 |
| Ali Glemser |
Not every brand needs a blog, but if you have the time and
resources to maintain one, you should consider starting one today. Blogs are a
prime example of content marketing that most any business can leverage. Content
marketing is the abstract term for strategically delivering valuable,
relevant, useful and consistent content to attract and maintain a clearly
defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
Thinking of that definition, can you start to see how a blog
fits in that category? The nice thing is that a blog can develop your brand’s
voice, too, and allow you to be conversational with your readers. You can speak
to your blog readers like you would to your potential and current customers
because hopefully that’s who is reading it.
Once you’re on board with adding a blog, you should make
space on your website and start writing one or two posts per month. In your
posts, you can talk not only about your products or services but also about industry
trends, company accomplishments and common questions you receive about your
brand. Customer feedback, both positive and negative, is great inspiration for
blog posts, as well. When addressing points from negative feedback, you can
focus on the solutions being implementing to address the issues, as well as
educate readers about how to avoid unfavorable situations or what to do if they
do find themselves in one.
 |
| Photo Courtesy to Flickr User Dave |
Now that you’ve got this great stuff going, you have to
determine how people are going to find your blog. There’s a lot you can do to
help drive your potential audience to the blog, such as send out monthly email
blasts with a link back to the blog, post about it on social media and
incorporate consistent blog language into your Google AdWords campaign to
increase the blog’s search engine optimization. If you feel like you’ve created
a post that’s worthy of a bigger audience, you can submit it to local
newspapers or trade publications that welcome guest columns. Be sure to
research each outlet’s specifications before doing this, so that you deliver the
best submission possible.
It’s so important to stay timely and consistent with your
blog content. A great way to ensure that you can maintain content for the blog
is to create an idea bank for blog posts topics. And, round up some assistance
- get your employees involved, if time allows. It can be tough to be the sole
author of the blog at all times, and mixing in different voices can also help
keep the content fresh and engaging.
Overall, remember to be informative and relatable, and let
that brand personality shine through. Starting a blog may seem like a scary
adventure, but when you weigh the benefits and greater uses of this avenue,
it’s hard to deny the value it can bring to your brand.
