How a Blog Could Impact Your Business
The world of blogging isn’t exactly new anymore and many companies and organizations have jumped on the blogging bandwagon for a number of reasons. Some use blogs as a way to share information about their products or services or to announce changes or job openings within their companies. These are great reasons, but, if, like many other small business owners, you still aren’t convinced, we’d like to share with you our top 7 reasons why all business owners should have a blog, regardless of your industry.
1. Communicate Directly to Your Customers or Potential Customers
A blog allows your company to communicate your company culture or personality directly to the reader. It provides an opportunity for you to differentiate yourself or your company from your competition and provides another avenue to start a conversation with those who are interested in what you do or what you sell. This direct connection with your target audience is gold.
2. Convey Industry Expertise
When I was younger, my dad would often take me along on Saturday mornings when he went to our local hardware store. Often times, he’d be going because he needed a special tool or more nails or screws for a home repair he was working on. However, I remember these trips often taking longer than they should have. Not because he’d stop to shoot the breeze with the many neighbors we’d see in the store, but because he’d spend time talking to the people who worked in the store. He’d ask questions about what type of wood to select for a future project or how to repair a creaky garage door. They wouldn’t just select random things that might or might not fix they problem, they’d provide detailed information about different things he should first try on his own and then different tools or products specifically made to fix those type of problems (often directing him to other stores if they didn’t carry what he might need). I remember at one point, someone from the store even stopping by our house to take a look at something he had asked about in the store.
It has been my experience that in today’s day in age of constantly rushing, aiming to achieve goals that are focused only on sales and revenue to please the stockholder, and the desire to get more and more done in what seems like less and less time, this type of customer service has fallen to the wayside. A blog is a way for your company or organization to place an emphasis on this type of service. It may not be possible for your organization or company to so personally interact with everyone who comes into your store, but your blog may be a way to extend this service. Encouraging employees to highlight their knowledge about certain topics and engage with the audience on your blog showcases their talents and skills and allows your current and potential customers to recognize your organization’s knowledge and expertise of the industry.
3. Tell Your Own Story
Your blog provides your organization with the opportunity to tell your own story. You will be able to craft the message around company growth or change and provide a clear explanation of how your work benefits your customers. And when done with high moral and ethical standards, providing these types of messages to your audience, in what can often feel like a personal conversation, helps them to see your organization as transparent and trustworthy.
4. Improve Your SEO
Writing naturally about your business can improve your search engine optimization over the long run. Consistently using industry terms to create content that is readily consumed by your audience is a great way to ensure that search engines view your website as relevant and important. Along these same lines, as more and more people are drawn to your website to learn more about your industry, you’ll also be able to learn more about your audience. To maximize this opportunity, you should become familiar with your website analytics or partner with an organization who can help you better understand more about the audience you are attracting to your website.
5. Create Your Own Social Media Content
Publishing regular blog posts provides your organization with quality blog content that you can share on your social media platforms. Not only will this help drive traffic to your website, but it will help you engage with your audience where they are...on social media. Including great, well-branded graphics with your blog posts is important when you share them on social media, too. And remember, you can use a blog post on social media in more than one way:
Create a graphic with the top tips or takeaways from the blog post
Create a video from the blog post - highlighting the most important parts
Refresh and reshare down the road or as the topic is relevant again
Could be the early beginnings of your company’s own podcast
6. Grow Your Email List
If you’re in a business or organization and a good, quality email list is or would be key to your future success, a high-performing blog, especially if it offers or provides solutions to problems, would be a great way to develop that list. People that find your content useful and relevant may be more likely to sign up for your email list. Placing an ‘opt-in’ form at the end of each blog would be a great way to start. You can also explore other options, such as a pop-up reminder that appears when people prepare to leave your site or you can convert one of your previous blog posts - or tips from multiple blog posts - into a downloadable freebie that your audience can receive from you after they provide their email addresses. There are a number of ways to use your blog to grow your email list, so it’s definitely another reason to get started!
7. Highlight or Develop Partnerships
A blog is a great opportunity to highlight current partnerships or develop new ones with others in your industry or those who are in complementary industries. Your blog is valuable space, especially if you’ve taken time to cultivate it and have a strong following. Incorporating an exchange of blogs with a partner or offering the space as part of a marketing partnership agreement could be a great way to introduce your audience to another resource or provide them with information they may not be aware of. Some may think this is giving away your audience to a competitor, but that’s not the goal here at all. It wouldn’t be wise to exchange blogs with a direct competitor. However, if, for example, you produce and sell a blue widget and you sell an optional silver cover for the widget - but you don’t produce the silver cover - it might be a good idea to invite the manufacturer of the silver cover for the widget to produce a guest blog so your customers can better understand the importance of the silver cover.
All of these reasons are great and we hope they encourage you to consider adding a blog to your marketing efforts in 2019, but we always advise our clients who want to start a blog to start slow and ensure they have an annual plan broken out into quarterly editorial calendars to ensure long-term success with the blog. If creating the plan, content, or managing all of the above seem overwhelming, we can help. We have experience in blog planning, content creation, and marketing strategy.
Contact us for a free one hour consultation - we’d love to find out more about your organization, your goals, and how we could help you achieve them!