Over the next year the number of articles out there, sitting on B2B blogs, is going to soar. Which means your organisation’s content is going to have to work even harder to reach your target market of business decision makers. So, how can you make your articles the ones that get the attention?
- Find out what interests your audience.
Ask your salespeople and customer service staff about the common questions and concerns they hear from prospects and customers. Listen, and find out what information might appeal to your target market and match it to what your organisation offers. - Use your internal resources.
Your people know your target market best, so it makes sense that they should play a big part in ‘speaking’ to them. Pull together a team of contributors who can use their expertise to connect with customers. - Guard against blogging for blogging’s sake.
Make sure every article puts across a clear point; don’t be tempted to post something that’s all puff and no substance, just because you’ve got a schedule to meet. Satisfied readers who feel they’ve got something out of your article will return for more. - Have a plan.
Step back and think ahead. Make strategic decisions now about what you’re going to be blogging about over the next six months. It’ll make you think objectively about what you’re putting out and it’ll make sure you never get caught short. - Be dependable.
Try to post strong content regularly; this will make checking your blog a good habit for your readership — giving you regular opportunities to ‘speak’ to your audience. Try getting blogs written ahead of schedule so that other commitments don’t get in the way. - Spread the word.
Promote your articles online to support your content. Make the most of your social media platforms to reach your audience wherever they are.
A flourishing blog is a great channel of communication with your target audience and is an important part of our four-phase approach to content marketing. We’d love to have a chat about what a blog could do for you, so feel free to get in touch.
We’ve got an important blogging question for you: why did the Avengers assemble? Obviously, it had something to do with the ruddy great dimensional hole spewing hostile aliens into the sky over Manhattan. But why bring a team of superheroes together? Because they couldn’t tackle the problem alone. Together, they had the right mix and variety of powers to bring down the bad guys and save the day.
Take your pick of the powers
Yes — writing your blog is essentially the same as managing the Avengers, just like Nick Fury (bear with us). You want to capture your customers’ imagination, but you can’t do that with just one type of post. To win the fight against boredom and keep your audience reading, you need to inject variety into your posts and bring together all of your blogging powers:
- Articles
The Tony Stark of your outfit, articles do pretty much most of the work for you because of their versatility. One way or another though, you use them to tell a story. You could announce some great news, show off your expertise or write up a review. Articles also give your subject matter experts the ideal space to jot down all of the really useful stuff they have rattling around their brains. - Listicles
Listicles give your audience a clear, simple way to process all the knowledge you hurl their way. Think Buzzfeed and its ‘27 things only Brummies will understand’ type headlines. Except you can fill these lists with the handy content your audience wants to see, like top tips or ways to solve particular problems they might have. - Infographics
If infographics came in a tin, that tin would say exactly what they did on it. A visual (or graphic if you like) that presents information, like statistics or a how-to guide, in an interesting and easy-to-understand way, an infographic gives your customers the important facts. Probably the Thor of the group because they hit home like a hammer. - Curated content
Sometimes you can show your audience just how much knowledge you have without even typing a word (well, almost). Put together a list of links to content on a particular subject that you think your audience needs to see and you can demonstrate the expertise in your industry that customers read your blog for.
Write with a purpose (or two)
Next time you sit down to bash out a blog post (or write it carefully — whichever really), think about which of these layouts suits what you want to say best. And be willing to copy and paste a bit.
Just because you’ve written an article doesn’t mean you can’t take any stats you’ve used to make an infographic as well. Repurposing your content adds variety and helps you put your point across. It gives you several different ways to use your superpowers (yes, they’re super now) to build the best blog possible.
Creating varied blog posts gives you a great source of regular content to connect with your customers.
Most companies create a video case study because they want their customers to say great things that help them sell their product or service to other potential customers. With only minimal planning the best you’re going to achieve is a showreel of customers saying nice things about you. This isn’t bad but it isn’t great — and you want to be great, right?
Start by choosing your angle and then stick with it.
We recently did a video case study for a large catering company with the aim of winning them more business. But, instead of shouting about how good its food is, (which was the obvious choice), our client realised it would be more effective to get to the heart of the real challenge facing prospective customers — the transition of its people over to the new service provider. So, they took an HR angle and used the video to reassure potential customers of the support available to them when they signed on the dotted line.
Choose a technical partner you can rely on.
It’s difficult to find the right partner to work with when it’s the first time you’ve commissioned a video case study. My advice is to ask to see plenty of examples of work the prospective partner has done for other clients, and judge for yourself how clearly they’ve got the point across. Look at the production values and make sure you’re happy with what you see.
Get the right interviewees for your video.
I know it’s debatable but having a natural, unscripted conversation with interviewees can lead to a more genuine video case study. Choosing confident, bold, positive people can make great footage, but making sure you’re speaking to the right people in the right positions is equally important. When it comes down to it, try unscripted first and then offer a script if the interviewee is really nervous.
Build a strong and complete storyboard.
It’s often a difficult place to start but a storyboard is essential for your technical team and your own sanity! It physically maps out the messages of your video and makes sure your story flows well and hangs together. If you’re holding unscripted interviews you may feel that they can be difficult to fit into a structured plan; knowing what you’d like to come out of each interview will help sculpt both your interview questions and your storyboard.
Location, location… locations?
How many locations you film at depends on your budget, the availability of your interviewees, and how necessary it is that you show several locations. If you’re filming at one place make sure you get the most out of it — record footage at a variety of places, inside and outside. Remember you don’t necessarily have to film at multiple locations to get all the footage you need — if you want people to watch your video, you don’t want it to be much longer than three minutes anyway — so if you film at lots of locations, you’ll end up with wasted footage (and potentially a bigger bill with the amount of time it takes to edit!).
If you’d like to know more about how video case studies can help you uncover and nurture opportunities then give us a call.