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Does Unconscious Awareness Play a Part in B2B Blog Marketing?

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The discovery of unconscious meanings attached to products and services allows advertisers to design appeals to tap those motivations, the authors of Persuasion in Advertising explain. In our last Say It For You blog post, we explored ways in which unconscious awareness plays a role in both the blog marketing of products as compared with using blogs to market professional services…
Is there a difference in the way blog marketing should best be sued to market B2B as compared to B2C marketing? Joshua Nite of TopRank makes a number of observations concerning business-to-business marketing, four of which are very much in keeping with practices we teach at Say It For You:

1.  It’s never been more important for brands to show purpose.
For blogs to be effective, they must serve as positioning statements. The “visit” has to conclude with readers understanding exactly what your particular philosophy or mission is. Effective blog posts must go from information-dispensing to offering the business owner’s (or the professional’s, or the organizational executive’s) unique perspective on issues related to the search topic.

2. On a chart ranking traits that B2B buyers value in salespeople, problem solving is near the top, while creativity is at the bottom of the list.
Business executives (or their staff members) are online searching for answers to their questions or solutions for dilemmas they’re facing.  Or, they might need a particular kind of service and aren’t sure who offers that.  Or maybe they need a product to fill a need they have.  Don’t think of it as business blogging; think of it as providing solutions to someone’s problem.

3.  Business customers see value in maintaining relationships with influencers.
In blog marketing, therefore, the content writer must “interview” the influencer, asking the right questions so as to elicit thoughtful, detailed responses, positioning the company owner or practitioner as a thought leader, someone who defines purpose in a marketplace craving direction.   In a face-to-face (or Skype) interview with a business owner or executive (or professional practitioner), I am able to capture their ideas and some of their words, then add “framing” with my own questions and introductions, to create a blog post more compelling and “real” than the typical narrative text.

4. With news about the COVID-19 pandemic dominating the internet, B2B marketers must be careful not to sound too opportunistic.
Even though today’s most searched-for topic may not be what is most often talked about tomorrow, I teach at Say It For You, you can benefit readers by tying your blog content to popular topics. While the focus of your business blog will be on the business owners and the services, advice, and products they offer, the content can reflect current happenings and concerns.

On the other hand, “content has to contribute value and fit organically within the cultural context of your target audience. Otherwise, you risk appearing opportunistic and losing their trust,” skyword.com cautions. COVID-19 is a perfect example of a topic that must be incorporated in blog marketing only to the extent it is relevant to the solutions the marketer is offering.
At Say It For You, where we create content to market to both businesses and to consumers, we know that in both cases, our main goal is to raise prospects’ awareness of solutions to the issues that drove their online search. Just as, in marketing to consumers, we are not aiming for an immediate sale, the same is true for B2B marketing. We blog content writers keep on telling our client’s story in its infinite variations over long periods of time, knowing that the readers (whether consumers or businesses) who end up as clients and customers have self-selected rather than having been “sold”.
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Best Blog Content Writers Read Around and Toggle

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“Dreams, I’m convinced, are just one more dimension of our minds,” writes Sylvia Browne in her best-seller, Book of Dreams...

At Say It For You, I teach the principle of “reading around” in order to attain “go-to industry authority”.  In fact, I stress, business bloggers are going to need to spend at least as much time reading as writing. Even after almost a decade and a half creating blog content for business owners and practitioners, I continue to need to keep up on what others are saying on the topic, what’s in the news, and what problems and questions have been surfacing that relate to what my client sells and what it does for its clients. At least half the time that goes into creating a post is reading/research/thinking time, I’ve found. The writing part can flow only after prep time is complete.

Just last month, I quoted Carina Rampell of the Content Marketing Institute, who explains that our reading needn’t be limited to the subject of our blog content.  Poetry, she explains, can teach us clarity and precision, while the classics can teach us compelling storytelling structure. Browsing through the Sylvia Browne book on dream interpretation (hardly my usual choice of reading topic!) made me realize the truth of Rampell’s statement that “reading helps us get away from our subject or product expertise and unlock our creativity”.  

Every dream experience, Browne posits, is one of five kinds:
  • the prophetic dream
  • the release dream
  • the wish dream
  • the information or problem-solving dream
  • astral visits
“Knowing what type of dream I’m trying to interpret, Browne explains, “is always my first step in unlocking its mysteries.”

Business blog posts also come in different varieties.  From the content writers’ point of view, I’s generally a good idea to toggle back and forth among those varieties over time, keeping returning visitors engaged, but also in order to appeal to different types of reader. There are “how-to” tutorial posts, resources and link lists, reviews, opinion pieces, interviews, case studies, breaking news, and personal story posts. But, precisely as Sylvia Browne observes, knowing what type of post you are presenting helps unlock its “success”.

The best blog content writers have learned to read around and then – toggle among the types!
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Horseback Riding Lessons for Blog Content Writers

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“Like any sport or dedicated hobby, there are bigger life lessons to take away than simply the information or skills necessary to participate,” writes horseback riding fan Sarah Faulkner in bizjournals.com. Faulkner lists four lessons leaders can take from equestrians, each of which I believe can be valuable to us blog content writing professionals:
Look where you want to go.
As a leader you must have a well-defined vision and be able to clearly communicate it.
One concept I emphasize in corporate blogging training sessions is that focusing on main themes helps blog posts stay smaller and lighter in scale than the more permanent content on the typical corporate website. The posts fit together into an overall business blog marketing strategy through “leitmotifs”, or recurring themes. These themes tie together different product or service descriptions, different statistics, and different opinion pieces., but there should be little doubt of the main direction in which you “want to go”.
Communicate clearly, consistently, and confidently.
Reinforce verbal with physical commands, but do not give mixed messages.
Even while letting readers see your own “humanity”, keep your blog content well-organized and well-written to convey a feeling of being in control. Maintaining a consistent schedule of posting sends a reassuring message to readers.

Sense and respond to cues.
As a leader, you need to sense and respond to market forces such as trends and competition.
As I teach at Say It For You, blog content writers must develop “peripheral vision”, being aware of what competitors are doing and working to stay just one step ahead of them.
Tack up your own mount. 
Be willing to get into the details, keeping informed on the numbers and fundamentals of your business.
Successful blogging for business is all about detail.  Corporate websites provide basic information about a company’s products or a professional’s services, but the business blog content is there to attach a “face” and lend a “voice” to that information by filling in the finer details.  In horse shows, I learned, there are two aspects to winning medals – equitation and pleasure. Equitation refers to the skill and posture of the rider; pleasure refers to the horse’s looks and control.  To succeed in blog marketing, content writers must be willing to get into the details – navigation, search engine optimization, visuals, vocabulary.

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Blog Content Writing Hopefuls Look for an Edge

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The Indianapolis Star headline read: “GOP hopefuls look for edge in crowded 5th”, alluding to the long slate of candidates in Indiana’s 5th congressional district. As a corporate blog writing coach, I couldn’t help seeing a parallel.  As blog marketers, we’re seeking that “edge” in the competitive world of online marketing.  I paid close attention to the list of informational items listed under “Candidate Information”, and those included:
  • Age
  • Education
  • Occupation
  • Previous work experience
  • Residence
  • Family
  • Website
“No matter what kind of a business you have, or how small or large your business might be, a blog will draw your prospects closer because they can learn about your business and what you sell.”  Quicksprout.com explains.

In terms of family information, “having a business blog doesn’t mean you need to be stiff,” the Quicksprout authors continue. “It’s okay to connect with potential customers on a personal level.  Just be sensible about sharing, maintain a good balance of business information and personality.”

So, which categories of information about the 5th District political candidates should find their way into online marketing pieces?

Age and previous work experience: How long you’ve been in business – or in practice- is definitely something prospects want to know. If the number is a small one, it helps to explain what motivated you to start the business or practice, and how your prior business or professional experience led you to start this enterprise.

The importance of “residence”, meaning the location of the business or practice cannot be overstated, writes Jason Luthor of azcentral. “A business’s location also helps it create a brand and image,” Luthor adds. Even for online businesses, Kirby Pricket points out in prospress.com,
Factors such as where we live, our friends, the local weather, and local brands still influence what we prefer and buy.

In the same way as Indianapolis Star readers may wish to learn more about particular Congressional candidates by visiting their websites, blogs (themselves a type of website with frequently updated content) can – and should –  lead readers to visit particular landing pages on the bigger website.
Like political candidates, business owners and professional practitioners are seeking an ‘edge” over their competitors. Blogging is one of the very best ways to establish that edge, Quicksprout asserts, since 70% of consumers learn about a company through its blog versus its ads.

 

 

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To the Blog Writer, It’s One Thing; To the Reader, It Might Be Another

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blog marketing
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it dozens of times in this Say It For You blog – blogs are not ads.  Still, always on the prowl for good ideas, I happened upon a full page ad (for sleep chairs, of all things!) that could actually serve as a model for us blog content writers. 
The headline consisted of a quote from a customer:
“To you, it’s the perfect lift chair. To me, it’s the best sleep chair I’ve ever had.”

Then, beneath a picture of the lift chair, there was a three paragraph article.  “You can’t always lie down in bed and sleep. Heartburn, cardiac problems, hip or back aches, dozens of other ailments and worries. Those nights you’d give anything for a comfortable chair to sleep in.”
It’s a good idea to build the occasional blog post around a customer success story. Good testimonials give prospective customers peace of mind, providing proof that people have tried your products and services and approve of them.

The second paragraph went on to highlight some special features of the product – heat and massage settings, battery backup, and a lift mechanism that tilts the chair forward.
In one of my favorite books about selling, Mitch Meyerson’s Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, the author points out that features tell us two things about a product or service:  what it does and what goes into it. In this ad, of course, the benefits (what the product does for the customer) are emphasized first, with the features described second.

The third paragraph highlighted “white glove delivery”, with professionals unpacking the chair in the customer’s home, inspecting and positioning it, even carrying the packaging away.
Since at Say It For You, our content writers serve the needs of both product vendors and professional practitioners, I was very interested in this paragraph about extra services associated with the product. Blog content writers should make lists of ways their business individualizes and personalizes services to customers and clients.

The bottom of the page had the phone number (with a special code), along with a color and fabric chart.
While blogs are not advertisements, I often explain to content writers that a Call to Action does not at all invalidate the good information provided in the piece. As long as the material is valuable and relevant for the searchers, they’re perfectly fine with knowing there’s someone who wants them for a client or customer. In fact, the Call to Action in the form of a phone number to call or a link to click makes it convenient for readers who are ready to buy.

To the blog writer, the product or service might represent one thing; to individual readers, it might represent another, all the more reason to vary the approach in different posts. 
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