Top 3 Key Elements to Remember for B2B Blogging
In preparing for the Marketing Profs Business to Business Conference in Chicago, I decided to whittle my presentation slides to a bare minimum. Presentations with tons of bullet points are IMHO, terrible and visitors rarely remember any of the information presented.
Instead, I want to pick three terms that should stick in marketers’ heads when it comes to B2B blogging. As well, I want to apply strong visuals so people would remember the message.
Thought Leadership
I chose a picture of Seth Godin. People respect Seth because he’s a thought leader in the Marketing and Advertising industries. Seth swims against the current and has a gift for clearly pointing out the failures of status quo. He makes us think. Everyone appreciates a thought leader and being recognized as one is outstanding for your business. A blog is a perfect medium to get recognized as a thought leader.
Voice
People don’t like reading words on a page, they like hearing the voice of a person. Case in point, this little visual of Jonathan Schwartz, Blogger and CEO of Sun Microsystems vs. Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman of the Board, IBM – looking at the number of pages of links to their respective sites.
I actually didn’t know who the Chairman of the Board for IBM was when I researched this.
Fear
The last word is fear. It’s what stops most businesses from getting a blog up and running. Fear of losing control of the brand, fear of bad comments, fear of people pointing their fingers and laughing, fear of telling the truth. Some of the stats point to how fear is destroying some brands’ ability to attract readership and attention. Some of the other stats point to companies that overcame their fear and put it all out there for people to digest… and they are winning because of it.
Fear is never a strategy. Someone once told me that you can never run fast when you’re always looking behind you. Too many companies are insecure and fear the unknown. The irony is that their greatest fears will likely come true because they didn’t overcome them.