Jessica Mehring
When it comes to content marketing, technology companies and technical service companies often struggle with two things:
- They don’t blog at all because they don’t think it’s effective.
- Their more technical employees and partners do the writing…and it’s not effective.
A blog can be a very effective marketing tool for any technical business – when it’s done right.
- Companies who blog get 97% more links to their website.
- B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67% more leads than those that do not.
- 52% of B2B buyers view 2-4 pieces of content before making a decision, and 28% view 5-7 pieces.
- 80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement.
- 61% of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to buy from, a company that delivers custom content.
Blogging generates leads, reassures customers, builds credibility, and creates and maintains relationships.
And you don’t have to become the next Gizmodo to have a successful technology business blog.
Here are four ways to build a better technology blog.
Figure Out What Your Audience Is Interested In
One of the first mistakes I see technology bloggers make is writing strictly about their technology. Now, I’ll share how to blog more effectively about technology later on in the post, but there are other topics to consider.
Rule #1 of marketing is consider your audience. That goes for technology blogs too. Who are you selling to? What are they interested in?
Here are some examples:
Example 1
Product: Cloud solutions for large businesses
Customer: Large and enterprise businesses
Interest: Data security
Example 2
Product: CRM software
Customer: Small-business sales teams
Interest: Productivity
Example 3
Service: Application development
Customer: Entrepreneurs
Interest: Entrepreneurship and leadership
Now doesn’t that open up a whole new world of topics for your technology blog?
The best way, of course, to uncover what your audience is really interested in reading about is to ask them. You could:
- Send out a survey to your email list.
- Include questions in your post-sales process.
- Call up key clients and ask them for a few minutes of their time.
- Post questions on your social media channels.
- Ask friends and family who have similarities to your target clients.
If you can’t ask your audience for one reason or another, try doing a mindmap. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and brainstorm topics they might be interested to read about.
Though technology lends itself to great educational (how-to) content, remember that readers also like to be informed and entertained.
Blog About Breaking News
There is always something interesting going on in the world of technology.
Just last week Google made a surprise announcement about the formation of an umbrella company, Alphabet. Social media and traditional media is a-buzz about it. Writing a blog about it would be a great way to join in the conversation and share your thoughts about the search giant’s bold move.
That goes for any breaking news that you or your customers find conversation-worthy.
What’s going on in the world of…
- Communications (smartphones, VOIP, video conferencing, voice-to-text technology)
- IT (cloud computing, application development, computing hardware, information security)
- Web technology (social media, search technology, smart devices)
- Business (big moves by tech giants, new players in the tech game, crazy tech ideas that just might work, how tech is impacting various industries, productivity methodology, big data)
Just pull up Huffington Post’s technology section, CNET, or CNN Technology News and you’ll find buckets of inspiration every day.
Share The Behind-The-Scenes
Technology businesses are exciting places to work. And for your customers, who might not work in technology, it can be exciting to see behind the scenes.
Turn your customers and prospects into insiders by giving them a glimpse of your operations, people, location or company culture.
- Post pictures.
- Interview an employee for a “spotlight” blog.
- Give a sneak peek at new technology you’re working on.
- Write a recap of a recent team event.
- Share some history about where your company and your technology came from, complete with photos from your first year.
Technology companies grow and change quicker than almost any other type of company. Make your blog readers part of that fascinating and exciting process.
Blog About Your Technology More Effectively
If you’re a technology company, it does make sense to blog about your technology. Just don’t do it in a way that turns your blog into an operations manual.
A blog should be relatable. It should be written in plain English – simple and concise, without overly technical or flowery language. And it should be formatted for easy reading. (You can read more about writing about technical or complex topics here.)
- Write a how-to about one of your product’s most interesting features.
- Put together a video walk-through of an upcoming product.
- Share a noteworthy customer experience in a case-study style post.
- Reveal a little-known fact or feature about your technology.
Writing about your technology is one of the areas where a professional copywriter – or at least a more experienced writer within your company – can really come in handy. When engineers and developers blog… well, to put it bluntly, those blogs often don’t connect with readers. Engineers and developers are too close to the products. They have a harder time putting themselves in the mindset of a user.
Breaking It Down
Technology companies can use blogs to generate leads, build credibility, and create and maintain relationships with their target customers. Where so many of them go wrong, however, is writing to the wrong audience or making the blogs too technical for their intended audience.
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