Imagine youβre at a party, and you meet someone who seems really interesting. They turn out to be very fun and pleasant to talk to, and you discover that you have a lot in common with them. However, the partyβs at its end, so you exchange numbers and agree to keep in touch. But now youβre at home, struggling to think of a way to turn that initial spark of interest into a lasting relationship.
When it comes to content marketing and sales, the above struggle is a lot like blogging. Many brands use blogging to build brand awareness and create that initial connection with potential customers. Π’hen, they donβt follow through ΠΎr use their blogs enough to turn those connections into sales. Once past the lead generation stage, brands find it challenging to leverage blogging effectively within their sales funnel.
Blogs can play a direct and indirect role in selling and converting. With that in mind, we created this article to show you how to take your blogging game to the next level and turn your superficial connections into substantial relationships.
Below, weβll give you eight tactics that will help you refine your blogging strategy to sell more. Whether youβre a small business owner, a marketer, or a content creator, these tips will help you elevate your blog to its full potential and achieve your conversion goals.
Contents
Build the case for a conversion
One of the biggest obstacles in the conversion process is overcoming objections. Naturally, people often have concerns or questions about what might go wrong with a product or a service. These concerns prevent them from making a purchase, and itβs up to the seller to address their worries and provide reassurance. This is where blogging can play a very valuable role in the conversion process.
By creating blog posts that address common concerns, brands are helping potential customers access the information they need to make informed decisions. When a customer is unsure whether they should buy a certain product because they donβt believe it will work for them or they think itβs a waste of money, a blog post can provide the necessary reassurance. Case studies are great for demonstrating a productβs effectiveness.
Similarly, when prospects skip the sales funnel because they believe they can afford your product, a blog post can suggest some financing options or demonstrate the long-term cost savings if they buy your product.
By addressing customersβ questions and concerns head-on, brands can build a strong case for conversion and help them feel more confident and ready to buy. Additionally, blogging can help educate your target audiences on the benefits of your products or services as well. By providing valuable information and insights, brands build trust with potential customers, which ultimately leads to more conversions and long-term customer loyalty.
Hereβs a great example of this tactic where Bay Alarm Medical, a medical alert systems supplier, discusses and debunks the reasons why people donβt buy and use medical alarm systems. Thereby, they reinforce the market for their product and also remove conversion obstacles for members of their audience who were skeptical. A blog post like theirs is ideal for this because of the length of the content. An advert wouldnβt work for this purpose.
Blog about product features
Blogging can allow you to provide in-depth information on how your product works and how it can solve specific pain points. This way, you can demonstrate its value to potential customers and give them the information they need to make a purchase.
Blog posts that highlight your productβs features can take a variety of forms. For example, you might create a step-by-step guide that shows how to use the product or, even better β a video that demonstrates its functionality in action. You might also write blog posts that explore specific features in detail and explain how they align with the needs of your target audience.
By highlighting features that directly address the concerns of your target audience, you can make a strong case for why your product is the best solution and increase the likelihood of a conversion. This can be particularly effective for customers who are in the consideration phase of the sales funnel and are actively researching their options.
Another benefit of blogging about product features is that it can help to establish your brand as a trusted authority in your industry. Presenting valuable insights and factual statistics can position you as a thought leader and build immense credibility for your brand.
This type of blogging is essentially an excuse to talk with pride about your teamβs professionalism and expertise and how this translates into a trustworthy product.
Dyson ensures they capitalize on this aspect in every possible way. This multinational home appliances brand regularly publishes blog posts that discuss product features with great detail and authority. This one explains what goes into the making of their product to help create healthier homes. Itβs a real clincher!
Include natural product links in your blog content
While creating content should always prioritize providing value to your readers, thereβs nothing wrong with subtly mentioning your own products and services within that content. In fact, it can be a very effective way to boost conversions and drive sales. To do so, you can include natural product links within your blog content.
Natural product links are links to your own product pages that are included within your blog content in a subtle way that feels organic and natural. They should be mentioned in a way that doesnβt come across as spammy or pushy but rather as a helpful resource for readers who may be interested in learning more about the topic youβre discussing.
For example, if you sell cookware and youβre writing a blog post about the benefits of oil-free cooking, you could include a natural product link to one of your nonstick pans within the content. This way, readers who are interested in weight loss or eating healthier can click through to your product page and learn more about that product. Theyβll be a step closer to completing a purchase.
Including natural product links in your blog content can be great for increasing brand awareness as well. Just be sure to use this tactic in moderation, and always make sure your content provides genuine value to your readers. If you overdo it, they will notice your primary intentions and wonβt appreciate it.
Take a look at the Transparent Labs blog posts to understand better how to implement this tactic. This sports supplements brand writes a ton of content that allows them to mention their products. This pre-workout guide to supplements is one of their many posts where each of their product mentions is a link to the relevant product pages.
This kind of natural, contextual link makes the reader feel like the content is still mostly about informing them rather than selling to them. And that approach is crucial. The number of links in the post also makes a click-through more likely.
Tell customer success stories through detailed case studies
Telling the story of how your product has helped real people in real situations is a very effective way to convince potential customers to buy it. Case studies are amazing in this regard, as they provide detailed accounts of how your product or service has solved a particular problem for a customer.
By blogging about these success stories, you not only demonstrate the real-world applications of your product but also create a relatable face for your customers. Potential leads can identify with the pain points of the customer in the case study, and they can realize that your brand can truly help them.
To create effective case studies, you need to include measurable data and tell a detailed story of how your brand played a crucial role in creating a better reality for your customers. You can talk about aspects such as:
- The specific problem or challenge the customers face
- How your product or service provides a solution
- Measurable data that shows the impact your product has (such as increased sales, improved efficiency, or higher customer satisfaction)
- Quotes or testimonials from satisfied customers, highlighting the benefits they experienced as a result of using your product
By presenting this information in a clear and detailed manner, you can demonstrate the value of your product to potential customers and make a compelling case for why they should buy from you.
Buffer, a social media toolkit for brands, publishes well-rounded case studies on their blog. This one talks about how they helped a customer exponentially grow their newsletterβs traffic and includes every aspect that weβve mentioned above.
Generate leads with a contextual lead magnet
Another great way to generate leads from your blog is to offer a free resource that is closely related to the blog post topic and provides additional value to the reader. This lead magnet could be an eBook, white paper, checklist, quiz, or any other type of content that your target audience is interested in.
For example, if you have a blog post about the benefits of working out in woolen clothing, you could offer a free workout program or a checklist for proper care of that type of fitness clothing.
By offering a contextual lead magnet, youβre providing additional value to the reader and increasing the likelihood that they will be interested in learning more about your products or services.
This is a very safe assumption that drives many marketing campaigns. Offering customers additional high-value content is a great way to obtain their email addresses for subsequent, targeted marketing.
To access the lead magnet, your readers will need to provide their contact information, such as their name and email address, which you can then use to follow up with them and move them further down the sales funnel.
Ensure your lead magnet is closely related to the blog post topic and provides real value to the reader. You should also ensure that itβs easy to access and that the process for providing contact information is streamlined and user-friendly.
Take a look at the Career Sidekick post on how many references job applicants should have. This free resume-building service completes their post by placing a visually bold lead magnet in the footer.
Help customers get the most out of your product
Once a customer has purchased your product, you need to help them get the most out of it. If you provide them with helpful tips and resources, you can increase their satisfaction and loyalty. That can easily turn into repeat purchases and continued conversions.
A proven way to further assist your customers is to create a knowledge base or help center that provides answers to common questions and solutions to common issues. This can be in addition to your blog or integrated within your blog posts.
By providing a comprehensive resource for your customers, you can help them solve problems quickly and easily, which can increase your credibility and reduce the likelihood of churn.
Another way to help customers get the most out of your product is to offer tutorials or training on how to use it effectively. This could be in the form of webinars, online courses, how-to posts, etc. These are great for educating and supporting your customers and turning them into power users.
Itβs important to view customer success as an ongoing process rather than a one-time event and to invest in resources and support to ensure that your customers are able to achieve their desired outcomes with your product.
Letβs examine a real example. Peloton, a fitness equipment brand, has an extensive library of helpful posts that are full of gifs and videos that demonstrate how to use its products. They cover topics such as adjusting the equipment, selecting workouts, tracking progress, and much more, thus boosting their credibility and securing repeat customers.
Be bold with conversion CTAs on the blog page
Creating engaging content that attracts new visitors to your blog is often not enough. Itβs important to have a clear path for these visitors to become customers. This is where conversion CTAs (calls-to-action) come into play.
CTAs encourage readers to take specific actions, such as downloading a freebie, signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase.
To make your blog successful in generating leads and conversions, you need to place a strong CTA that grabs the readerβs attention and makes it clear what their next step should be. This can be a banner or a button thatβs highly visible and placed in a strategic location throughout your blog posts, such as at the end of a post, in a pop-up, or in the sidebar.
To give even more power to your CTA, you can create a sense of scarcity or urgency. For instance, you can offer a limited-time discount using a QR code or instill some FOMO by highlighting that a product or service is almost sold out or in high demand.
By being bold with your conversion CTAs, you can increase the chances of turning your blog readers into customers. Of course, ensuring that your CTAs are relevant to your blog content and add value to your visitorsβ experience is crucial.
If you canβt decide what type of CTA to include, test different options and examine the results to see what works best for your readers.
Read more: 10 Tips To Boost The Effectiveness Of Your Call-To-Action
Vetter, an online employee suggestion box tool, is an excellent example of being brave with their CTAs. This blog post providing employee engagement games and activity ideas has a very strong conversion element at the footer. Itβs bold but not overly βsalesy.β Booking a demo feels a lot lower stakes than signing up. Including a testimonial above the button is a nice touch as well.
Final thoughts
If youβre not using your blog to drive sales, youβre missing out on a whole lot of customers who are just waiting to be convinced.
Follow the tips weβve outlined, and youβll be well on your way to turning your blog into a conversion machine that will have your competitors wondering how you did it.
So go forth, blog boldly, and may the conversions be in your favor!
