Blog Supporter Of Your Business?
Blogging can be a fantastic way to connect with your market. And it can be a huge waste of resources. Your success depends on how well you plan and implement. Here are a few rules to help you make it work for your company.
Rule 1: Forget blogging. Think content.
A blog is just a communications tool. Use it to connect with your target market. That only works if your target market is online and is searching for what you plan to blog about. Make it relevant to what they are searching for. Otherwise forget it.
Rule 2: Inform and educate. Do not sell.
Whatever content you choose to blog about, make sure you are doing it to help people. Your goal is to help them be better informed so they can make a better buying decision. Your content needs to be useful to your target market. Pitch products and you'll have no readers.
Rule 3: Be real.
If you decide to blog, accept that its power comes from authenticity. Blogs enable the writer to connect with readers in a very personal way even though they may be thousands of miles apart. Not a small feat! You accomplish this by being genuine. Just speak from your heart, not your marketing or legal department.
Rule 4: Commit resources
Assign or hire someone to write the blog. It could be one person or a group. Make sure they write on a regular schedule and they stick to it. People come back for quality, timely content. Once a month or once a quarter does not cut it.
Finally (and most importantly) for your blog to be useful to your organization, it needs to reach the right people.
Some blogs have huge readership but very little commercial value because the readers don't fit the company's target market. Others have small readership numbers but are extremely valuable because the readers want and need what the company behind the blog does.
The key with blogging is to remember it's just one tool among many you can use to communicate with your customers. Don't let the trendiness of blogging draw you into it for the wrong reasons. Plan your marketing first, then pick the right tools to best implement your plan.
CXO Insights
