Celanese is a Fortune 500 chemical and technology company. It dates back 100 years and its sales top $5 billion, mostly dealing with high-level industry.
And it has a really good blog. Small beans? Hardly.
Lab supply companies, biotech companies, engineering and medical companies – all these scientific companies often work with technical people. They have specific, high-volume clients and a long sales cycle (long time between sales).
Why do scientific companies need blogs?
Blogs are chances to show products in a human voice, show thought leadership, share ideas, communicate with prospects and clients, and to expand organic reach. For all the same reasons I use a blog here, but even more so to make complex ideas accessible, scientific companies can thrive and profit through blogs. So few are doing this effectively.
Chemical companies don’t exactly have a stellar reputation in society. Celanese uses its blog to show the company’s human side, how they “translate” their products and functions in society, and how they explain the importance of what they do.
Many other successful scientific companies incorporate their blogs in their integrated marketing, across social media and conventional marketing forums.
So if you think blogs are for consumer products and celebs, you’d be dangerously mistaken.
These days, blogs are a key part of all companies’ digital marketing, whether they’re B2C, business-to-business (B2B), or business-to-science (B2S) / science-to-business (S2B). In fact, 91% of B2B companies and 86% of B2C companies used blogs to reach their customers in 2018.
Let’s break down why your scientific company needs a blog, too.
Contents
Blogs Explain Science to People (i.e., prospects) at all Levels
First, consider your audience. They could be researchers or technicians who need information before deciding what to buy. They could be looking for a job. They may wonder what you’re doing in their neighborhood.
A blog can satisfy all these viewers. A few ways to do this are:
- Describe uses of your research: You can describe research where your instruments can be used. Show how the results can be interpreted. By doing this, you demonstrate a deeper level of expertise, and also suggest your passion for the times. You can show the processes involved, and practical applications of your company’s science.
- Explain your technology in detail: More technical types want to know the science of how instruments work; this can help them choose the right product. The blog can take a technical route or a more conversation route in doing this. This builds trust and confidence. If your products are expensive, it can also justify your pricing.
- Prove proficiency: Blogs can incorporate visual and video, along of course with text, to demonstrate skills in a more narrative tone than is possible on the website itself.
- Educate kids: A blog can make science simple for students of all ages. This is something both the company’s workers and any web viewers can share with kids they know. Who knows, in 10 or 15 years these grown-up kids may become superstar employees of your company!
Scientific Blogs Build Credibility in the Eyes of Researchers
Researchers routinely have to purchase the necessary equipment and materials to stock their labs, run experiments, and advance their own science.
As these purchases are usually made with funding, they have to show why they make their purchases, often in comparison with competitors’ products. A good blog can give information with which researchers can justify their choice in their unique buyer’s journey.
- Previous Usage: Include posts about published studies that have used your product. This shows your track records and speaks science to scientists. The blogs can describe experiments where products were used, and point out how to use them. The researchers you quoted will also be happy for the bit of extra PR you gave them, and perhaps be more inclined to, themselves, purchase from your company again.
- New Products: New scientific products and services are being developed all the time. This is important for scientists to produce cutting edge research. Blogs that explain where and how they can be used are valuable. There are not many people who are experts in this kind of product. This is a small niche market. Who can explain new innovations better than the producers? This where you come in.
Researchers usually ask their seniors or colleagues for advice. Information from a blog might not be useful to a reader. They may though, know somebody who does need your product. These blogs would get shared in the scientific communities. The result is that you will be the one to rake in the profits.
Science Blogs Address Technical Issues, Including Problems
Highly technical devices in biotech, medical, and various other industries, run into performance issues and technical problems. These are often discovered after a product is solved.
These issues won’t make anyone happy, but they need to be resolved. Rather than resolving them through ugly recalls and with bad PR, a blog can give more information. It can of course be used for a public apology. It can also be used to show where the problems existed, how they occurred, and how they will be prevented in the future.
This can help innovation, while also attracting input from users. The next iterations of the products can be more successful and can show the input reflected in new and improved products.
Blogs Position You/Your Company as a Thought Leader and a Knowledge Reference
You already have a log of knowledge in your company. By demonstrating knowledge in your company’s niche, you build customer trust, while attracting the interest of other scientists (who may also be potential customers).
Use your blog to write on industry trends, show the expertise of your employees and management, and offer up advice from a position of authority. This is a more approachable way of passing on information to readers.
Impact reports that 70% of people like information from blogs since they are not in-your-face like advertisements usually are.
Advertisements also have the reputation of being one-sided and self-promotional; scientific blogs with information backed by proof from reputed sources are more credible.
Raise Your Scientific Company’s Image in a Blog
Connecting emotionally with customers is the holy grail of marketing.
Companies selling scientific services or products are often at a disadvantage here. Your catalogs and product specifications are technical.
You’re not selling apps, drones, or dollhouses. You’re selling quite un-sexy products to a rather specified (if big) audience.
So how can you connect with customers? Telling stories is a great way.
For example, a post by Thermo Fischer Scientific reported a recent case of food contamination in the UK. The post discussed the twists and turns in the story. It also outlined how the company’s instruments can prevent similar cases in the future.
The health risk caught people’s attention, and the value of the company’s scientific instruments in society was shown.
Tell people how your products or services can help them in their research or business. Use case studies, figures, data, and a bit of humor. Write in a more conversational tone. And set your company apart from the competition. Here is where blogs can successfully replace advertising, or at least work to improve its effects.
Blogs are part of a smart integrated marketing plan.
Increase Organic Traffic to Your Website
Blogs are one of the best ways to increase traffic to your website because their keyword-rich content is something Google is after. On top of that, the fact you’re speaking as a credible company, not an individual, gives even more credibility.
Google is constantly looking for content that gives the best, more trustworthy, and most authoritative answers to the questions people ask.
Think about the questions your potential customers as you. Then answer them in blog posts. Google your company and topics related to it. See what people are talking about. Then address those topics.
Forbes compares blogs to hooks used for fishing. The more posts you have, the more chances you have of attracting browsers to your website, and ultimately increasing sales.
Ignore Blogging for Your Company at Your Own Risk
Many scientific companies do not have blogs. Hopefully, you’re now convinced about the benefits of blogging. A company that wants to sell complex services and products can benefit from content marketing and the flexibility it gives.
Give customers and other stakeholders regular and frequent information in your blog. And connect with them. Create blog posts targeted to meet the needs both of your industry and of greater society as it relates to your company.
This leads to greater interest and more orders.
If you’re in search of things to write about, how to write about them, or even need some help just getting a blog going, We’re here for you. We’ll help you make a content plan, and then work with you every step of the way to implement it, and to integrate it with the rest of your marketing. That’s exactly what we did for this high-quality surgical device company.
We’ll put MBA know-how, scientific know-how, and greater content together to make your company a great scientific blog.
A special note for Asian companies: Often, the use of English is what stops you from creating a blog. Often it stops you even from making accurate English content on your regular pages. We see this all over Asian websites. We fix it, when given the chance. Learn about Scize blog copywriting and content marketing services.
