In general, having a business blog is better than not having a business blog. Every blog post increases a company’s chance of building customer appreciation by providing informational value. However, all company blogs are not created equal. Companies that claim that their content marketing through blogging is very or extremely successful apply different strategies than companies that have marginal or minimal success. The Content Marketing Institute compared these blogs and their strategies in both a business-to-business, B2B, research report and a business-to-consumer, B2C, research report. Let’s explore their recommendations.
Include Blogging in Your Marketing Plan
High performing content marketers did not post content willy-nilly. Of the successful B2B content marketers, 81% said that their organization was clear on what successful content marketing looked like. 87% of successful B2C marketers said the same. In contrast, only 14% and 13% of less successful B2B and B2C bloggers, respectively, were able to say they had a clear strategy. While the Content Marketing Institute argues that a documented content marketing strategy is a key to success, only about 60% of the successful B2B and B2C marketers had a documented strategy. Maybe there is room for improvement, but a clear strategy seems to be enough to guide content marketing to success.
Devote the Time
One of the main factors that businesses cite as contributing to their content marketing success is spending more time on blogging. 53% of B2B content marketers cite “spending more time on content marketing” as a factor for success. For those B2C marketers that felt that their content marketing strategy hadn’t improved, 48% blamed “not enough time devoted to content marketing.” Like any strategy, content marketing takes time to execute well. The Content Marketing Institute also notes that blogging can take time to pay off. It’s not a immediate solution to bring customers in.
Evaluate the Results
88% of successful B2B content marketers evaluated the rate on investment (ROI) for their blog posts. Only 56% of the less successful B2B blogs did the same. In the B2C world, even more (91%) of the successful content marketers measured their ROI. Being able to measure results allows companies to adjust their strategies to meet the targeted goals. When they are not meeting the goals, some adjustments may need to be made. Being able to quickly adjust strategy is also necessary for success. Nearly 90% of B2B and B2C successful content marketers utilize this tactic. Companies can find much of this tracking information through free tools from Facebook, Google and Twitter.
Successful content marketers do not just post blogs for the sake of posting blogs. They take the time to develop the strategy, devote time to executing the strategy and measure the results.
