Businesses with blogs get 67% more traffic than those without and marketers who prioritize blogging are 3x more likely to see a positive ROI. That said, the right content strategy is what engages Partners, establishes thought leadership, builds trust, drives SEO, and generates leads.
Here are five tips to get your Channel Partner blog off on the right track:
Think of your blog as a resource. Partners are taxed for time, inundated with email, don’t know where to begin generating demand and have prospects and customers to answer to. Use your blog to showcase how well you listen to Partners and as a place to offer tangible value. Focus on their issues. Try using industry-relevant content to provide solutions or explain exactly how your products or services help solve the challenges their end users are facing.
At the end of the day people trust peer reviews, which makes highlighting a partner’s success a smart content topic. Doing so rewards the Partner for their achievements, demonstrates the benefits of partnership from their point of view and allows them to help other Partners understand how to achieve the same level of success.
The Vendor-Partner relationship has changed. Your Partners are likely enrolled in several Partner Programs and inundated with content. Simplicity is key. Keep blog posts short and useful. The ideal post takes 7 minutes to read. Providing Partners with snackable content helps you stay top-of-mind without bombarding readers and try adding a click to tweet button to make it easy for Partners to share your content.
Crafting relevant content consistently keeps Partners engaged. Cadence is important and while there’s no perfect recipe, posting once or twice a week can help build lead generation. Frequent posting expands keyword reach and improves search visibility helping you reach not only current Partners but also potential Partners.
Think about including a call-to-action (CTA). A CTA is a button or a link that prompts readers to take action. For example, event sign-up, download an e-book, sign up for a newsletter or other action you want the reader to take. When a CTA points to more in-depth thought leadership be sure to illustrate the value. If you're writing about marketing automation best practices, send your readers to a relevant white paper or eBook.
Implementing a Channel Partner blog strategy is practically mandatory these days and much of your success is linked to consistency and value-proposition. Listen to Partners, identify their pain points and offer helpful, industry-relevant content to drive more business to and through your Partners.
Have some blogging best practices to add? We’d love to hear them! Share your tips in the comments below.