You have a business.
You’re thinking of starting or investing more into your company blog.
You’re in good company…
According to HubSpot, 55% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority.
Blogging is entering a mature phase in the online marketing world. That’s good in a lot of ways. One such way is that some niches within the business blogging environment have emerged as areas that many readers show immense interest.
Here are a few niches to consider as you ramp up with your business blog…
1. Sales
When you’re in the B2B world, sales is usually the top item on your reader’s mind. Especially in the small business world. Before you can really do much, you need to have sales.
Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard was from someone that suggested that most good businesses result from someone making a sale before the business even began. Talk to someone that has a need. Tell them you have a solution. They give you money. Maybe just part of the overall deal to begin with, but they give you money. Then you get to work for them.
Not even a product to begin with. A paying client that trusts you as a person to develop a product, with their money, to grow their business with or for them.
Sales blogs that focus on tactics, long-term strategy, personal stories and more seem to do really well when the target audience is the business-to-business world.
2. Marketing
Right behind sales is marketing.
Most people understand the importance of marketing. Some can’t handle the fact that it’s a long-term play. And in the fast-paced world of smartphones and instant gratification, fewer and fewer people have the patience to build a successful marketing strategy…whatever that might be.
Sales is also a long-term play. But you can probably make quicker sales than you can make quick marketing wins. You don’t want to cut corners in either.
There are a lot of marketing blogs. The best ones. The ones that seem to last the longest. The most impact are the ones that focus on long-term strategy as well as on tactics. With a good hint of storytelling as well.
One of the challenges for any person in business is sifting through all the options in marketing. You can blog. You can podcast. You can create videos. You can focus on Instagram. You can focus on LinkedIn. You can try to do all those and every new channel and platform that comes along.
Sometimes the best option is to pick one and go all in for a few years.
Look at your favorite marketing blogs. Odds are they’ve been around for 5+ years. Probably longer. That’s your first clue on what to expect in terms of time investment and ROI. Then look at their popular topics. Then look at yourself and your own strengths.
That can help you to see gaps that you can fill for those seeking marketing advice in the blogging world.
3. Management
One of the most interesting things in the business world is when someone in a skill position is promoted into a management position. If the person doing the promoting chooses correctly, they hire someone that can make that transition. But it’s not easy even if it’s the right person.
There are usually hard feelings. Others that were “on the same level” as the new boss often feel slighted. Or it’s simply awkward taking orders from someone they used to see as a peer.
Another challenge is the fact that just because you’re good at a certain skill doesn’t mean you’re good at leading people. It can mean that, but not always.
But these promotions happen all the time and those being promoted or looking to be promoted to positions of leadership are looking for advice and knowledge on how to lead people.
It’s an overlooked, but big time in-demand area for a B2B blog.
4. Scale
One of the challenging things, especially with small businesses, is getting to the next level. Some do it too quickly. Others never seem to be able to make the jump.
It’s a very tricky thing. Because of that, there is a big demand for content about how people have done it in the past. Business owners and managers and investors are looking for stories, tips and strategies for how people have successfully taken their companies to next levels.
And not just the general information. The in-depth and often “boring” things that are required for scaling a company.
The target reader for this niche could be the single-person Etsy seller that gets a holiday rush of orders and can’t fill the demand to the medium-sized business wondering if they should take on a large customer that requires them to make large capital investments in manufacturing equipment.
5. Personal Growth
Most people want to get better. They want to be better leaders. They want to find some kind of balance with their work and personal lives. They want to find happiness and a purpose for themselves.
These things are common, but not often on a business blog. There are a few business blogs I can think of that have these kinds of posts. Tips or stories about how people are able to grow in many ways while also managing the various struggles of the business world.
6. Data
I was just listening to a podcast with Andrew Brandt. He used to work for the Green Bay Packers. He said that several years ago the team was struggling to sift through data that the NFL would send multiple times per week. The team knew the data contained lots of good takeaways, but they needed to hire someone to parse through it and make it understandable.
We have all kinds of data available today. But it’s getting more and more difficult to understand what it means and how we should react to it. Especially in business.
You could create a very popular business blog that focused only on data. What it is. How to use it. All kinds of things.
7. Technology
On a similar note is technology. We have all kinds of it. Often, businesspeople invest in too many tools and softwares and it actually harms the business. Knowing what to use and how to use them is hard to figure out. That’s where a blog that focuses on technology is such a great resource.
8. Passion Hobbies
Let’s end with a little bit of a wildcard niche…
This could be anything. I was listening to a podcast today where the person being interviewed started talking about their love for Arabian mules. I had no idea what that was, but the person was so passionate that I kept listening. I learned more about them. And it really pulled me and got me curious about them and what they did for work.
B2B blogs don’t often discuss hobbies. But that’s where an opportunity could be. If you are passionate about something the odds are good that others share the same passion. And some of those people will want what you are selling.
There’s no reason an accountant can’t blog about golf. Or that a social media manager can’t blog about gardening.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to start a business blog, these niches are great places to start. Start with one niche. You can probably continue with that single niche for a long time. But if you’re struggling to find ideas then you can expand into other niches.
These are good places to start. Identify one that interests you. Look at your own experience and interests within that niche. Then get to work.
It’s a strategy that can pay off in the long-term.