Just as a dressmaker wears the worst clothes and builders’ houses are always in a state of disrepair, the same has to true of the marketing and PR industry. As a freelance PR consultant juggling running a business with 2 young children, I rarely have much time to devote to my own blog or website. I’m always too busy helping clients to develop their own content for blogs and PR activities.
A recent Google Analytics report showed the clear benefits of blogging and the importance of keeping your blog well stocked with interesting and topical content. That is the essence of good content marketing and the main source of web traffic, or inbound leads if your goal is lead generation. I’ve been managing a blog on behalf of one of my clients for almost 7 years now, we were one of the earliest examples of an industry blog for their sector and the model has since been emulated by many other firms. However, they still retain the early mover advantage because long tail search enquiries, generated as a result of such a wide range of relevant content within the blog, always pinpoint their site. Type in a key phrase and they are typically top of the rankings, primarily because of the volume of relevant blog content they’ve amassed over the years.
What did the traffic report highlight about blogging and the power of content marketing? Of the 105 landing pages accessed by website visitors over a 3 month period, 66% of hits were to blog pages. Topical, free information was a major draw of enquiries to the client and they have seen a noticeable spike in the volume of telephone enquiries they receive, directly as a result of their blog posts. During meetings they estimate getting at least 3 calls each month as a result of a prospective client reading one of their blogs and wanting more information. If you are running a B2B company – a consulting firm, software developer or systems integrator, a professional services firm or a manufacturer and you had the opportunity to get three inbound sales enquiries as a result of investing in a professional writer to manage your blog, would that represent a good return on investment? Probably the answer is yes, especially when you consider the opportunity cost of doing it yourself.
So, what’s the moral here. Well, for those who are not investing in their blog, or who are dubious about its value, it is time to take action. Content marketing is the way forward. Your company presumably has considerable expertise in its field (or you would not be in business for long). Use this knowledge and start to share it. Post interesting and informative blogs at least twice a month and share them on social media. Share extracts with your clients to maintain regular contact with them and watch the enquiries roll in. If you have something interesting to say, which is relevant to your target audience, blog about it and prospects WILL find you. And the moral for me, is to make more time to practice what I preach, regardless of how busy I might be helping my own clients to develop their own content!
Learn more about my content creation services.