Given the relevance of social media and online marketing, the blog has become a critical piece in promoting products, including educational products. A blog drives traffic to your website, boosts your social media presence, and is welcomed by readers because it usually breaks down a complex subject into a simpler format. All those things are important, but if your objective is to sell a continuing education product, a blog can increase the use of inbound links to your product and potentially increase sales.
In a recent study, research found that having a blog increased website traffic by 58% and the use of inbound links by 98%. Creating a blog to promote a program, publication, or other educational product just makes sense and should be done by your subject matter expert. Whew, you were scared I was going to suggest you write the blog, weren’t you? The only add to your to-do list is to make writing a blog a speaker or author assignment.
Add writing a blog to the list of instructions you provide a newly-committed speaker or newly-committed author – and provide a hard deadline! The blog should be about his or her piece of the program or publication. Explain to your speaker or author that the blog will include an inbound link to your educational product and could increase registrations or sales. Ask every speaker on a program and every contributor to a publication to blog. Even if you get 75% response, you will have multiple blog posts, which will enhance your chances of success.
Tell your SME not to give away the farm in writing the blog but the blog must provide value. Make sure the SME understands your business objective. The blog should provide relevant information and prompt the reader to take the next step—clicking on the inbound link and buying. The SME should still transfer knowledge in the blog, but the SME should also give a peek into the additional topics that are to be addressed in the program or publication. It’s knowledge with a tease.
Providing blogs to your target audience provides value in that you create an audience that trusts you and the information you provide. But we all know that increased sales are the real payoff. To measure your blog success in sales conversions, use website analytics to monitor. Remember to give this approach some time, and don’t expect results overnight.
Resources:
“B2B Content Marketing 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends–North America”
