With the rise of video and podcasting, one might assume that running a blog is useless as an efficient advertising channel.
In any case, it appears we have now an obsession with killing issues off. Within the new millennium, we had the Y2K computer scare. When know-how took a extra necessary function in our lives, we assumed all print publications would go bankrupt. Now that video content material is having its time within the solar, some speculate that running a blog might quickly meet the identical destiny because the dinosaurs.
I reached out to entrepreneurs with backgrounds in product advertising, web optimization, YouTube, podcasting, and extra and requested them, “Are blogs useless? ” This is what they mentioned.
Are blogs useless?
In accordance with entrepreneurs, not even shut. Blogs proceed to be extraordinarily precious for lead era, model consciousness, and web optimization. And so they’re nonetheless common amongst customers. A HubSpot research discovered that 60% of individuals learn a weblog a minimum of as soon as every week. So, blogs will not be out of entrepreneurs’ toolbox anytime quickly.
In all equity, this query surrounding blogs isn’t with out motive. Google Developments exhibits that within the final 5 years, the curiosity in blogs has steadily declined worldwide.
Within the U.S. throughout the identical five-year span, video has risen in reputation and surpassed blogs in searches.
Nevertheless, blogs are nonetheless viable advertising channels with WebTribunal reporting there are greater than 600 million blogs out of 1.9 billion web sites worldwide. Collectively these blogs generate 6 million posts every day with WordPress and Tumblr being the most well-liked platforms.
Entrepreneurs nonetheless contemplate running a blog a high advertising channel. Ross Simmonds, a B2B advertising skilled and the founding father of the content material advertising company Foundation, says running a blog has helped his purchasers triple their visitors and speed up their gross sales shut charges.
“At Basis, running a blog with intent has helped us generate hundreds of thousands of {dollars} within the pipeline for each us and our purchasers,” says Simmonds. “It is also armed us with the power to raise our model’s place available in the market and, most significantly, actually assist others in our business be taught and unlock new alternatives.”
With that mentioned, the running a blog panorama has modified through the years. Lisa Toner, director of content material at HubSpot, says it is not sufficient to simply have a weblog these days.
“It’s good to constantly create content material that’s extra precious than your competitors’s content material. It’s good to be an web optimization skilled to get your articles rating on web page one in every of Google, and also you want a distribution technique to advertise your content material throughout all of the channels your viewers likes to eat content material on,” says Toner.
“It is much more advanced to win at running a blog now, however if you happen to can grasp it, it is definitely worth the funding.”
Transparency is an even bigger duty, particularly as customers are paying nearer consideration to a model’s values and its stance on social issues.
“It’s good to take into consideration how folks see your model in comparison with your competitors. Everybody has their very own unique selling position (USP) and what they wish to put ahead, however what customers do is examine,” says Sandra Mpouma, head of digital advertising at RationalFX.
“So, when it comes to enterprise technique, create loyalty, belief, [and] be clear and aggressive, which is essential these days.”
Blogs vs. Different Advertising and marketing Channels
Now that different content material advertising channels – specifically video and podcasting – have surpassed blogs, will blogs quickly turn into redundant?
Effectively, all of it will depend on the person personas you are focusing on. However whilst different platforms develop, blogs nonetheless supply many benefits.
“Podcasting isn’t with out its personal set of limitations. There are many discoverability and viewers development challenges. At this level, blogs have a reasonably well-dusted playbook for scaling. That is not true for podcasts,” says Matthew Brown, senior podcast producer at HubSpot.
“An organization can use its probably restricted assets to spend money on a weblog that can mainly give constant, simply measurable, and dependable efficiency. Blogs even have a direct line to the corporate’s backside greenback, podcasts don’t.”
Nelson Chacon, the principal content material strategist for YouTube at HubSpot, highlights that there is not any motive to decide on between two platforms in case your staff has the bandwidth to sort out each.
If it aligns along with your person personas, you possibly can interact your viewers from a number of angles.
“Making a weblog constructed of articles round the advantages of your product shall be useful. Having a video showcasing its use or the right way to set up it could be useful to your viewers,” says Chacon.
He continues, “Home Depot has carried out a incredible job of doing this. Whereas they inform and educate their clients on their merchandise, additionally they add a fast ‘how-to’ for the extra educated one that simply wants a brief reply defined in a video.”
As for social media, Annabelle Nyst, a senior content material strategist who focuses on social media initiatives at HubSpot, says it is arduous to match it to blogs as every platform serves completely different functions.
“Social content material does not all the time have the shelf life or the discoverability of weblog posts,” says Nyst. “It is extra about constantly assembly your viewers the place they’re, in the best moments, partaking with them one-on-one, and establishing belief through group constructing.”
She provides that social media might be a good way to amplify your weblog posts. And vice versa, weblog posts can function inspiration for social content material.
If utilizing each, Nyst recommends pulling probably the most compelling factors out of your weblog posts, creating social-first content material, and utilizing it to drive visitors again to your weblog.
With all that mentioned, blogs do not come with out their disadvantages. AJ Beltis, a senior content material and acquisition supervisor at HubSpot, mentions the excessive drop-off charges usually seen in weblog posts.
“Blogs lack the interactivity that many crave resulting from its nature as written content material,” says Beltis. “This challenges weblog writers to hook their readers in just a few brief sentences with out having the advantage of particular results or audio engineers out there to their video and podcast creating counterparts.”
What it usually comes right down to is your model objectives and which channels will assist you to meet them. Podcasts, for instance, are higher for branding whereas blogs serve higher for top-of-the-funnel engagement.
“Weblog posts are an acquisition juggernaut. There is a clear path that any seasoned marketer can observe. Podcasts, nonetheless, finest function a model alternative,” says Brown.
“You would not measure a sequence of weblog posts on their model uplift means, identical to you would not measure a podcast present’s lead era. That’s except you want grey hairs and a severe lack of sleep.”
Why Blogs are Nonetheless Impactful
From an funding perspective, blogs could also be a greater long-term funding for lead era.
“I might spend $200K to rent a full-time author, web optimization skilled, and conversion fee optimization (CRO) specialist to work on my weblog. By combining these talent units, I am going to have the ability to create a weblog that drives natural visitors to my web site and converts it into leads for my enterprise all 12 months lengthy,” says Toner.
She continues, “Or, I might put the identical $200K into an promoting marketing campaign and perhaps get a few thousand leads over the course of the advert marketing campaign. However as soon as the marketing campaign ends, so does my lead stream.”
Toner provides that almost all of HubSpot’s blog-generated leads come from older blog posts. Which means running a blog could be a nice lead supply lengthy after posts are printed. Aja Frost, who leads the English web optimization staff at HubSpot, echoes this sentiment.
“Natural visitors is extra necessary than ever. Not like paid visitors, which stops coming within the second your price range runs out, natural visitors is generally self-sustaining after you’ve got put within the effort and time to create a weblog submit,” she says.
She provides that almost all content management systems (CMS) have web optimization instruments built-in into their platforms, which makes it simpler to optimize your posts.
Running a blog may also be precious in shaping a model’s product positioning.
“Blogs are nonetheless among the finest channels we have now to create narratives round our product,” says HubSpot Product Advertising and marketing Supervisor Alex Girard. “They provide us the chance to handle tendencies we see available in the market, how these tendencies impression the reader, and the way our product would possibly be capable of assist them meet that pattern efficiently. They’re additionally nice for telling buyer success tales.”
He provides that when utilizing your weblog to market your product, the content material does not should be promotional. Whenever you set up your self as a thought chief and achieve the belief of your viewers, they are going to organically look into your services and products.
With that mentioned, it’ll take greater than good content material to have a profitable weblog.
“Development with out a purpose is not going to assist your corporation – if 10,000 individuals are studying your weblog, however none of them suit your persona, that is not going to do something to your firm,” says HubSpot’s Senior Weblog Supervisor Karla Heseterberg. “Deal with one thing attainable, like producing new contacts, and ensure each submit you are placing out has that purpose in thoughts.”
She provides that one of many largest errors manufacturers make is creating content material just for folks on the decision-making stage.
With so many phases between studying a weblog and making a purchase order, entrepreneurs ought to have posts geared at customers in each stage with corresponding provides.
Be taught extra about that by way of HubSpot’s business blogging course.
From an web optimization perspective, manufacturers may additionally wrestle with producing visitors as a result of they’re considering weblog first, hyperlink constructing second.
“What I usually discover is that entrepreneurs see ‘running a blog’ and ‘hyperlink constructing’ as two completely different disciplines. First, they write the weblog posts, then they consider the right way to earn backlinks to them,” says Irina Nica, a senior product advertising supervisor at HubSpot who works on product consciousness by way of outreach initiatives.
“As a substitute, they need to embrace linkable belongings into their common content material calendar, alongside different varieties of articles which might be perhaps designed for producing natural or social media visitors.”
Regardless of the various advantages we have gone over, running a blog is not all the time the perfect technique for each model. Why? Effectively, what in case your splendid user persona does not learn blogs? What if they like emails as an alternative?
“Some manufacturers have nice e-mail communication and workflows the place they supply folks with downloadable provides the place they do not should go someplace else to get the data, it is simply of their inbox right away,” says Mpouma.
“You do not essentially want a weblog so long as you are providing one thing in alternate. I feel the weblog has all the time been that: Supply one thing at no cost in alternate for that person interplay.”
So, in that case, blogs would not precisely be useless, extra so irrelevant.
Why Advertising and marketing Is not Useless
Taking a look at issues from a broader perspective, blogs are simply an extension of promoting. Some have advised that marketing is dead, which makes entrepreneurs like me surprise if there’s one thing we do not know.
Primarily based on current information, advertising continues to be influential. And that applies to each traditional strategies and digital initiatives. Statista reported that in 2022, content material advertising generated over $63 billion in income worldwide.
“There is a motive why Nike and Mcdonald’s proceed to speculate hundreds of thousands each month in advertising though they’re already family names. There is a motive why the highest musicians and artists nonetheless do promotion previous to their newest album launch,” says Simmonds.
“Advertising and marketing is not to be seen as simply an expense. It is an funding. And if you happen to make an funding that’s rooted in a strategic plan — that funding ought to return dividends for years (perhaps a long time) to return.”
Running a blog Is Far From Useless
The important thing takeaway is that whereas not all advertising techniques work for each model, it is unlikely that blogs will cease being precious to manufacturers within the foreseeable future. S
o for now, blogs, you possibly can relaxation and step off the chopping block.
Editor’s be aware: This text was initially printed in February 2021 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness. 
