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3 Tips for Convincing Your Clients That Blogs Should Be Informational

Dealing with clients can be difficult at times. They bring you in for help with a digital marketing strategy, but then they don’t want to take your advice. In particular, you may need to convince your clients about the value of an informational blog.

Many clients are so used to selling that they don’t see why their blog should not be another venue for their sales pitch. Your job is to show them a better way. Here are three tips for convincing your clients that their blog should be informational.

No One Likes Commercials

Ok, maybe the ones during the Superbowl are exceptions, but in general, people want to avoid commercials and sales pitches. No one wants to be pressured to buy when she is not ready. 71% of business executives say they don’t like hard sales pitches when reading blogs. Consumers feel the same way.

Just look at the efforts that people go through to avoid commercials. They record television programs to fast forward through the commercials. They listen to music directly from their devices to avoid the commercials on the radio. They use caller ID to avoid telemarketers and throw away direct mailers. Most consumers can effectively filter out all advertising. What do you think they are going to do when they find a sales pitch on your blog? Can you say “back button?”

The B2B marketing world is no different. Decision makers have gatekeepers in place to keep aggressive salespeople at bay. They don’t have to respond to emails or direct mail. They can avoid contact with your sales team if they want.

These insights should help your clients to see that their sales pitch will not be met with excitement when people are browsing through their blog. Instead, it will have the opposite effect of what they want. Their prospects will run for the hills.

People Buy When They Trust

Clients need to understand what people are looking for when they arrive on a blog. People find your blog through the recommendation of friends on social media, an Internet search engine or a link on an authoritative website. They click through because they have a problem that they need to solve or a desire that they are looking to fulfill.

Someone searching the web for the “best European vacation destinations” is not ready to book their travel. So if you hit them with a sales pitch, they are going to recoil. Instead, they are looking for information about great European vacations. If your client’s blog can provide them with the inside scoop on this topic, then your client will earn their trust and maybe their business. But a sales pitch will get nothing.

Business executives are the same. When searching the web, they are looking for information and education. They don’t want a sales pitch. Once your client shows that he knows his stuff, then a sale may follow. Most business executives say that gaining new ideas is the main reason that they read blogs. If your clients give them what they want, they are many steps closer to winning their business than blogs that are just sales pitches.

Some clients may be concerned that offering advice for free means that customers will not buy or will buy from a competitor. And this may happen at times, but people are a lot more likely to buy from a business that they trust and that can demonstrate expertise to solve problems. They may not be ready to buy right away, but when they are ready, people are much more likely to buy from your client.

Blogs Are Sales Enablers

It may help your clients to think about blogs as sales enablers rather than lead generators. They help create authority and trust for your client’s brand. That will indirectly create conversions from leads to customers. In addition, a blog can help your client’s sales team be more effective. It provides a ready source of clear explanations for typical objections and helps prospects enter the sales funnel with more education. This helps the sales team convert those prospects to customers. The blog enables sales in addition to generating leads.

So if your clients are a bit wary of informational blogging, offer them these three explanations to help them understand why you think it is so important for their marketing strategy. With some good evidence, you can show them the most effective way to use their blog in marketing.

Topics: Informational Blog

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