifestyle. Squeeze has deliberately ditched the bet on loud, sensational headlines and unverified facts: All articles are linked to reliable sources. Serious lifestyle content and a solid design approach help to build interest and trust among the audience.
2. Blogs are a great way to drive traffic and improve SEO performance
Thoughtful content marketing produces amazing results. With a blog, a company is 434% more likely to rank higher in search engines and outperform competitors. Ranking in the top of search queries is extremely important for business, because 75% of users almost never leave the first search page and most often click on the first links.
To do this, you need to blog correctly:
- regularly publish new articles;
- select the optimal keywords;
- write on hot topics.
Thus, the owners of the INMYROOM online furniture store have created a successful media about interior design on its basis. In 2014, a marketplace was built into the online magazine. In the blog articles, product details are integrated directly into the photos, with the help of which you can view and purchase your favorite product. With the help of content, INMYROOM solved several problems at once: it engages potential customers and promotes them along the marketing funnel, builds trust of the target audience and stimulates the growth of traffic. More than 5 million users visit the site monthly, and the company receives up to 40% of all traffic from search engines.
3. Impact on business performance
Corporate blogs are especially effective for small businesses: for example, according to TechClient, companies developing their own media receive, on average, 126% more leads than competitors. In text format, you can better tell how the product works, allay the fears and doubts of the audience. This is especially true for startups that create technically complex solutions – it is very difficult to describe their work and highlight all the strengths in a concise advertising format.
The Wilgood smart car service network launched a franchise sale in 2014. From the very beginning it was based on the innovative IT-system Wilgood IS, which solved many problems typical for the auto repair market. However, when offering know-how, the founders faced a number of objections: interested entrepreneurs often replied that the product is quite complex, and advertising does not reveal its work and does not answer all questions.
To increase the confidence in the IT solution and expand the franchise network, you need to communicate with the target audience in new formats.
In addition to a number of other activities, the network of car services launched a corporate blog on the website with useful articles on optimizing the work of the workshop. The materials covered in detail the mechanisms of operation of the innovative IT system and the franchise as a whole. Thanks to a well-built content strategy integrated into general marketing and PR activities, over six years the Wilgood company has created a successful network with a turnover of 1.8 billion per year.
What to write about?
So, the company decided to start a corporate blog. The next important step is to decide what to write about and in what format it is best to do it.
Don’t turn your corporate blog into a collection of boring press releases or promotional articles in which the company praises itself. Such presentation of information cannot interest the audience, develop trust in it, and provide organic traffic to the site. According to a study by the US Content Marketing Institute, users like educational content the most in corporate blogs. It is used by 77% of b2b marketers.
This rule is perfectly applicable for b2c business as well. The audience loves blogs with helpful tips and life hacks that can be put into practice. For example, Level.Media, a media project of the online tour aggregator Level.Travel, tells how to save on travel and where is the best place to relax: what to see, where to eat, where to go. Many links lead to the website of the parent company – they are embedded in the headings on the main page. All content is aimed at conversion, for this, widgets are integrated directly into the texts – with their help you can find a suitable tour right inside the article.
How and how much to write
Be careful about format and style. In no case should the text be read as a work of an official, drowned in bureaucratic practices. Longreads longer than 8,000 characters are useful, but only justified for revealing complex, deep topics. In our experience, the optimal length for a single blog post is 3,000 to 5,000 characters.
When working with corporate blogs, there is an unspoken rule: quality prevails over quantity.
You need regularity and consistency, but simply “stuffing” a large number of posts can not give a positive result and even hurt.
Ahrefs, the company behind SEO optimization software, found that 49% of their blog posts generated zero traffic. One of the reasons was the excessively high frequency of publications. Following classic SEO patterns, Ahrefs relied on creating a lot of content targeted at search engines.
To solve the problem, Ahrefs took a radical step: removed 266 posts with zero traffic and changed the approach to creating new content, focusing on the benefits of content for an active audience. In addition, the time intervals between publications increased by 2-3 times. As a result, within three months, the company achieved an 89% increase in blog traffic.
There is no universal figure for the number of publications per week that would suit any corporate blog. Focus on market reference values: on average, companies post new materials 1-2 times a week.
How much pay off the blog
A corporate blog as part of a PR toolkit will be one of the most affordable means of promoting a company. Unsurprisingly, 82% of b2b marketers are actively using the power of corporate blogging. For example, in the USA and Canada, they are considered one of the most demanded methods of promotion, second only in popularity to social networks.
Remember, blogging is always a long-term investment. It makes no sense to wait for an instant growth of indicators from 2-3 materials. Research shows that, on average, real results start to come after 12-18 months of systematic blogging with a well thought out strategy
How to get the most
- Post only useful, interesting content. The matter-of-fact press releases are of little interest to anyone. Don’t turn into abandoned boring news aggregators.
- Remember that classic SEO standards are not always suitable for creating an interesting blog with a live audience.
- Increasing confidence in the product, building awareness of the audience with the help of a blog is an excellent choice that will cope with these goals better than many ad formats.
- Observe the style, design and regularity of posts – if you publish it rarely, your blog will be forgotten, and if it is too often, they will simply not have time to read.
- Get ready to play the long game: real results from systematic blogging can only be obtained at a distance of six months or more.
- Add YouTube Video Gallery, Instagram Feed Widget or audio player to to increase engagement.