These days it seems as if every business has some form of blogging functionality on their website. However, more often than not, it doesn’t feel as if the blog is used sincerely. It just doesn’t feel like… like a blog!
In the B2B sector, sales seem to have made their way into every channel they can. From LinkedIn groups to Facebook posts and now the blog. While many may feel that the blog, as a component of the site, is corporate territory and should be used to carry out the company’s mission we feel that this is the issue that must be addressed.
The mission of the company that is.
I remember when I first started Ralston & Anthony Advertising four years ago. Blinded by networking elevator pitches and countless meetings with one sales executive after another, I quickly found that the “sale” is such a turn-off. I vowed to change the mission of my own company not to sell but to share. Share valuable information that could be used by many to better their own business.
You see, I don’t believe that an elevator pitch will elevate your chances of making a sale. More often than not, a simple gesture of kindness and willingness to share the knowledge you hold will make impact your audience far more than the three featured points of interest as to why your service is better than your competition. Suddenly the world as my network knew it would turn upside down. I’d spend meetings having casual conversation. Getting to know my audience. Giving advice about a marketing/advertising struggle they may have brought up in that casual conversation.
Suddenly I began to see a person and not a sale. And to that extent, I hope the individual across the table from me also saw a human and not a business.
This is the moment for your audience when black becomes white and down becomes up. It is unheard of to not sell and simply connect. But what is most interesting about what I have told you about my networking style is that, by default, these are the philosophies that are social media.
Social media is not about a sale at its core. Its about one of the biggest buzzwords of all time in social media, community. A community works together to meet a goal, fulfill a mission or enrich one and other to do great things. Not withhold information and perform a smoke and mirrors show of sales. So why is it that blogs today from B2B organizations have more content about features and little to no useful information.
Honestly, that’s a great question. It’s also a question that has lead to many challenges for a good blogging strategy.
Suddenly owners of LinkedIn groups and Reddit subreddits view all blogs as self promotion. Your logo is seen by your audience on a useful piece of information and at that moment they write it off as a sale.
I’m sending this message out into the world wide web from my firms blog to ask that businesses create or modify their blogging strategy. Do so to strategically enrich your community with your own voice of wisdom and not continue this vicious cycle of sales quickly diminishing the reputation and quality of our social world.
This is a very powerful day in age that we live in. Education, learning and gaining information is instantly gratified by the click of a button, the tap of a finger or even the words from your mouth. There is no point in hiding your knowledge any longer. You have nothing to share that can’t be found in a simple Google search. Your value is no longer in what you can tell me, but how you make it work for me.
So please, contribute to excellent content creation. Create a more knowledgeable, educated and understanding community. Share your knowledge.
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