Blogs have been used in both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) successfully.

Yet they are both quite different.

B2C sales processes are usually simpler than B2B’s.

The latter might involve long sales cycles with multiple decision makers.

Sales teams become ineffective because buyers are now increasing their expectation. Traditional sales and marketing messages are suspicious.

The lack of trust is something marketers should overcome. Not by trying to overwhelm the prospects with more marketing messages.

More is never a solution to “too much”.

The more complex the sale, the more information the prospective buyers need before making buying decisions.

What a blog could help early in the process is to start the dialogue.

If your blog visitors are interested with what you have to offer, they will raise their hand. Frequently, this means subscribing to get a white paper or special report, reading more of your content regularly through RSS feed, etc.

Having multiple marketing channels to reach the same audience will help your brand and smoothen the sales process. All in an environment where they are more ready to buy.

Asking for strangers or suspects to raise hand is what a blog can do very well. The next step is up to you. As the lead enters into the sales process or funnel, it is your strategy to move them one step at the time. As complex the sales could be, a blog provides a good start.