Are Business Blogs in your marketing mix?
As a marketer with 20+ years’ experience, I’m a big believer in using an array of tactics to get your message to market. People will argue for and against print heavy or social media dominant campaigns, but I believe that the more tactics you use, the wider you cast your net, and the more successful you’ll be. Of course, your messages and your approach need to be targeted within this net, but there is rarely a one size fits all solution, so the more ways you can reach your known target market, the better.
But are business blogs widely accepted as part of this marketing mix, or are they a nice add-on as and when marketing teams have the time? If blogging doesn’t have a regular spot in the marketing plan, should it be given a little more credence?
How important is blogging to your business?
Some people may wonder whether blogging for business is as relevant in 2022 as it was in the mid 2000’s when blogs were the up and coming ‘fashionable’ thing to do. In an era of podcasts and video streaming, you could be forgiven for thinking written blogs have lost their way and are now irrelevant in the marketing mix.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
According to a study conducted by Data Box entitled The Shift in Your Content Marketing Mix: 25 Marketers On What’s Changed in 2 Years 68% of marketers find blogging more effective than they did 2 years ago.
In addition, according to DemandMetric 70% of people prefer to learn about a brand through articles, rather than through an advert.
A changing picture
As with most things in life, achieving success from business blogging is a changing phenomenon. What worked 20 years ago, might not work as well today, but that doesn’t mean we should throw away the potential that exists in blogs.
For example, it used to be the case that the more blogs you could produce, the better. But that is no longer the case. It’s still true that consistency matters – out of date blogs are not a good look on any website – but quality has risen in importance.
Consumers today are looking for advice.
They want to conduct in-depth research before they buy, so if they can find everything they need from one website, they are more likely to trust that brand, revisit the site, and probably make their purchase. There are a couple of ways you can build this trust through quality blogging, and this might be through one or two longer blog posts, or it could be through a series of interlinked posts that cover different aspects of the same topic.
Whichever you choose, make sure you keep the customer in mind, because they are looking for more factual, helpful information and advice, than they are heavy handed sales and marketing messages.
Spread the word
Business blogging earns a spot at the marketing table for the content it generates for a company website and for the SEO benefits it brings, but it has also become increasingly useful for social media content too.
In 2022, more people are buying through social media channels. Accelerated by the Pandemic, more of us are opting to buy from brands we get to know online. So, the more information you can offer up online, the more trust you can build with your audience.
With longer, quality content being generated for blog posts, there is more to disseminate into smaller social media posts. These could be promotional posts to drive traffic to the blog, teasers about what’s to come, or multiple excerpts from the blog to continually drive the message to your target audience.
It’s a two-way relationship
Building a relationship with your existing and potential customers is an ongoing process of give and take. Having more of a presence online via a business blog and the resulting additional social media content, allows you to interact with your audience and gather invaluable feedback about their likes, dislikes, and requirements.
Analyse the data you get back from each post. What have people responded well to and what hasn’t gone down so well? Create polls and ask direct questions in your posts to find out what your audience would like to hear more about. This can help you give them the advice that they need, and of course generate even more content for your business blog and social media channels.
Need a little back up?
Of course, it’s easy to say that blogging is a great element to add into your marketing mix, but who has the time to stay on top of regular, informative blogs? Blogs are like feature articles. They require time to think, plan and research. And unless self-imposed timelines are set, they are not deadline driven. Which is why they often slip down the priority list of marketing agencies that are managing entire campaigns, or busy team-members within the business who have been recruited to populate a business blog alongside their day job. If this sounds like you, don’t despair.
You can have all the benefits of blogging without the hassle.
Believe it or not, many companies outsource the copywriting of their blog to external writers. Some people think it’s not a task that should be outsourced because it’s too personal. And if you hand over the reins of your business blog to a third party, it will no longer sound like you.
But a good blog writer will portray all the information you want to portray and more and ensure your blog sounds like it’s been written by you, but even better – read more about how we learn your voice here. Not necessarily because they are a better writer, although hopefully they do have more experience in writing if that’s their day job, but because they are able to give your business blog the time and attention it needs and deserves.
Add blogging to your marketing mix
If you haven’t included a business blog in your marketing plan before, or you have and it’s continually slipping down the priority list, perhaps now is the time to start.
Writer of smart, engaging copy for businesses that understand the importance of great copy, but struggle to find the time to give it the attention it needs. I offer a proactive approach to deliver fresh content.
