Are Blogs Still Worth the Effort as a Marketing Strategy? — Trade Press Services
By: Gerri Knilans
Tags: B2b Content Marketing, B2b Blogging, Blogging, B2b Marketing

Are Blogs Still Worth the Effort as a Marketing Strategy? — Trade Press Services Gerri Knilans Jul 6·3 min read

Over 409 million people view more than 20 billion blog pages each month. Despite these statistics, headlines such as “Is Blogging Dead?” resurface again and again. Why do so many marketers question the value of blogs in today’s marketing communications arsenal? In part, the answer might have to do with changes in how blogs are defined, which blog practices are followed and how this specific tactic fits into a company’s overall marketing strategy.

What Defines a Blog in 2021?

With varied opinions and conflicting research, some experts believe blogging has declined in popularity compared to other types of digital content. KoalaRank’s Arrigo Lupori, however, argues that the confusion lies in language, and that blogging isn’t becoming less popular, but the word “blog” is. According to Lupori, a wide range of terms like blogging, vlogging, digital content or influencer marketing fall under the wider umbrella (and newer concept) of content marketing. “The way blog posts are consumed today is wildly different compared to how they were consumed ten years ago,” Lupori says. “Bloggers have to adapt and create new business models if they want to keep achieving consistent results with their blogs.”

So, while the blog may not look the same as it did 10 years ago, the communication effort is as important as ever. Blogs have evolved into a convergence of varied digital communications formats including text, image, video and audio across multiple platforms. A successful blog integrates with all your company’s marketing initiatives and creates a consistent stream of communication from your brand.

Best Practices in Blogging

The best way to achieve a return on investment on your blogs is to consider the following practices:

33 percent read blogs to learn something new.

20 percent read blogs to be entertained.

12 percent read blogs to discover news or trends in their industry.

Nine percent said they’re driven to read blogs for all of the reasons given.

For these reasons, seek to create content that is informative, entertaining or educational, or accomplishes multiple purposes.

Yes, Blogs Are Still Worth It

Blogs have been around in some format since the early days of the internet. But just because something is longstanding doesn’t mean it is an easy nut to crack. Lisa Toner, director of content at HubSpot, says it isn’t enough to simply have a blog in today’s digital content world. “You need to consistently create content that is more valuable than your competition’s content. You need to be an SEO expert to get your articles ranking on page one of Google, and you need a distribution strategy to promote your content across all the channels your audience likes to consume content on.”

As one of the most cost-effective marketing tools available, blogging is essential to your company’s success. It’s an opportunity to connect with and understand your audiences, generate content that shows the voice of your business, position your company and its leaders as experts in your industry and capitalize on a tremendous opportunity to create content that will provide long-term digital results.