To blog or not to blog? I must confess I asked myself this same question when blogs first became a 'thing'. What initially sounded to me like a nice to have soon proved itself to be an integral part of every digital marketing strategy I implemented.
While I love an inspirational quote, a funny video or a laugh out loud meme, a blog offers something other content can't - the opportunity to provide interesting and valuable information to your audience based on your own experience and insight.
At it's essence, a small business blog is a marketing tool, but marketing can be a hazy term, especially if you’re an entrepreneur just starting out or haven't had much experience with marketing in the past. You may think of marketing and sales as synonyms, interchangeable in definition and in purpose. They’re not.
Sales is the process of getting a customer to buy; marketing is how you position your product or service, find your customers, and decide how you’re going to reach them. You shouldn’t start a blog simply to try to generate sales. It’s a place where you find your customers, feed them information, and position your expertise and value.
So how does a blog help business succeed?
1. Build trust
Writing a regular blog helps your audience and potential clients get to know you and not just your business. People buy people and want to get to know you and trust you before they decide to invest in your products or services.
2. Demonstrate expertise
Blogging allows you to share your knowledge and expertise, which helps showcase your skills and again help build trust.
3. Drive website traffic
A well-written blog helps with SEO and drives traffic to your website as well as building brand awareness.
4. Stay current
Blog writing helps you keep up to date with current trends in your industry and the current challenges you can assist potential customers with.
5. Stay top of mind
A blog is a cost-effective PR tool, builds your reputation as an expert in your field and keeps you top of mind with your customers and potential clients.
It should be noted that while there are some pretty compelling reasons to use a blog to help grow your business, if you're busy running that business you're not alone in struggling to find the time.
If you're not able to plan your topics, write the blogs and get them out onto your website and social media on a regular basis, you're not going to reap those blogging benefits - but we can help!
The Content Marketer can assist you build that all important brand trust and expert reputation by researching, recommending and drafting your blog posts for you, including eye catching titles and keywords for SEO optimisation.
We can also help with image selection, publication on your website and strategic promotion on your social media channels.
I'll leave you with one of my all time favourite blog quotes - and my own personal content marketing moto...
“Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.” – Brian Clark
So, to blog or not to blog? I hope I have answered that question for you!
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