According to a common, antiquated social standard, I am teetering on the slippery gray slope of being (gasp!) middle aged. As a semi-former pro libertine and hipster, I’m certainly not the kind of person who should be considering my yonder years with much regard.
The term “middle-aged” is perhaps only annoying to those like me, who find it thrust upon them. I awoke yesterday, six years old, memorizing the exact stream of obscenities unleashed 
by my father when he realized I had swum 400 feet from the shore to the sand bar off Pensacola Beach, Fla. Today, I am uttering the same string of swears upon realizing that, yes, I am getting long in the tooth.
Okay, I admit it: I am a graying, well-worn designer and advertiser, perhaps only now borrowing time ‘til the inevitable days I trade Banana Republic and Vans chic for the easy comfort of Sansabelt jumpsuits and Rockport loafers. (Truth be told, I already own three Sansabelt jumpsuits I wear to amuse myself and embarrass my wife, but by no means do I wear them un-ironically. I’m not ready to walk that dark path. I’m too young!)
I believe every day after birth you are middle-aged, because each day of life is a gift that can be taken away abruptly. I am inclined to believe that viewing 40 in the sights at close range makes me grossly fortunate to have had so many days, years and decades to enjoy my life
Two years ago, I had my first child—Soren, a sweet, curious boy with a beautiful spirit. The very first time in my life I felt “old” was holding him in my arms when he was born. I swooned with joy, yet felt immediate thoughts of envy that he would soon be amazed by new things and have years of play and trial and error that would build him into whatever he would become as an adult.
Last month on vacation with my wife’s family in Cape Cod, my father-in-law and I had a remarkable conversation about getting older. We shared common stories of the desire for longevity for one’s child, spouse and oneself. He is a retired psychologist and psych professor, so I find the conversations with him not just familial camaraderie, but therapy by proxy. He told me of a cycling race in which he rode the previous year, the STP—a 200-mile, 2-day race from Portland to Seattle—and how it changed his feelings about aging and invigorated his already established love of an active life. He wrote a humorous blog about it.
Something sparked in me at that moment. I realized I, too, wanted to not just do this, but to adopt it from here on out as my own brand of what being middle-aged means. I will be a cyclist and father, with only a touch of libertine to keep life interesting. I love cycling. Something I realized several years ago is that my body really likes cycling. I love conquering hills, speeding down the declines and sprinting on flats and rollers. Years before I tried my best to make myself like running, but it never stuck.
Back in Atlanta, I decided that I would also begin training for the STP the following year. I would begin riding in earnest my sole bike, a mountain bike, with a goal to earn the right to buy a road bike in Spring 2011 if I stuck with my developing regimen. I’d never before used a “carrot on a stick” motivation to work toward better health, but this offered the perfect opportunity to do just that. Conquer and savor a major life accomplishment and get a sweet new bike! For me, that is a major incentive to train every day.
I’ve been in routines before and know that pain, aches and strains are a part of getting started, but I pedal forward every day regardless. I am writing this chronicle of my experience throughout the year to record my development. I have dropped fifteen pounds since early July 2010, and have begun to enter local century rides in preparation for next year’s big event. MLT Creative is on the Stone Mountain bike path, and I feel fortunate to be so well-situated to work toward my goal throughout the year.
Sean Borja is an art director with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing. He is a lifelong veteran of advertising and marketing campaigns, having fought in the trenches with major corporate and agency teams for nearly 20 years.
“What's up, Blog?”
"Not much. How’re you doing?"
"All right." Pause. "So what's new?"
"Nothing. You?"
"Same."
Is this how you greet your blog?
So you haven’t written a blog post in a few days, weeks or, maybe, months. Unfortunately, this happens, even to the most prolific business bloggers. Blogging is hard work. You must consistently create relevant compelling content. But, you get a little get busy, then even busier with other marketing tasks. Your priorities shift to other B2B work. Sometimes, you have few or no interesting new ideas. Perhaps Twitter’s dominating your social web activities (140 characters is a lot easier than writing a 400-word blog post, right?). Maybe you think an intern or junior associate should do the social media stuff; you’re busy with more important marketing projects. You’re not sure if B2B blogging really works anyway. Meanwhile, your blog sits idle.
Studies confirm that B2B blogs with optimized content are effective at attracting prospects to corporate websites. And more than 90% of B2B buyers begin their research for purchasing decisions online.
If your blog is quiet, your site’s visitors click on the blog button hoping to get a glimpse of your company’s thought-leading perspective—only to see a dusty post about the launch of a “new” product dated six months ago. This potential customer could perceive your abandoned blog as an indicator of how you conduct day-to-day transactions. Not a good way to do business online.
Here are seven ways to get you and your blog engaged again:
Refresh old blog posts: If they are still relevant, update old blogs with a new image, a different headline, edited body copy or a new call-to-action. You may have a broader audience and many new readers now, so it’s quite appropriate to repost an oldie, but goodie. Use undated, evergreen topics.
Prepare an editorial calendar: Pick five to seven general topics in your area of expertise with which you know you can generate good, customer-focused content. Create relevant themes or columns that you can repeat regularly. Brainstorm several headlines for each month. Post them on a calendar and share with your writing team. Click here for brainstorming methods...
Shorter is better than none: Don’t worry about writing a 500-word essay for every blog post. Consider a concise list of links, five or six ideas/trends/observations, or a short comment on another blog or article. Maybe plan a related series of short posts. Small snippets of content can still keep your community engaged.
Build up your resources: Enlist other colleagues in the other areas of the company to support blog writing tasks. Share your editorial calendar. Check with your colleagues who may have a penchant for writing but it may not be a primary job task. You may uncover hidden talent.
Add keywords that are driving traffic: Take a look at your analytics. Edit older posts by adding important keywords or phrases that have been driving traffic to your website.
Got news? Turn a press release into a blog article.
Enlist a guest blogger or ghost writer: You may have friends in your industry who would gladly contribute a blog for free, so why not give them a call? Take a look at our ebook for guest blogging ideas. You may also consider hiring a ghost writer to develop a post. Hey, it’s better than having an inactive blog with stale content. You may have to use additional funds, but it’s worth it to maintain your site’s reputation.
So if you and your B2B blog are estranged, shake hands and get reacquainted. Keep your blog site relevant and fresh to engage with your community and help generate visits and prospects.
Have any other suggestions for reviving an idle blog? Send a comment along, I’ll blog about it later when I run out of ideas for this blog.
/mh
Martine Hunter is the creative director of inbound marketing with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing. She holds the Inbound Marketing professional certification and serves the Atlanta chapter of the Business Marketing Association as a member of the board of directors.
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This morning, I Googled the acronym "TCB2B" to make sure I'm not stepping on the toes of anyone who might have coined it before me, but surprisingly, no one has - score!
I might be getting ahead of myself, so let me explain.
We all know that Elvis and Bachman-Turner Overdrive (yes, I just went there) made the abbreviation "TCB" (short for "Taking Care of Business") popular, but when you're B2B marketers like us here at MLT, it's also important to make the most of each day, and better serve your clients and customers, by TCB2B.
I was inspired by the keynote speaker at my little sister's graduation from the University of Georgia Grady School of Journalism & Mass Communications (I'll proudly mention here that I'm a Grady Grad; got my degree in advertising about four years ago, to be exact - how time flies). The speaker was W.H. "Dink" NeSmith Jr., a distinguished veteran in the field of newspaper management.
Aside from being a very refreshing and entertaining speaker, NeSmith had a TCB-themed message, and I couldn't agree more with everything he said. A self-proclaimed daydreamer, like myself and many others who work in B2B or B2C creative shops, he said it's not really difficult to keep your eyes on the prize and make the most of each day (ahem, TCB) with proper time management; it's all about list-making and "Dink's 5 D's of Time Management," as he called it.
As an account executive, I keep a pen in my purse at all times, so I jotted these 5 D's down. NeSmith mentioned getting a natural "rush" whenever he crosses items off his to-do list, which is something I find myself doing multiple times a day. It's my being efficient and diligent that benefits MLT and our clients at the end of the day, so I guess you could say I'm TCB2B every day...
Anyway, without further ado, here are Dink's 5 D's: Deliberate, Do it, Delegate, Ditch it and don't Diddle around.
Deliberate: Probably the most important D on the list. STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND THINK ABOUT IT. This is a critical step, where you can ask those important questions (even dumb ones), evaluate the project and weigh the pros and cons of taking it on. Make sure that every detail is thought through and analyzed. This is where another lettered list - the 5 W's - comes into play: Who, What, When, Where and Why. Think about it, think about it some more and then decide.
Do It: You've thought it through, now it's time to take action. Take on the task at hand with the conviction that it's the most important thing at that moment, and the absolute best use of your time. I'm not going to say "don't diddle," because we'll get to that later. Just do it, and do it well.
Delegate: As much as you'd like to be the hero to everyone, all the time, here's where you've got to face reality and realize you simply can't do everything for everyone. Sometimes you need to let it go and trust that the people helping you can execute properly. Being the control freak/perfectionist that I am, I have to say this D is the most Difficult (yes, with a capital D) for me, but it's necessary in time management because there are only so many things YOU as one person can do. It's not a weakness to ask for some help here and there. Teamwork is a wonderful thing.
Ditch It: In some cases, the project you're approached with couldn't be more wrong for you or the company you represent, and that is OK. It's not wrong to say no. While the prospect of the project is appreciated, it might not be a good fit or an appropriate task, so just ditch it; just say "no thank you," and ditch it with humility, appreciation and grace.
Don't Diddle Around: Yes, procrastination is the enemy, my friends. If you're not approaching your work with tact and purpose, it could be that you should have ditched it or delegated it earlier on, but most likely you're doing some diddling. It happens. But think about this: Time is money. Time is precious. Time is valuable. Your company and your clients depend on you making the most of your time during office hours. That can also mean putting in extra time, and speaking for all of us at MLT, TCB2B doesn't always stop at 6 p.m. You know how the song goes: "Taking care of business, and working overtime." Of course there's a little time each day for kicking back and having a good time with your co-workers, but while you're working for your company's and your client's advancement, there is no time to diddle.
So what are you waiting for? Attack that to-do list in front of you with a TCB2B attitude. Make your day count.
Sarah E. Young is an account executive with the Atlanta advertising agency MLT Creative which specializes in business-to-business marketing.
Our recent webinar on business-to-business blogging resulted in more questions than we had time to answer so Mark Schaefer agreed to provide a personal reply on our blog to each question.
For our final installment, we're combining the final two related questions:
Polly: I work for a small division in a large global company. Legal constraints are huge for us. Have you seen organizations getting around this issue by using some kind of disclaimer?
Jill: If you are a law firm how do you get beyond all the legal issues lawyers come up with? I would think strategies for professional services are more challenging?
These are both good questions ... and very serious ones too!
I worked in large corporations for many years and came to appreciate the very valuable contributions of the legal department. In my experience, they are well-meaning, business-oriented professionals who don't deserve the bad rap they often receive
Here is my best advice: If lawyers are raising legal issues, listen to them. They probably know what they're talking about.
Despite whatever your main line of business is, when you blog, you become a publisher. Your blog is a permanent and searchable record that can be used by competitors, litigants, regulators and other people who would wish to do you harm. Your public record is a big deal.
Instead of resisting legal involvement, my advice would be to embrace it. Work together to have a very thorough understanding of what is fair game in terms of content. Together, develop a robust framework everybody can live with. If that framework exists, lawyers should be able to step out of the daily life of the blog and not require approval of every post.
Once these guidelines are in place, codify in it a way so that even if somebody new started working on the blog, a clear understanding of the rules would follow with continuity.
It would probably be useful to touch base with legal on a regular basis to see if anything has changed from their perspective and also to just keep a great professional relationship up with these important folks.
And remember, blog comments and your answers are also part of your publishing effort and fall under the same guidelines.
This is probably not the answer many people want to hear, but I think it is the advice you NEED to hear. Company lawyers keep us out of jail ... so listen to them.
Mark Schaefer is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, college educator and author of the blog {grow}. Mark is a regular guest blogger for MLT Creative's Idea's @ Work blog.
Our recent webinar on business-to-business blogging resulted in more questions than we had time to answer so Mark Schaefer agreed to provide a personal reply on our blog to each question.
Question #7 comes from Jon: So how do you determine the best way to entertain your audience with a blog?
Let's go back a step and review why I mentioned that "entertainment" is an increasingly important factor in corporate blogging.
Like any marketing initiative (and blogging IS a marketing initiative!) the ultimate goal is to be distinctive. And that is becoming difficult in the increasingly crowded space of "content marketing." Everybody is creating blogs, vying for that valuable reader time.
For awhile, just having a blog was enough to be different. But if you are just getting into the space, you need to plan to shake things up a bit to really stand out.
Having a little entertainment value can go a long way, especially within a traditionally staid market. How refreshing would it be to see something really artistic and whimsical come from banking, metals or the chemicals industry? In these buttoned-up segments, just being a little edgy might be enough to grab attention and turn a blog into a destination.
In general, corporate blogs are little more than glorified press releases and that can be mind-numbingly dull. Here's the Schaefer Entertainment Test (SET) ... I have always wanted to be part of an acronym. Produce a blog article. Show it to somebody unfamiliar with your industry. Ask them what they think. If they say (honestly) that it's interesting, you're on the right track.
Now let's really put a little sizzle with that steak! Add video. A slide presentation. A podcast. You probably have some of this stuff hanging around the marketing communications department any way, right? All of these can be easily embedded into a blog post.
Putting some razzle with your dazzle is going to take a little more time, planning and money. What? Somebody told you the social web was free? Well they were wrong weren't they? Expectations for higher quality content and entertainment value will just increase as the novelty wears off. Expect to use professionals and appropriate resources for the social web just as you would any marketing channel.
Mark Schaefer is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, college educator and author of the blog {grow}. Mark is a regular guest blogger for MLT Creative's Idea's @ Work blog.
Our recent webinar on business-to-business blogging resulted in more questions than we had time to answer so Mark Schaefer agreed to provide a personal reply on our blog to each question.
Question #6 comes from Diane: Is your blog likely to be even more trusted if you include other links?
What an interesting question, Diane!
I'm sure you've seen that many blogs have a list of popular blogs called a "blog roll." There are three primary benefits to this:
- It provides a reference for your readers and an insight into what you read.
- It's a nice tip of the hat to blogs of people you like and admire.
- It is likely that these blogs will also provide a courtesy link back to your blog, which directly benefits your search engine results.
I don't have a blog roll on my blog even with these obvious benefits for a simple reason: I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. I want to honor and celebrate the people in my {grow} community in many ways and don't want anybody excluded or overlooked. So I decided against it even though it would be a good promotional effort for the blog.
I'm not saying I'm right. But it's right for me. Every blogger should consider the valid business reasons for a blog roll.
So let's get to your specific issue of trust. I believe trust has to be earned through your personal, honest and caring interactions every day. I'm not sure links, ads or any other badges on your blog will earn you trust.
I think this is also an interesting question from a corporate perspective -- would there be an advantage to having a blog roll on a company blog? Honestly I can't remember ever seeing a blog roll on a company blog. But why not? Maybe include customers and business partners ... or is that too risky? What do you think?
Mark Schaefer is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, college educator and author of the blog {grow}. Mark is a regular guest blogger for MLT Creative's Idea's @ Work blog.
When we advise our clients on how to develop meaningful content for their B2B blogs, we always recommend they consider featuring guest bloggers.
As with everything we do, we like to practice what we preach. So it is with great pride that we introduce a series of guest blogs by Mark Schaefer related to our recent B2B Blogging webinar, and also what I believe might be the first ever B2B guest blog on B2B guest blogging, by our good friend, Jeremy Victor.
We can all learn a lot from Jeremy, as he is possibly the best in the business at coordinating guest blogs on a daily basis at www.b2bbloggers.com. Please enjoy, and also check out the incredible e-book on B2B Guest Blogging. - Billy Mitchell
Guest Blog Post by Jeremy Victor
Let's face it, as B2B marketers, we're all confronting the same challenge. We're resource constrained, and at the same time, we must find new ways to attract and engage customers in an increasingly attention starved world. If you've started blogging as a way to accomplish those objectives, you have definitely made a great choice for the investment of your time, money, and energy.
As you have begun blogging though, you've likely encountered some obstacles. This of course is normal; as with any new endeavor, there are many hurdles to overcome. You may be asking yourself:
How can we make our blog more interesting?
What kinds of things can we do that will help us earn the trust of our readers?
This fall we have four tradeshows, John Writer will be on his honeymoon, I'll be at the shows, who's going to write for the blog over those six weeks!?
These new regulations are really impacting the market, but we don't know them well enough to cover them...yet we need to cover them. How are we gonna do that?
Yikes, those can be tough questions to answer, if you consider yourself or even your company as the sole contributor to your blog. Enter Guest Bloggers.
A guest blogger is just that: a guest, someone from outside your organization that acts as an author for your blog.
Guest bloggers can be used in a variety of ways: one-time contributors, a special guest series, interviews, or even as regular ongoing columnists. Most importantly, when it comes to using guest bloggers, you are really limited only by your creativity and determination to try something new. You are now the publisher, editor in chief, and blogger all wrapped up into one. The benefit: it's your publication, and you get to make the rules.
So is using Guest Bloggers right for your B2B blog? My short answer is "Definitely, yes!"
For a in depth look at the benefits of using guest bloggers and guidance on how to successfully find, invite, and work with guest bloggers for your B2B blog, MLT Creative and I have created a new eBook for you. In this B2B blogging e-book I explore the Basics, Best Practices, and Blunders of Guest Blogging. I've drawn the majority of content from my experience working with over 50 contributing bloggers as the Editor In Chief of B2bbloggers.com.
Download your copy, it's a great resource to learn the ropes and to prepare your company to begin finding and working with new contributors to your blog.
Jeremy
Victor is the editor-in-chief of B2Bbloggers.com, which provides B2B marketers with an easy-to-use web site that provides access to the growing amount of B2B marketing content on the web. The site aggregates more than 1,500 blogs related to B2B marketing, and Jeremy manages relationships with over 50 contributing guest bloggers.
Download the Guest Blogging eBook
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Our recent webinar on business-to-business blogging resulted in more questions than we had time to answer so Mark Schaefer agreed to provide a personal reply on our blog to each question.Question #5 comes from Barbara: How can you measure the impact of a blog?
Like any marketing initiative, measurement is important. As my teacher and mentor Peter Drucker used to tell his students, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." And blogging is no different.
The good news is that measurement is normally very easy on the web. In fact the real trick might be choosing the correct metrics.
There are hundreds of potential financial and non-financial indicators out there, but there is only one question you need to know to pick the right one: What behavior am I trying to drive?
This is a deceptively simple but powerful place to start. Here is a great example of this concept in action. Walgreen's has been a stellar financial performer and much of that has been attributed to its focus on one metric: Net profit per customer visit. Behavior they are driving? Spend more money with Walgreens!
Think about the impact of that one metric -- it would influence the store location and lay-out, product placement, product choices, advertising strategy, branding strategy, pricing decisions ... literally every design, distribution and marketing decision could be made to drive that single metric ever upwards.
So you can see how powerful and critically important choosing the correct metric can be, for your marketing effort, and your blog. I could literally fill several blog posts with ideas of possible metrics but a good place to start -- after you define your goal, of course -- is Google Analytics. This is a free tool available to every website and blog that can give you amazing insight about who is visiting your blog, when, from where, and how long they hang out there. But that's just a start. There are probably as many measurement platforms as there are ways to measure!
You can also look at blog-specific metrics that might indicate engagement and reader interest such as blog visitors, subscriptions, tweets, comments, and results from blog polls. And while we're at it, blogs can also have an impact on internal audiences too, so you might want to think about that.
But in any event, the answer to your question begins with the answer to another question: What behavior are you trying to influence?
Mark Schaefer is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, college educator and author of the blog {grow}. Mark is a regular guest blogger for MLT Creative's Idea's @ Work blog.
Download our B2B Blogging Webinar and eBook:
Our recent webinar on business-to-business blogging resulted in more questions than we had time to answer so Mark Schaefer agreed to provide a personal reply on our blog to each question.Question #4 comes from Neil: Do you recommend starting slow with blogging? What is a good way to initially scope if resources and strategy is unsure?
Neil, this is an excellent question and one that I hear often.
Let's break it down into two parts: starting out with 1) a strategy and 2) resources.
Over time, your "voice" on your blog will evolve as you gain confidence and receive feedback from your audience. However, you should start out with some initial strategy -- an idea of your purpose, a view of what you're trying to achieve and the needs of your target audience. If you keep switching directions, you will end up confusing your readers, losing them, and wasting a lot of time.
So whether you start slow or fast, have a vision of what you are trying to achieve. It will change over time and it should as you grow and learn.
As far as resources, there is no absolute answer, but in the "start slow" scenario, let's plan to allocate 4 hours per blog post. This would assume about 2.5 hours to write and edit a 400-500 word article and find an appropriate piece of accompanying art, and another 1.5 hours for internal approvals, external promotion, responding to reader comments and handling any initial technical issues.
This is a generous time allocation that will improve as your blogging skills improve.
I do think it is a smart idea to start slow, find your voice, receive some feedback, and have some quick wins you can promote to the boss. Just keep in mind that to really receive business benefits, you will need to blog with some regularity at some point.
Mark Schaefer is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, college educator and author of the blog {grow}. Mark is a regular guest blogger for MLT Creative's Idea's @ Work blog.
Our recent webinar on B2B blogging resulted in more questions than we had time to answer so we'll provide a reply on our blog to each question.
Question #3 comes from Don: What's the optimal length of a blog? How long is too long?
Don, this is a great question. and believe it or not it can be an emotional one!
I recently got into a heated debate with a dear friend who insisted people would read her novel-length blog posts because they were so interesting. I disagreed. Maybe they were just not that interesting to me! In any event, here are a few thoughts on the ultimate length for a great blog.
Look at the data -- All the research shows that people have shorter attention spans and read less. I think it is foolish to ignore these trends. Get in, make your point, get out.
Be respectful -- I think most of the time blogs run too long it indulges the WRITER, not the READER. Many bloggers have long ago made their point and just keep babbling to satisfy themselves or glorify their points. Most of the time long blogs just don't respect a reader's precious time.
Listen to Mark -- (Twain that is!) Twain once said in a letter, "I'm sorry I didn't have more time to make this shorter." It does take more time to write well, and with brevity. I typically go back and cut at least one-third out of each rough draft. Sometimes I even take out what I consider to be great points if it doesn't move the story along. Spend the time, and have the courage, to be brief.
500 is magic -- I love blog articles that are less than 500 words. If you write well, you can comfortably tell a great story or make a meaningful point in that length. My advice? Shoot for "under 500."
Earning more -- There are certain blogs that I read no matter the length. But these bloggers are established, brilliant and have EARNED the right to pontificate at whatever length is needed to cover their points. If you are just starting out, I believe it is more important to build an audience through short, punchy prose than test them with an intellectual treatise.
Just for the record this post was about 400 words. I think it worked out well. What are your thoughts on blog length?
Mark Schaefer is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, college educator and author of the blog {grow}. Mark is a regular guest blogger for MLT Creative's Idea's @ Work blog.