“Brands setting up their own blogs is a fad” – AN Other marketer, January 2006
Game changing developments have come and gone but blogs have stood the test of time. Indeed, rather than falling by the wayside, blogs have gone from strength-to-strength over the last six years. They are now deeply embedded in many B2B brands’ content marketing strategies.
B2B marketers more commonly discuss how blogs should be distributed and how they should tie in to the brand’s wider objectives, rather than whether or not they should be producing content. And all manner of companies are at it; from the marketing agencies that obviously should have an outlet for highlighting how much best practice knowledge they possess, through to IT infrastructure companies, pharmaceutical producers and trade-focused plumbing firms.
When you extend the concept of blogging through to include microblogs such as Twitter, the craze for brands self-publishing becomes even more mainstream. The real challenge nowadays though is how to cut through and actually make sure your target market is listening to what you’re saying. And that’s where content marketing comes back in to it again. Videos related to the blog – or infographics capturing the message – are important differentiators.
Perhaps the biggest change we’ve seen when it comes to blogs is the position they occupy. While back in 2006 they were more stand-alone, these days they should be as integrated into the marketing mix as email, social media and your direct mail efforts.
