When you’re marketing your business, you may be thinking that all you need to do are intricately-written press releases, video scripts, and outdoor advertisements. While they’re effective at catching your customers’ attention, you could be missing a crucial element in your campaign that would engage them even more: blogging.
You probably think that blogs are reserved for influencers and reviewers, but a lot of big brands like Whole Foods and Etsy have a massive collection of these posts on their site that they regularly update. Why do these companies put so much effort into creating them?
Your Customers Love It
When you look at Etsy and Whole Foods’ blogs, you'll see hundreds upon hundreds of guides and feature articles that provide valuable information to their readers. According to marketing database Marketing Charts, people want to consume informative and accurate content from their brands. A blog post can provide that information at little to no cost to you.
Apart from good info, these successful brand blogs also make sure that they’re creating posts that their customers can relate to. A recent study by WP Engine and The Center For Generational Statistics says that customers across all generations are more likely to buy from companies that provide consistent and relevant content.
So before you hit publish on that post, ask yourself, “Is this content informative?” and “is the information useful to my customer?” Once you’ve checked these boxes, you’re a step closer to building a blog archive your readers will surely love.
It Positions You as an Authority
When you’re constantly pumping out informative and relevant blog posts, you’re essentially answering questions your customers may have in mind for your products and services. This establishes you as an expert in your field. Therefore, your readers will keep coming back to your site for your helpful content.
If you want to strengthen this image of authority, try to interview other industry experts for your blog posts or collaborate with research firms to create reports about your field, like what Chevrolet and IBM do. While you want to impress your readers with accurate and expertly interpreted data, you don’t want to alienate or bore them with industry jargon. Make sure that you’re laying down the information you gather in simple terms so that everyone can understand them.
It Helps You to Top Search Results
If you want to improve your business website’s position on search engines like Google, informative and authoritative blog posts will help immensely. A lot of SEO companies and experts say that websites with authoritative content will likely rank higher on search results. After all, people use search engines to find answers, and it’s Google’s job to present them with helpful answers.
Traditional marketing methods are great, but nothing can engage your customers more like blogging. While you may not get immediate results from your first few posts, keep going at it. When your readers see that you consistently create relatable and smart content, they’ll keep coming back for more. And if you add well-written call-to-actions at the end of every post, you’ll have a steady stream of sales too.
