It is a word that keeps coming up in conversations about your company’s marketing strategy - blogs. You might even hear this word so much, you hear it as a distressing four-letter word. The look on your face when blog, blogging, and blogger are mentioned is similar to the one you might get when your innocent little one says a bad word for the first time in public!
Let’s look at why this word, the “B word”, is in almost every marketing strategy. It is pretty safe odds that blogging is part of every successful business in any industry. The importance of blogging should not be overlooked or ignored in your 2015 new strategy!
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Blogging Matters
You might think this theory of blogging and incorporating it in your marketing mix is a waste of time. Maybe you think nobody reads those diaries of useless information.
Think again! Right now, as you are reading this blog, you are utilizing valuable minute of your time and your firm’s time. The best part is that you are gaining knowledge to increase your firm’s bottom line.
Cha-ching! Suddenly, that four-letter word just turned into an eye-opening moneymaker!
Why does blogging matter? In today’s marketing, the use of doorknob flyers, mailers, cold calls, and hard selling are all techniques that now sit on the sidelines.
The technology used by people today make consumer shopping a much easier process. As the provider of services, it can also make generating leads for your firm much easier.
Blogging matters because it will get your firm’s name out there on the World Wide Web. Increasing awareness of your name, reputation, and quality of work can be done through a blog. You do not want to waste more money putting a picture of the firm’s employees on a billboard where people get a glimpse at 75 miles per hour.
You want consumers to become prospective leads, and to do this they need to be aware of your name, feel you are the expert in your industry, and trust you. A picture is not worth a thousand words in this case; a blog, however, is!
Blogging is a game changer because the goal is more leads and firm awareness. You want to attract new visitors - the first stage in inbound marketing.
Start Blogging
The importance of blogging is clear, now let’s make you a blogger, or at the least show you what to look for when outsourcing a blogger for your firm.
Blogging is all about content and reaching your target audience. To start the blog, think about whom you want to attract, your target audience.
Don’t worry; a blog can change just as quickly as your target audience can, so there are no mistakes.
What is a topic that interests you in your industry?
Write your blog about a topic that inspires you. A topic relating to your firm and target audience and will show that you are the expert in that special area.
Content
This is where you will stand out with your targeted audience. Suddenly you are not hard selling your services, you are relaying your expert knowledge.
You read it right, I am not saying to tell people how to do your job, because face it, you are the best. I am not suggesting writing a DIY article, losing possible clients.
What I am suggesting is to write with meaning and great content.
Let the target audience see you as someone they can trust. You are building a rapport with your target audience before they have even walked in the door or pick up the phone to call you.
Make sure that when you are writing that blog, you make the content interesting, as this is not a thesis paper. The style should be light and informative.
Always make sure you stay with one topic per blog. You do not want to confuse the audience; you want them to think and when they put their tablet or smartphone down feel informed.
As with any type of writing, the basics still exist for blog structure. It is imperative to include these categories in your blogs.
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Title
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Introduction
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REMARKABLE content
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Closing (Summary)
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Author’s email address
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Social media links
By 2016, there will be almost 196 million smartphone users, which increases the lead possibilities. Adding weekly blogs are just as important as maintaining your firm’s website and making phone calls to prospective leads.
Do not continue to go unnoticed in this industry, make your firm the first thing people think of when seeking the services or products you have to offer.
When was the last time you “went through the yellow pages” to find a company offering what you were looking for?
Go write that first blog and start your implementation of the new generation in marketing!
