It seems folks are liking these case studies.

It’s nice to see the specifics about how companies are succeeding with blogging. I understand that as business owners and business leaders you need proof before making decisions. With these case studies I’m hoping to show you some companies that are finding success with their blogging efforts.

After searching around for more examples I came across a great blog operated by the folks at Verizon.

Version Business Blog Strategy

Verizon’s blog isn’t flashy. There aren’t many pictures. There are occasionally a few images or charts. The blog is really about providing some relevant information for Verizon’s business customers. And that’s the sole focus. It’s something often overlooked with business blogs. It’s difficult to understand who you are writing your posts for, but when you get this concept down the writing becomes easier.

Verizon chose to focus on their business customers with this blog. I think that’s smart. If you have multiple different customers it can be beneficial to focus on a certain segment and tailor you posts for those folks only. Make sure the segment of folks you’re focusing on are the most apt to read blogs and convert to sales.

Here are a few more thoughts on the Verizon business blogging strategy.

Adding Context and Unique Thought

Here an example of a post from earlier this summer from Verizon – Retail Mobile Strategies

There is some debate as to whether or not mobile is truly another channel or an extension of existing channels or even more interesting, the missing link in channel convergence. If you think about it, the mobile phone brings a sort of universal, ubiquitous identification of the consumer along with it. Because of this, service-oriented architecture (SOA) and mobility should go hand in hand. This final entry in the series is aimed at putting it all together using SOA and building your mobile strategy on top of business functions and services you may already have in place.

I really like this approach to business blogging.

What Verizon is doing is taking something that’s being discussed in the business world and adding their insight and understanding. It makes sense to have a company in the mobile industry providing unique thought on what is happening in the mobile world and how it will impact the retail and business world.

It’s a solid strategy to learn about the important things your customers are thinking about. In this example Verizon understood that retail businesses were wondering what the future of m-commerce would be. Business leaders were looking for insight into how they should approach the new channel. Verizon has the data to back up their claims. They are seeing first hand how consumers are using phones. They have great insight to provide retailers.

For your business, you have to find that kind of insight that’s extremely valuable to your potential customers. It’s great for bringing awareness to your brand and when your customers need a solution they’ll be more likely to chose your company over the competition.

Consistent Posting Schedule

If you look at Verizon’s blog you’ll realize they don’t post every day. They post once or twice a month. It’s not a typical blogging schedule as it relates to a personal blog or news blog.

I still consider Verizon’s blogging schedule to be consistent. Your business can make it a point to create one blog post per month. That’s 12 posts each year. You can really focus on providing some great insight with each post. You can save time by not having to worry about posting every day and focus instead on putting together some really great thoughts for one post per month. I think Verizon does a great job with their content and they seem to find success with their posting schedule.

Readers will learn your post schedule if you remain consistent. It’s better to post more often, but find the balance of quality and quantity that works for you and lean toward quality when you can.

You don’t have to post every day or even every week to be successful.

Summary

Verizon is doing some really great things with their blogging efforts. They are focusing on their business customers. Verizon is looking for the questions these customers are having and addressing them with quality insight in each post. It’s a great blogging strategy and one that should work well for Verizon in terms of growing their brand.

In future posts we will take a look at some of the other blogs Verizon operates for their other customer segments.