For small-to-medium sized B2B companies without dedicated marketing departments, content creation can be a daunting task. You’ve been hearing that content is king for years when it comes to search engine optimization, but you just can’t quite put together a process for creating engaging content. You may feel like your product or service is self-explanatory enough and doesn’t need to be discussed. You may feel that your product or service isn’t sexy enough to have a blog post written about it. Whatever the reason (or excuse), content creation just isn’t being done…which is hurting your bottom line. Here are a few easy-to-follow steps that we use at Marketpath to help add to our blog:
Without a schedule, the blog becomes a backseat passenger again to everything else that your day-to-day requires. Start small – 1 blog post a week for the first 6 weeks and stick to it. Block out time on your calendar for it. Commit to it. Once you have proven to yourself that you’re capable of putting together a blog post, it will become easier…I promise.
Here is a little secret – if your prospective client has asked you a question in a sales meeting, there is a good chance that he/she has also Googled that same question. What if you had written a blog that addressed that concern or topic and that customer finds your site? You’re one step closer to a sale. There is no secret that people a searching for answers to their questions long before they are ever picking up the phone to find a solution provider – they may not even know your company exists to solve their problem. Sales questions always make great blog topics.
What a novel idea, right? But how many times have you had a great idea (for anything, not just a blog post), but don’t record it somehow…pen, paper, voice recording on your iPhone, email, etc? Once blogging becomes a part of your weekly schedule (because you’re sticking to Step 1, right?), blog topics will begin to pop in your head at random times during the day. You can never predict when this will happen…Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative, has a great perspective on the idea that you can’t force yourself to come up with ideas…it just doesn’t work that way…So when it happens, write it down.
Now, these three steps won’t necessarily make you the next best-selling author, or a top 50 blogger, but they will help you get started into the world of content creation. Keep in mind that each post should be engaging, and provide value to the reader. If you’re struggling with this sort of thing, it might be time to reach out to a professional new media agency for some help.
