Industrial Blogs: A Day In The Life

You know you need one. You read about it all the time. Adding a blog to your website will increase traffic and improve your search rank for your perfect keywords. Or – you have one. You’re doing well to post something once every month or two. How can an overworked marketer in a manufacturing company justify the time commitment to crank out a blog each week?

If you’re experiencing either of these situations, it might be helpful to take a look at the broader impact that one blog post can make.  Consider a day in the life of one blog – a case study where your company’s product solved a specific problem for a customer.

7:30 am: the blog is published to your website.

7:45 am: the 400+ people who have registered to receive updates from your company receive the link via email or their RSS reader.

7:47 am: 12% of those people click on the blog and read it. If any of those people are potential customers, you’ve just given them one more piece of “proof” that you are an expert in your field and moved them a little closer to contacting you.

7:49 am: 2% of those who read the blog sent it on to others they know would have an interest that might not be aware of your company. Some of those people will sign up to receive future blog updates.

8:00 am: the blog is posted to your social media pages: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and your LinkedIn company page.  Some people will click on it and read it.  Some will share it to their own pages. Some will forward to others.  Some of those people will sign up to receive future blog updates.

Throughout the day: because you have a system in place to alert your sales staff when a new blog is published, at some point during the day they will selectively post the blog in LinkedIn groups they belong to where the blog has application.

Throughout the day: as the blog is read in LinkedIn groups, it will be additionally shared on other social media pages.  There may be comments made, or questions asked related to the blog which gives your sales person the opportunity to be of help to potential customers. The sales person is no longer a stranger; they have become a friend helping solve a problem.

3:00 pm: someone who read the blog in a LinkedIn group contacts the sales person who posted it.  They have a problem application and the blog post has led them to believe your company can solve their problem. They request a meeting with the sales person.

4:00 pm: someone who is at the “buying” stage of the sales funnel and who received your blog via email in the morning contacts your company.  The blog was the final nudge they needed to make the decision to request a quote.

So let’s recap what your one blog post has accomplished in one day’s time:

• Your company’s credibility, expertise, and ability to solve a specific problem was communicated to thousands of people, many of whom are prospective customers.
• Individuals who were not aware of your company have become aware and you are now on their radar as a potential vendor.
• You’ve gained new subscribers to your blog, some of whom are potential customers.
• Some of your sales staff have engaged potential customers and gained new “warm” leads.
• You have two new, solid business opportunities.
• You have a sales tool that is now published numerous places on the Internet that will continue producing dividends like the above, for eternity (or at least for as long as there is an Internet.)

Tell me: is there ANY other marketing tactic that can accomplish all of this in one day’s time? And this is just the first day. A blog actually DOES have a life … it will continue to be read and shared, impacting prospects, customers, and others in your industry.  Six months from now, someone may read this same blog, and it will be the catalyst for an inquiry or RFQ.

If you look at it from this perspective, how can any industrial marketer NOT think blogging is a worthwhile investment of time?

I’m sure this made the light bulb go off.  But if, after realizing the power of one blog post, you still know you can never manage it on your own:  you need to set aside a budget to outsource this very important marketing tactic. If you’ve made that commitment, contact Marketects.  We have content writers for industrial blogs, but we have much more. We have the resources to manage an entire Inbound Marketing program that will deliver even more impressive results and revolutionize your marketing.  (What are you waiting for?)