Most B2B marketers are now convinced that the arguments for blogging are valid. After all, it brings in new traffic, helps to improve search engine rankings and establishes a point of difference between companies and their competitors.
The problem is that it can be hard to find inspiration, and blogging often ends up taking a back seat. It’s a shame when that happens, because B2B companies are perfectly placed to take advantage of blogging and thought leadership – especially when you consider that long buying cycles and high average sale values mean that building relationships is more important than ever.
Luckily, we’ve done the hard work for you and scoured the internet for some great examples of business bloggers who show how blogging should be done. Let’s take a look.
Michael Brenner
Brenner is the CEO of Marketing Insider Group and a published author, so you’d expect him to be good at what he does. He lives up to those expectations. Brenner mostly blogs for GetResponse, a popular all-in-one online marketing platform that offers everything from email marketing and marketing automation functionality to bespoke landing pages and conversion-boosting webinars.
He mostly uses his blogs to muse on marketing automation, whether he’s giving examples of how it can boost customer loyalty or whether he’s questioning whether there can be such a thing as too much. But not everybody learns by reading, and so his posts are augmented with the odd webinar – after all, he delivers keynotes around the world and so it’s not like he’s short of practice.
As a general rule, Brenner’s posts are great because they include just the right mixture of hands-on advice and overall theory. He’ll explain exactly what you need to do, as well as exactly why you need to do it, which makes it a must-read if you’re interested in marketing automation software.
Mike Volpe
Mike Volpe is an interesting character with a lot to say on the world of start-ups, technology and innovation. Formerly a key figure at HubSpot during its meteoric rise and IPO, he’s now the CMO at Cybereason as well as an angel investor and start-up adviser.
Volpe blogs on his own website, emphasising the need for B2B bloggers to think about personal branding, and that’s significant because it allows him to be free and fully reflective. He isn’t covering traditional ‘thought leadership’ topics or pandering to the keywords that people are entering into search engines – he’s writing about whatever’s going through his head.
The result is a blog that’s infrequently updated, but which offers a unique piece of quirky, thoughtful content every time something new is posted. In recent years he’s explained his thought process behind different investments, shared some of his favourite growth marketing presentations from Growth Camp and even posted an analysis of what happened when he mass unfollowed 16,000 people on Twitter.
Find out more about Mike Volpe.
Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.