A blog (aka content marketing) is a sure fire way to increase business and here’s how:
Reach New Customers
The best part of blogging is that it has the ability to reach hundreds and thousands of potential customers, as well as help you keep the customers you already have. When you write a post that answers someone’s question, provides them valuable or interesting information or wows them in some way, they are likely to share it on their social media. Every time a person shares you are receiving free advertising and reaching more people who could become customers.
Develop Your Brand and Personality
In today’s fast paced world of technology, a business’ brand is so much more than a name or a logo. There are literally thousands of business owners fighting to get a customer’s attention. The way to stand out from the crowd is to give yourself a personality. And the best way to do that is to speak directly to potential customers via a regular blog. Through comments and engagement, a relationship is able to be built. Customers get to see that there are real people behind the business they are buying from. It builds rapport and trust.
Higher Internet Search Engine Ranking
Blogging is one of the easiest and most affordable ways for a business to improve their search ranking. The complex algorithms that are used to decide who comes up in what order on a search are influenced by things like links to other parts of your site, fresh interesting content and keywords that people are punching into the search bar. Having a regular blog that’s well written is a great way to get noticed.
Gathering Feedback
Blogs often illicit a response from readers. The comments and reviews that people leave can assist a business in its growth, by providing insight into what customers are seeing and feeling. It’s an invaluable research tool. Obviously, it can also be a double edged sword with some keyboard warriors ready to argue about anything you write. The recommendation is never to engage in heated public discussion with these people. Remember that your responses are also being read by others – and this forms part of the personality of your business.
Blogging Stats
In January of this year, Jeremy Moser, Senior Content Marketer at Codeless, published a list of current blogging stats and I’ve selected some (see below) to illustrate the effectiveness of business blogging.
* Marketers who prioritise blogging efforts are 13x more likely to see positive ROI (Return on Investment).
* On average, companies with blogs produce 67% more leads per month than those without.
* 60% of consumers feel engaged/positive with a brand after reading custom content on their blog.
* 64% of B2B (Business to Business) marketers outsource blog copywriting.
* Over 50% of marketers that curate content say it has increased brand visibility, thought leadership, SEO and web traffic.
* Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing endeavours yet generates 3x the amount of leads.
* 90% of consumers believe that companies producing custom content are interested in building long-term relationships with them.
The problem is that even when businesses know the above, finding the time or inclination to write a weekly or even a monthly blog can be near impossible. That’s where a copywriter comes in handy. Many businesses outsource the blog writing to a professional and as you can see from the above statistics, it’s one of the best investments a business owner can make.
If you feel like you’re ready to jump into the world of business blogging or you just want to ask some questions about it, feel free to contact me. There’s nothing I love better than championing businesses through my writing.