Nod your head if you’ve ever thought to yourself “do I really need a blog for my business? I already have a website, isn’t that enough?” The simple answer is YES you need a blog for your business. Whether you are a small business owner or a multinational company, blogging should be a key component in your online marketing strategy.
Blogging benefits can include more traffic to your website, improved SEO, better customer relationships and ultimately, you have the ability to position your brand as an industry leader. Your blog will allow you to build trust with customers or clients, as they can learn more about your product or services and find solutions to their questions.
Your blog may also allow you to interact directly with your customers, if they have questions about a product or service you can respond directly to them through your site.
Now, all of this sounds nice but how do you actually get people to read or even care about what you write? First, you need to establish a voice that is representative of your brand’s identity in order to gain trust. Your blogging voice can be casual, witty, intelligent, laid back or super serious, whatever it may be, make sure it’s an authentic representation of your brand. Once you have figured out what your brand’s identity is you must establish who you are trying to reach and what the purpose of your blog will be, then you can find your blogging voice.
Finding Your Tone of Voice
Before you jump up and start a blog, ask yourself these simple questions. What kind of brand are you? Are you a serious, fun & adventurous brand or does your brand fall somewhere in between? How does your audience currently perceive you?
Once you have figured out what your brand is you can begin to alter your tone for the blogosphere. Blogging is generally more casual than other forms of published media and means that colloquialisms are acceptable and the grammar police are slightly more lenient.
Key points to remember: You need to constantly entice your audience; you can’t afford to be boring or strictly business. A blog must always keep your audience interested in your content. Make it personable and relatable.
Finding Your Audience
Similar to face-to-face conversations your tone of voice may alter, depending on who you are talking to. Before you start writing a single letter you need to understand who you are trying to reach, i.e. Do you want to attract a younger demographic, an educated audience or busy mums? To do this you need to ensure that your voice speaks to that audience while also being accessible to a wider audience.
Key points to remember: Always remember you are not writing your blog for yourself, but to create a relationship with your audience. Keep them in mind in everything you write.
Finding Your Blogging Purpose
Once you’ve established your tone and audience you need to uncover what your blog’s purpose is. Why are you writing a blog? Is it to increase sales/traffic to your website? Is it for the entertainment of potential clients? Or are you trying to write an informative blog? Keep your purpose in mind with everything you write.
Figuring out the purpose behind your blog will help you keep your content on track and prevent you from wasting time on content that doesn’t contribute to your main objective.
Key points to remember: Your content should always contribute to your main objective. Make sure to always keep your purpose in mind while writing.
In order to create a successful blog representing your brand you should follow these three steps, find your tone of voice, find your audience, and finally find your blog’s purpose. Once you have established these, remember to combine the key points from each as you write. Take your brands tone and tweak it for the casual nature of blogging, while trying not to stray from your brands main objective.
