You know what bugs me? Marketing firms and blogging companies with very bad business blogs, or worse yet, no blog at all.
On the one hand, this shouldn't bother me because it's one less competitor that's competitive, and that should make me happy. On the other hand, business blogging is the cornerstone of online marketing, and not having one (or not managing it well) is only representative of where that marketing firm or blogging company stands when it comes to the digital marketing tactics, their own marketing, and quite possibly the quality of service it provides to customers. Once again, this should make me happy, because it's one less competitor that's competitive. However, there's something about the failure of marketing firm to market or a blogging company to blog that's sad and ironic.
Why Aren't They Business Blogging?
Business blogging is a no brainer, considering the benefits to SEO, lead generation, and search engine rankings. You would think that of all the businesses out there, marketing firms and blogging companies would understand those benefits best, and would be the most likely to be up-to-date with the lates marketing tactics, and which marketing tactics work best to achieving specific goals. However, that's not the case. Blogging companies have no excuse in this, since business blogging is what they do, and they should be well aware of what business blogging can bring to the table.
Marketing firms aren't on the hook so much, since there are many marketing firms who don't specialize in digital marketing, or may not yet see the value of business blogging when the older marketing techniques have worked so well in the past. I hypothesize that many business websites, including those of marketing firms, remain in the "brochureware" zone and aren't quite the thought leadership and lead generating factories that they need to be in order to really bring value to the business (and the bottom line). This means that the prevailing thought when it comes to websites is to have one, plain and simple.
Why Should They Be Business Blogging?
However, that's not the case anymore when it comes to websites, or even marketing for that matter. With so many choices and so much going on for consumers, marketing cannot be passive or interruptive, since everything at this point is passive and interruptive. Attention needs to be grabbed and retained by earning it; doing something that's buzzyworthy, cool, engaging, and speaking to the very needs and pain points of consumers. Creating the need or the pain point through the old ways of marketing doesn't work anymore, because consumers know what's going on and don't want to be sold to. They also have too many actual needs and pain points to worry about without adding another one to the menu. They need information, products, and services that solve the needs and pain points they actually have, versus the ones that business may want to solve.
Business blogging bridges the gap between having the pain point that needs to be solved, and being the one who can solve that pain point. The need that marketing firms and blogging companies are trying to solve is the need to build brand awarness, or to get found online, or to generate leads and to create revenue. Business blogging can show those that have that pain point that you are the one who can solve, because you know everything there is to know about solving it, that you understand that pain point inside and out. A website that's an online brochure really doesn't do that.
Not Blogging Bugs Me
Business blogging is marketing, and marketing firms and blogging companies should be the best at it. Why aren't they? Why don't more of them want to be the best?