Does your business really need a blog?
February 19, 2015 | Business Journey
By Lindsay Harle
Blogs are a great marketing tool to help raise the presence of your company online. They are fantastic at demonstrating your company’s knowledge and help position you as a thought leader within your industry. They act as catalysts for providing content to your newsletters, for ways to engage your audience in conversation, and build trust in your brand.
But…does YOUR business really need a blog?
Absolutely not.
Let me explain a bit further. A blog is a marketing commitment, one that you must invest in, particularly with time and people resources. Not only that, but you really must pay attention to where your clients are coming from and if it’s not online, then why waste your resources making a big commitment to developing an successful blog if your target market isn’t going to read it?
What to Consider Before Starting a Blog
1. Commitment
What I mean by this is how often do you want to post a new blog on your site? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Decide the frequency that would suit your company and your audience. From there, you must commit to posting on the regular schedule that you set up. Without this commitment, your blog will become a small, disposable marketing tool and have little to no effect on enhancing your brand and presence online.
2. Developing a Blogging Strategy
It’s easy to say “we’ll post our blog every Tuesday.” However, it is imperative that you break down what it actually takes to develop a blog. Plot out the topics that suit the time of year you are posting, ensuring that your target audience will be looking for the information, and plan the proper time to write, edit and upload your post to your website. By outlining your upcoming blogs at least a month in advance, you take away the stress of writing and coming up with ideas in a hurry. By developing this blogging strategy, you will be able to make a better commitment to your blog because you know what you are going to write about, when you are going to write and why you’re writing about a specific topic.
3. Understanding Your Audience
This, more than anything else, is the most important thing to consider as to whether or not your company needs a blog. Ask yourself: IS YOUR KEY CLIENTELE ONLINE?
If not, then why are you wasting your valuable time and resources in developing content that won’t be read? Better to spend your marketing resources – both in money, people, and time – on avenues that will actually get in front of your clients / potential clients.
If you know that your audience is online, that you have the desire and commitment to build a blogging strategy, and maintain it on a regular basis, then go for it! If not…let’s look at other marketing techniques that will better suit your business and goals.
Lindsay Harle, The Write Harle
www.thewriteharle.com
Twitter: @thewriteharle