{"id":9519,"date":"2020-01-29T15:58:34","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T15:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/?p=9519"},"modified":"2020-01-29T15:58:34","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T15:58:34","slug":"corporate-blog-strategy-5-models-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/corporate-blog-strategy-5-models-fc\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Blog Strategy: 5 Models"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re contemplating launching a corporate blog, you\u2019re probably hoping to achieve one or more of the following goals: <\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Lead Generation.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Attracting potential clients with the content through SEO, social channels, e-mail marketing, and press; as well as helping to convert current prospects browsing the website.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Social Media Content Syndication.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sourcing content for social media feeds and email marketing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Sales Support.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Creating content assets for salespeople to use in their correspondence with leads.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Thought Leadership.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Presenting your company as an industry leader.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Market Expansion.<\/b> Associating your brand with a new branch of your industry or a new industry altogether.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7462\" style=\"margin-bottom: 5px;\" src=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/fps11.jpg\" alt=\"B2B SEO Expert\" width=\"80%\" height=\"auto\" \/><\/center><small><em>Evan Bailyn is the founder and CEO of the nation\u2019s largest SEO firm, First Page Sage.<\/em><\/small>[mk_button corner_style=&#8221;rounded&#8221; url=&#8221;mailto:evan.bailyn@firstpagesage.com&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221;]E-mail Evan[\/mk_button][mk_padding_divider size=&#8221;20&#8243;]<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With these goals in mind, your next step is to implement a strategy for the blog. In my 11 years evaluating company blogs, I&#8217;ve found that there are roughly 5 different situations most corporate blogs are in. I outline them below, beginning with the simplest and least effective model and ending with the most sophisticated, highest-ROI model. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Corporate Blog Model #1:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Basic Blog<\/span><\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Summary:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You publish content only in the form of company announcements such as new leadership hires and product announcements. These announcements occur roughly half a dozen times per year.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Goals achieved:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social media content that reminds your audience that you exist<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the blogging setup that leads most companies to sheepishly say, \u201cYeah, we have a blog\u2026\u201d Basically, this kind of blog covers the bare minimum and serves as a bulletin board for company-wide announcements. If you follow this strategy, your PR-related posts could be syndicated across other platforms to help build out a LinkedIn or Twitter feed, but they\u2019re not going to generate leads or accomplish any revenue-related goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Example:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.johncrane.com\/about\/press\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">John Crane blog<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> highlights what\u2019s happening inside this tech company, but doesn\u2019t inform readers of anything beyond the company\u2019s accomplishments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9629\" src=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/John-Crane.jpg\" alt=\"A corporate blog only lists achievements within the company.\" width=\"624\" height=\"359\" \/>[mk_padding_divider size=&#8221;20&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h2><b>Corporate Blog Model #2:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Aggregator Blog<\/span><\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Summary:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to company announcements, you also post repurposed content from outside publications several times per month.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Goals achieved:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social media content that reminds your audience that you exist<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The appearance of thought leadership<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many companies choose to employ a slight step up from Strategy #1: a blog that aggregates content from reputable sources in addition to their company announcements. This strategy is often a reflection of someone on the leadership team&#8217;s understanding that publishing content is important. However, it&#8217;s a misunderstanding, as Google only sends traffic to your blog posts if<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/seo-blog\/the-high-quality-content-line-and-its-impact-on-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">every post you publish is high quality<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Still, the appearance of original content is better than nothing at all. (However, if you do republish content, don\u2019t forget to use canonical tags on the backend so you\u2019re not penalized by Google for reposting content.) <\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Example:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pungroup.com\/thought-leadership-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PUN Group blog<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has a section called &#8220;Thought Leadership&#8221; but it is actually syndicated content from a financial content provider along with stock photographs. Not only can visitors get a sense the content isn&#8217;t original, it has no ranking potential within Google due to the same content appearing on dozens of other sites.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9630\" src=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Pun-group.jpg\" alt=\"An aggregator blog is a mix of syndicated content and company announcements.\" width=\"552\" height=\"596\" \/>[mk_padding_divider size=&#8221;20&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h2><b>Corporate Blog Model #3:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Foundational Blog<\/span><\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Summary:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to company announcements, you craft 1-2 original posts for publication each month that are specifically related to problems your product helps to solve.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Goals achieved:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some lead generation through SEO<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social media content<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minimal thought leadership<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you start publishing original content, you build the foundation for a blog that can generate leads and bring in new streams of revenue. Companies who employ the Foundational Blog model often create their content internally\u2014either through existing employees or part-time content writers\u2014and are usually hard-pressed to put out a greater volume of content than 1-2 posts per month. Still, these posts are perfect for distribution in email marketing and social media campaigns, and can also be supplied to your sales team to add substance to their outreach efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seeing the initial results of having your own, original content can whet the appetite of a marketing director, as original content is exceptionally versatile and valuable. However, most proprietors of corporate blogs don&#8217;t realize how much more valuable a high volume of content is than a lower volume.\u00a0 Whereas publishing 1-2 original posts per week greases the existing marketing and sales gears, it doesn&#8217;t constitute anything close to a fully-functioning machine. The machine is created when you publish 2 or more posts per week, as: (1) Google begins viewing your site as a news website, rewarding it with higher rankings across the board; (2) you can curate content for distinct social and e-mail audiences; (3) your brand gets seen frequently enough to begin to impact its perception as an industry leader; (4) you can supply your sales team with content on every topic their prospects are interested in; and (5) you can use content alone to show the market that you&#8217;ve created a new product line or expanded into a new niche.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Foundational Blog isn&#8217;t quite there yet.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Example:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.surgeforward.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surge Blog<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, there is a mix of syndicated content from other sources and original content a couple of times per month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9631\" src=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Surge-blog.jpg\" alt=\"A foundational blog has some original content, but not enough.\" width=\"624\" height=\"361\" \/>[mk_padding_divider size=&#8221;20&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h2><b>Corporate Blog Model #4:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Thought Leadership Blog<\/span><\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Summary:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Far from being a list of company announcements, your blog is its own, distinct source of news, insights, and analysis. You post 2 original articles per week that target your most important keyword phrases and answer the timely industry questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Goals achieved:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lead generation through SEO<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Timely, targeted social media &amp; e-mail marketing content<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thought leadership within your industry<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Active support of your sales team<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ability to extend your brand into a new product category<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you cross the threshold into twice-weekly production of original, high quality, keyword-targeted articles, you\u2019ll finally start seeing serious results. A true<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/thought-leadership-strategy-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">thought leadership<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> blog like has its own link on the website that visitors regularly return to for the latest industry information.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Compared with the previous three strategies, it\u2019s far more difficult to conceptualize, research, write, edit, and publish 2,000+ words per week within the context of a full-scale content marketing strategy. That\u2019s why companies seeking thought leadership blogs typically<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/seo-blog\/identifying-the-best-content-marketing-agencies-fc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">switch from internal staffing to outsourcing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A great thought leadership marketing firm can take over the heavy lifting of creating a campaign strategy and producing high-quality content, all at a lower cost than doing the work in-house.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ultimate goal here is to create a blog that systematically addresses every problem, pain point, and question your target clients have about your product category and industry. Each blog post should address a different situation that naturally necessitates the use of your company\u2019s services\u2014all without overtly selling. By offering value in the form of expert perspectives and high-level analysis, you build trust with your audience. A few strategic calls-to-action inviting them to view a case study or learn more about your product should be enough to drive MQLs and pay for your campaign within a year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Example:<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/seo-blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FPS Blog<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> consistently posts high-quality thought leadership articles that are SEO optimized.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9533\" src=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/corporate-blog-strategy-example-3-1024x552.png\" alt=\"thought leadership corporate blog strategy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"552\" \/>[mk_padding_divider size=&#8221;20&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h2><b>Corporate Blog Model #5:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supercharged Blog<\/span><\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Summary:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through the publication of 10-20 original articles per week, you create a comprehensive industry resource on your own website that is as good as any industry periodical.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Goals achieved:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Substantial lead generation through dominant SEO<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Timely, targeted social media &amp; e-mail marketing content<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The highest level of thought leadership within your industry<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Active support of your sales team<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ability to quickly expand into a new product category<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The final corporate blog takes things into the stratosphere with a colossal volume of content and a strategy that\u2019s designed to (literally) take over your corner of the Internet. We call this the Supercharged Blog, but it could more accurately be described as a comprehensive news site or industry-wide resource. When you post 10-20 well-researched, high-quality, and timely articles per week, you have the opportunity to reach thousands of additional decision makers\u2014both clients and industry peers\u2014and instantly achieve thought leader status within your industry.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This strategy goes far beyond what most companies aim to do with their blogs. Those who do make the investment, though, see<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/top-seo-roi-by-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">enormous ROIs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Example:<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.talech.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">talech blog<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> goes above and beyond, with a large amount of unique content being published every week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9632\" src=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/talech-blog.jpg\" alt=\"A supercharged blog publishes a large amount of original content regularly.\" width=\"624\" height=\"669\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How We Do It at First Page Sage<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While all five corporate blog strategies achieve some of the goals we outlined in the beginning of this discussion, we find <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/seo-blog\/b2b-lead-generation-the-best-strategies-for-2019-and-beyond\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lead generation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to be the best measure of success in a content campaign. Therefore, we create blogs for our clients that follow the Thought Leadership model. We begin by putting together a comprehensive keyword and content strategy to guide the campaign. Then, we create 2 thought leadership posts or landing pages each week on an ongoing basis. Over the course of 6-18 months, this kind of content engine always produces a steady flow of MQLs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More ambitious clients expand to content plans beyond the standard 2 per week, working with us to create Supercharged Blogs with more than 40 posts per month. These campaigns are where we see annual ROAS expanding into the $10M+ range. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re looking for an expert partner to help craft your corporate blog strategy (and the content that goes along with it), <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/firstpagesage.com\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">contact us<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking for a new corporate blog strategy? This post outlines the top 5 strategies we see most often in the content marketing industry, compared to what we do here at First Page Sage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,12,13],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-9519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate-blog","category-marketing","category-seo-blog","tag-enterprise-seo"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}