Is Blogging Dead for Marketing?

Digital marketing thought leaders and experts insist on declaring these (and others) flatlined, yet they still walk among us today, alive and well, in some form or another.In reality, it’s not that these strategies need to be put out to pasture; rather, the ways we approach them do — but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today, my friends, we’ve gathered here to discuss the latest victim of a fatal industry prognosis — my good friend, blogging.

A Brief History of the Blog

Turn the clock back about 10 years and blogging was just taking its first mainstream steps in the online world.

In their first incarnations, blogs were essentially personal, online journals — I know more than a few of you had a LiveJournal back in the day, don’t lie! –but as we entered the early and mid- 2000s, they began to emerge as underground, but reliable sources of niche information and advice.

Politics, popular culture, technology, cooking, and travel, among other topics, all had prominent blogs dedicated to them.It was only a matter of time before marketers and businesses took notice.Blogging for business slowly started to rise as an effective digital marketing tactic and with good reason.

When done right, not only did it prove to be a powerful way to get found in search engines by a qualified audience; it was also a brilliant way to share your unique expert opinions and truly show that you knew your stuff.

Long story short on this article — none of that has changed.

More Effective Than Ever

Frankly, if you’re reading this today, you’ve already answered the question of is blogging dead.

Blogging still accomplishes everything it did a decade ago. And then some.

More than ever, people are seeking answers to their questions online. This is especially true when it comes to making a purchase.

In 2018, 71% of B2B buyers said they consumed blog content during their buyer’s journey, up from 66% just one year prior, and marketers confirmed this, rating blog articles the most effective content format in the awareness stage, according to CMI and MarketingProfs.

Blogging Is Not Dead; It’s Simply Reincarnated

Like all of the tactics before it, blogging is not dead for marketing in 2019, it has simply changed.

The catalyst of this is mainly because the blogging arena is saturated.

As it became commonplace for brands over the years, consumers needed ways to sort through the noise and search engines responded with new regulations and algorithms to help make this possible.

In turn, in order to still see results, the way we blog and create content had to change as well and, unfortunately, not everyone was equipped and willing to change along with it.

As marketers, we’re only human and it’s natural to be resistant to dramatic changes to what we know, but it’s a matter of survival of the fittest, really.

To continue succeeding with blogging for marketing, you need to adapt to the current environment.

So, What’s Changed?

As the digital space has flooded with competitors creating content on many of the same subjects, quality has become a key differentiator, rather than quantity.

In 2009, you would create hundreds of blog articles with the same keyword to show your expertise. The more pages you had on the topic, the more of an authority you were, but in 2019, this is more spam than substance.