Have You Committed the #1 Deadly B2B Blogging Sin?

I don’t mean to stroke your ego, but I would put money on the fact that you’re an intelligent person. Chances are you’re confident in the fact that you’re smart. Others trust your judgment because they know how knowledgable you are. That’s how you landed your geeky job or launched the nerdy startup that put you behind the wheel of a business blog in the first place.  

Since 2014, I’ve worked with marketing professionals and founders in the B2B SaaS and B2B finance industries. At least 80% of this work has involved copywriting, content creation, and blog writing for companies whose target audiences are made up of executive decision-makers. So, I have a wide view of the business blogosphere. 

Sadly, at least once a week since day one, I’ve seen the same mistake from highly intelligent professionals — surprisingly, this problem is not isolated to novice bloggers. Career marketing veterans fall into this pit all the time. 

Here’s why experienced bloggers still fall short:

• The error is easy to miss from an internal vantage point. What is glaringly off-putting to a reader often appears non-existent from your comfortable seat behind the blog curtain. 
• Way too many B2B blogs are in the same predicament. When you spy on your competitors only to observe tactics and oversights that match yours, the mistake is impossible to recognize. Then, y’all continue monitoring each other and the cycle continues. 
• The universal paradigm has not yet shifted. For centuries, marketing has been an outbound game. Unfortunately, we haven’t collectively realized the new truth: traditional tactics don’t work with modern decision-makers. 

‘So, what is this so-called deadly B2B blogging sin?’ you ask. 

B2B business bloggers and editors unknowingly turn readers off with unnecessary brand promotion. Too often, these bloggers focus on their product/service offers while they fail to meet the needs of their readers. They’re lost in a storm without a compass. By steering the ship in a new direction, they might finally see land on the horizon by morning. 

‘But, Ashley, if I don’t plug my offer into my content, how will I move blog readers through my sales funnel?’ 

If you give me a few minutes of your time, I’ll answer in detail. Here’s what’s covered:

• The Evolution of B2B Marketing Messages
• 2 Common B2B Blog Posts That Miss the Mark
  • 1. The “Discreetly” All About Your Offer Post
  • 2. Too Much Tell, Too Little Show
• How to Turn Things Around if You’re Guilty
  • Stop Avoiding Buyer Personas
  • Recognize a Framework to Predict Audience Intent
  • Re-Evaluate the 80/20 Rule
• Final Takeaway

The Evolution of B2B Marketing Messages

A century ago, marketing writers had it easy. The right typography and an appealing design were probably the ad agencies’ greatest concerns. When assigned a new task, a copywriter simply used words to highlight an offer and shot them over to a designer. 

For example, look at this typewriter advertisement that circulated in 1912. 

There’s a lot said about the offer here, but my favorite part is the claim, “Highest Quality in the World.” In the 21st century, you might have a lawsuit on your hands if you used this line in your content. What’s beautiful about it is that this messaging worked because, a century ago, the world was a simpler place. 

And, whether or not an executive was in the market for a typewriter, this ad would have been effective. When a businessperson noticed the poster hanging on the wall at the general merchant store, it would have been enticing. 

The product was “guaranteed” to last and it would only cost $5 per month instead of $100 upfront. Nevermind the fact that it would have taken nearly two years to pay it off at this rate — the ad was believable. Plus, it worked because, at that time, the offer had little to no competition. And, to have the “world’s highest-quality typewriter” in your office was a powerful status symbol.

Fast forward nearly eleven decades and you’ll find that commerce has pretty much turned itself inside-out. In the big scheme, blogging is a fairly new, yet large branch on the marketing tree. A blog post should be the complete opposite of the typewriter ad above (No, turning it upside-down won’t fix it). 

Today’s purchase decision-makers carry around smartphones everywhere they go and can access information from almost anywhere. Right now, if a shopper reads an ad that states, “this is the best product on the market,” even if it is true, they’re not going to believe it without a fight. 

Present-day buyers need to develop relationships with the brands they work with, especially in business. And, here’s where your blog comes in. You have an unprecedented opportunity to build irrevokable trust with the professionals you do business with. But, you may need to step up your game. 

2 Common B2B Blog Posts That Miss the Mark 

To understand the problem, let’s examine the most common B2B blog posts I see that miss the mark — they may not be particularly easy to spot if you’re not sure what you’re looking for. So, here’s the spam you might be sharing with your audience, how to spot it, why it sucks, and what to do instead. 

1. The “Discreetly” All About Your Offer Post 

Do you ever come across a blog headline on a company’s website that promises to provide advice on how to solve a pressing problem and find that the content fails to deliver? I do. And, when I look closely, the reason it fails is usually that it is either too SEO heavy or it doesn’t mention anything that might take away from the company’s main product offer. Sometimes, that offer is sprinkled throughout the content so many times that I can’t focus on the article itself.  

If you think you’re getting away with this because you’re more careful than the other guy or your readers don’t know any better, you’re wrong.  

How to spot it: 

• Do you make sure to include X keyword X amount of times per X total words in hopes that your content will rank with search engines? 
• Do you have strict rules about content length? 
• Do you link out to your main offer several times within your blog posts? 
• Do you publish more news about your company than helpful advice? 

Why it sucks: 

Business people are especially savvy and they know what you’re doing, even when you think they don’t. Likewise, search engines are getting smarter by the day — they have begun to recognize manipulation practices and will eventually penalize you if they haven’t already. A 3,000-word blog post that would be more compelling without all the fluff isn’t doing you any favors. 

What to do instead: 

Find out what your target audience struggles with and use your blog as a platform to help them. Be genuine and try to share the best solutions available on the internet. Consider SEO, but break the rules when it makes your content more enjoyable to read. Incorporate calls to action if you want to, but never flood your articles with them. 

2. Too Much Tell, Too Little Show

In some cases, your blog will highlight an offer. This can’t always be avoided. Most marketers agree that “bottom of the funnel” blog content — written for existing customers or subscribers — should include information about your products, updates, and promotions. 

As a rule, you can’t declare, “We will never talk about our brand in our content.” But, when there’s too much tell and not enough show, it becomes a problem. Here’s what I mean. 

How to spot it: 

• Do you use statements that explain technical details without disclosing their value to the reader? 
• Do you make bold declarations about your offers where you could instead highlight how they provide value?

Why it sucks: 

Your customers and subscribers are looking for ideas about how to get the most from the product or tool that they’ve purchased from you. Most of the time, they don’t care about trivial details. With too much telling, you miss valuable up-sell opportunities because people get bored. 

What to do instead: 

Use your blog to give your customers valuable solutions to their most pressing problems. Start thinking about how your update relates to the reader. If the news you have to share saves businesses money or proves that they’ve chosen the right company to work with, tell them that. Make your message more about the reader and less about your brand or technical updates. 

How to Turn Things Around if You’re Guilty

Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Once you acknowledge that you’ve committed this blasphemy, you can change your ways, ask forgiveness, and absolve your content of its wrongdoings. All will be forgiven…  

Okay, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. If only it were that easy. The truth is that there is no almighty blogging deity to answer to, no commandments that have been broken, and nothing to absolve. But, you can turn things around.  

Here are a few tips that, if integrated into your approach, will enhance the content you create and help you avoid turning readers away with excessive brand promotion. 

Stop Avoiding Buyer Personas

For one reason or another, many marketers avoid buyer personas. Some companies have created them, but they don’t share with the content team. Others don’t use personas at all because they deem them unnecessary or they just don’t know how to create them. This is unfortunate because detailed personas are a simple tool that can substantially enhance each stage of the blogging process, from strategy to writing to image design. 

Using buyer personas in your operations will naturally make your blog content more relatable. According to Hubspot, one company that implemented a targeted content approach based on personas saw 124% more sales leads, 55% more search traffic, 97% more online sales leads, and 210% more North American website traffic. 

So, if your company has developed buyer personas but the blogging team hasn’t seen them yet, it’s time to share. Make it a point to be sure everyone who has a stake in content creation for your company has a chance to review them and has access to them at any time. Go put this on your to-do list right now and then come back. 

On the other hand, if you haven’t developed personas, here are a few resources you can use to get started: 

• How to Create a Buyer Persona for B2B Marketing
• B2B Buyer Personas: Marketing to Somebody, Not Just Anybody!
• Here are 10 Buyer Persona Examples to Help You Create Your Own

Recognize a Framework to Predict Audience Intent   

While this might seem elementary, the buyer’s journey lays the foundation for a powerful blogging strategy. Whether you’re a founder, a strategist, a manager, a content creator, or an editor, it’s crucial to understand the process a potential customer or subscriber goes through before converting on an offer. 

The traditional model that represents the buyer’s journey is AIDA. This is an acronym for Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. It depicts the active research process an individual or organization goes through before they make a purchase. Over the years, the accepted model of the buyer’s journey has been simplified into three stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. 

Either way you look at it, your blog audience is spread out over various stages of their individual journeys with your brand. And, the above structures don’t include existing customers. Because a blog can appeal to new traffic, leads, and customers, you should have an individualized framework that represents individuals within your sales funnel.

This doesn’t have to be formal. In fact, it can be as simple or complex as you like. For example, here’s the framework I use when writing: 

The above structure works well for me. But, depending on your sales funnel, you might want something simpler or more complex. The point is that you want your content to appeal to the reader at the right time. 

Use a framework that represents readers at different stages and keep your content in alignment with the target for each piece. 

Re-Assess the 80/20 Rule

When I first learned this rule as it applies to B2B blogging, it transformed my work for the better. Before that, I wasn’t particularly organized with the way I use content to promote brands. The 80/20 rule asserts that your blog content should be at least 80% educational or entertaining and only 20% promotional. If this is the first time you’ve heard of this, start here. 

But, if you already apply this rule, stop and reflect for a moment. Ask yourself the following:

• Could I do even better? 
• What about 90/10? 
• …95/5? 

The less promotional your content, the more engaging it is for readers. I strive for a 95/5 approach with all of my work. On a micro (per post) and macro (the entire blog) level, 5% or less of the content I write mentions the brands I write for or the offers they promote (unless, of course, the client requests otherwise). 

People come to your blog because they want answers to questions, they want to learn, and they want to be entertained. They’re not shopping. Instead, they are researching and killing time. If you’re too in their faces with your offer, you won’t sell a damn thing through this channel. 

Final Takeaway

The number one mistake I see with B2B blogs is an over-abundance of brand promotion. Typically, people don’t even know they’re spamming their readers. If you’ve made it here, you now know how to spot the #1 deadly B2B blogging sin, even when it’s discreet. Fortunately, if you implement the advice above, you can easily turn it around. 

Keep your strategy more about attraction and less about promotion for better results. If you’re looking to work with someone who wants to help you create compelling blog content for your B2B SaaS or B2B finance blog, reach out to me!