A content marketing blog aims to inform its readers by giving a high quality, ethical, and valuable insight into your company's product or service, and overall brand. They help build credibility, and with the immense amount of exposure they can bring to your company, the potential of connecting with a wider audience is increased massively.
Overtime, statistics have shown that people respond better to informative help rather than your standard sales pitch, with content costing 62% less than outbound marketing and generating three times as many leads. This makes content the future of marketing, and blogging at the forefront of this.
Here are 8 key questions you should be asking during the setting up of your strategy stage:
1) Why does your blog exist?
2) Who are your ideal customers?
3) Which of your competitors have blogs?
4) Which keywords are you targeting?
5) Where will you distribute your blog content?
6) How will you promote your blog content?
7) Who will run your blog?
8) How many blog posts can you commit to scheduling?
Who Are You Writing For?
When writing a blog with a marketing purpose it is vital to tailor it to your ideal customer's interests and maybe needs as well. Even just reading the word “research” will most likely seem like a drag, however this is the root to success and where all blog strategies must begin.
The perfect start to your ideal customer research would be to view similar company's content within your field. Take a look at the blog comments, see who's shared the podcasts, identify who is retweeting their tweets.
Competitors & Keywords
No matter what field your company lies within, the greatest advantage you can have is to be the first mover, especially when marketing your product or service. Your content needs to provide information your competitors either don't offer or can't offer. During the researching of your competitors stage, it is a good idea to look for gaps in their copy and use this to your advantage.
No two companies are the same, however, businesses can be very similar and therefore have the same keyword focus. A great blog will always aim to rank higher than competitors when it comes to crucial keywords and phrases. Dedicating the time to research which keywords your customers are searching for should be a primary objective within your strategy.
Tips When Writing
Believe it or not it is not a crime to re-use ideas, research, structure and statistics. It is proven to work just as well using the same information again but in a different form, for example with an alternate blog title. This way you are saving time (lots of time!), but also potentially reaching new and different people.
One of the best tips for writing a blog article is to be relatable. The writer and the consumer has to be on a similar page otherwise it simply will not work. Another reason why research is imperative!
Don't just try to sell your product and brand, but sell yourself as well! The content is what draws people in, but its the way its written that keeps people there and makes the overall sale at the end. Let your personality be shown through your writing and create a voice through text.
Hopefully these tips on successful blog writing have been a great help to you and your business. If you implement as much of the above as you can, I can assure you that the correct traffic will be heading in the direction of your web pages! If you have any queries, please comment below or call us on 01332 343281 for an informal chat.
