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“We need a blog!”
Your boss demands after he read somewhere that all companies should have a blog. He’s not sure exactly why you should have a blog, but he knows that all the “best” companies have them, so your company should too!
And if you’re reading this post, you’re probably the lucky one who has been chosen to write them.
Congratulations! And welcome to the world of “7 ways to do X” and “How to get more Y”.
Fame, fortune, and thousands of subscribers surely await, but before your get started, here are 4 things you need to do:
1. Know your audience
Granted, “Duhhhhhh!” But it bears stating the obvious because this is the most important thing to remember before making any post. Ultimately it doesn’t matter if you’re the best, most engaging blogger on the planet if you’re writing for the wrong audience.
Are you marketing to businesses?
Then most of your blog posts should be educational (such as this one) because your audience is looking for information to help solve their problems. Get ready to post “3 Steps To’s” and “Why You Should’s”
Are you marketing to consumers?
Then most of your posts should be quick, sharable reads. Think “Buzzfeed-like”. Think about what will be a compelling piece of information that’s relative to what your business sells to consumers. Then make it as easily digestible and sharable as possible.
2. Consistency is king
Too many blogs start off posting something several times a week, then go “poof” when the blogger either:
A) Gets caught up with the hundreds of other things going on with their job
B) Runs out of ideas
Usually it’s a combination of both. That’s why I usually recommend that companies that have never blogged before start out with one post/week. Although it’s better to produce at least two per week, by starting with one, the new blogger can understand the time commitment and start getting into the habit of blogging on a regular basis.
3. Pick a theme that is consistent with your brand
The laws of market positioning apply to your blog as well. Choose a theme of topics to write about that is consistent with your company’s brand, and do not go outside of that theme. An example from my own work comes with the blog I write for Cardoona. We only write about topics that have to do with the restaurant’s “back of the house” which includes inventory management, labor costs, food suppliers, etc. We chose not to write topics like “How to Market Your Restaurant” even though we knew that restaurant owners would be interested. By writing about that, now all of the sudden our message that we are the thought leaders in the back of the house of restaurants isn’t quite as strong. And the results have been amazing (especially considering we’re marketing to some of the least tech-savvy customers on the market).
4. Don’t passively promote
Again, “Duhhhhhhh!” But many companies plan for promoting their blog is, “I dunno, tweet about and post it to our facebook page.” There is a method to promoting your blog post, and it doesn’t end with “spray and pray” (though it may start there). Different companies have different promotion channels that work for them. Make sure that you research the best practices of blog promotion, promote with a clear goal of what you want to accomplish, and monitor the analytics to see what is the most promising channel to hit your goal.
Blogging is a fun, rewarding job with limitless potential regardless of the size of your company, or the market your blogging to. We wish you all the best!
Need a help getting started? At 20spokes, we help set companies up for blogging excellence. Find out more!
