In the world of digital marketing, every brand, business and celebrity seems to be blogging right now – so what’s all the hype all about? What makes a good blog and how does blogging work well for your brand or business? We’ll explore these questions and give you a few handy hints to work with.
In a business setting, a blog is essentially another piece of advertising material; sharing information, thoughts and insights about your product or services, but written in an informal conversational style within an article format. Its best written in first person to be natural and real – authenticity is crucial with any marketing. Blogs are posted regularly within an online medium such as a brand’s or company website or online forum.
Engaging Content
First of all, good blogging is all about the right content – engaging, interesting and relevant to your target audience (your potential & current clients or customers). Know who they are, and what they like and want. Then talk about it in a blog. Successful blogs will increase your digital reach; engage more of your desired target customers, increase in bound traffic to your website and ultimately increase your sales leads.
Don’t Ramble & Have a Call to Action
A good blog shouldn’t be too short but at the same time try not to achieve too much. It’s easy for business passionate people to communicate too many messages in one hit and dare we say it, ramble on. In any advertising or marketing material it’s important to be clear and concise with your message, regardless of the delivery method. Say what you want to communicate, simply, and then stop.
A good rule of thumb is each blog should try to get your audience to do just two things; 1. Think about one thing in a new way, and 2. Encourage them to do something new i.e One think and one do. The ‘Do” is the ‘call to action’ and don’t necessarily leave it to the end to ask for action i.e. click here to hear more about x, or receive an exclusive discount by signing up here.
Be Relevant
Write in first person but don’t write your blog from your view point – think about your target audience and what they want or need and write with these in mind. Be relevant and meaningful to your target audience. Don’t write content for contents sake and keep to your industry topic – your target audience doesn’t really care about your latest family holiday as a business owner, unless of course your business blog is within the travel industry.
Break It Up
Big blocks of text are hard to read and digest quickly on screen, or anywhere unless you’re reading a novel, so break it up with paragraphs, pictures, heading’s, numbers or bullet points. Just like we have done here – who has time to read novels except on holiday?
Post Regularly
Posting once a month or bi-monthly won’t cut it – if you want to keep engaging with your target customer base about your product, service or brand then you need to keep the insights coming. If you are too busy working in your business, to work on your business – then external marketing assistance is easily on hand to help do this for you. It is cost effective, fast and the results will speak for themselves. Visit us at www.energise.net.nz to find out how we can handle it all for you.
Finally – Good Blogs Generate Good Content
The beauty about a regularly posted well written and engaging blog is that once written, you have created a wealth of content you can share across multiple digital platforms to further reach out to your target audience. There is no need to recreate the wheel and generate new content for each digital platform (Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter for example) but each medium does need that content framed up slightly differently.
If, as a business owner, writing regular blogs and entering the world of Digital Marketing feels too hard, a good Marketing Consultant that is briefed on your brand/product or service will easily be able to take your insights and ‘voice’ to write and post your blogs for you, within a comprehensive Digital Marketing Action Plan. Contact us to find out how Energise can help you.
NB: This article was published in the EMA “Business Plus” magazine. Enterprises of all types and sizes join the Employers and Manufacturers Association, for opportunities to learn and grow, make valuable business connections and change the world. EMA provides its members with professional advice and training to succeed in many aspects of business.
