7 Tips on How to Create an Effective Blogging Strategy for Systems Integrators

Does your systems integrators company have a blog? Statistics show that over three in four B2B companies currently use a blog to connect with their audience. Even if your systems integrators company only sells products or services locally, blogging is an effective marketing tactic that can drive new leads and help you sell more products or services. But it takes more than just a writing a few blog posts to succeed with this marketing tactic. For an effective systems integrators blogging strategy, consider the following seven tips listed below.

#1) Don't Make It Overly Promotional

You can use a blog to promote your systems integrators company's products or services, but you should publish other, non-promotional content as well. If your blog consists entirely of advert-style blog posts, it may dissuade visitors from returning to it. After a visitor discovers your blog is nothing more than an advertisement, he or she may leave and never return. To keep visitors on your blog, you must find a balance between promotional and non-promotional content.

#2) Publish Case Studies

While it takes time to create or source case studies, publishing them on your blog may prove useful in connecting with your audience and convincing them to purchase your product or service. According to one report, roughly three in four B2B buyers say case studies, along with customer testimonials, have the greatest influence in their purchasing decision. Industrial buyers enjoy case studies because they reveal quantifiable insight into a topic, which is usually relevant to their own industrial business's needs.

#3) Write for Your Audience

When creating blog posts, write with your systems integrators company's target audience in mind. In other words, you should write conversational blog posts as if you were speaking to a typical manufacturing, processing, warehouse or distribution center type customer. To do this, you must first understand your systems integrators company's audience. Find out who typically buys your systems integrators company's products or services. If you run a commercial construction company, your audience might be businesses looking to expand their operations in new regions. If you run a manufacturing company, your audience might be retail stores. Regardless, write blog posts using a style that's relevant and familiar with your systems integrators company's audience.

#4) Include Images

To reach the most users with your blog, you need to include images in your posts. According to HubSpot, blog posts with images generate nearly twice the number of views as blog posts consisting entirely of text. If you only use text in blog posts, your posts won't appear in Google Images or Bing Images, which are responsible for millions of searches each day. Furthermore, blog posts with images usually rank higher in Google's and Bing's standard search results. Search engines favor websites, as well as blogs, that feature images in their content over those that only use text in their content.

#5) Link to Products or Services

Not all your blog posts should talk about your systems integrators company's products or services. To keep visitors engaged, you must publish non-promotional content as well. But when you do mention one of your systems integrators company's products or services in a blog post, remember to link to it. Adding links allows visitors to easily purchase or learn more about a specific product or service. If a visitor wants to purchase a product after reading about it, for example, he or she can click the link. Linking to your systems integrators company's products and services is a simple way to improve the performance of your blog.

#6) Mention Your Systems Integrators Company's Contact Information

If you don't include your systems integrators company's contact information in a blog post, visitors won't know how to reach your company. While you can create a "Contact Us" page to display your systems integrators company's address, phone number and email address, you should consider placing this information at the bottom of all your blog posts. After reading a post, prospective buyers will see your systems integrators company's contact information. And if a buyer wants to learn more about your systems integrators company or its offerings, he or she can easily contact you. Just remember to check your contact information to ensure it's accurate before publishing it on your blog.

#7) Promote Your Blog Using External Channels

A blog is an inbound marketing tool that automatically attracts buyers. Assuming you share top-tier content on your blog, prospective buyers will likely find it on Google, Bing and other search engines. However, you should still promote your blog using external channels to increase its reach and overall performance. After you publish a new post, for example, log in to Facebook and share a link to it on your systems integrators company's Page. If you have a Twitter account for your systems integrators company, you can share a link to it on there as well.

Don’t forget email. You can create a direct email going to plant managers, operation managers or facility manager. To get some fresh new names, use the SalesLeads’ Sales & Marketing intelligence database to get started. You can drill down to find the exact company type, location, along with specific titles with their email address and phone numbers.

You can also send personalized email to those listed on the Project Report. Project Reports are identified projects that have expressed a need for your products and services due to expansion, relocation or renovations. You’ll get a brief understanding of the project, along with the project contacts with email addresses and phone numbers. Now you can send them to your blog to begin the education process on your system integrator company’s product and services.

By promoting your blog on external channels like social media, you'll attract more prospective buyers, thereby increasing the sales-driving power of your blog.