Everywhere you turn, marketing experts are telling you that content marketing - blogging - will change your business for the better. Is it really true? Clearly, we think it is - and here's why.
You can address common questions that your customers have.
Sometimes, people act like there's an exact science to successful blogging. There are a lot of resources on how to find the right keywords and develop the correct articles, but really, a blog exists because customers have questions, and you can answer them.
Not sure what topic to write about? Ask your team what question they've been hearing repeatedly from customers, and write about that. Then, when they get the question, the team can give a brief answer, and direct the customer to the blog for more details.
Reading informative, interesting blogs keeps people on your site longer, which moves them down the sales funnel.
The longer people spend on your site, the more likely they are to realize that you're the best possible source for the product or service they need. By reading well researched and informative content, they understand that you're the expert in the field, and that they can trust you. Your goal is to keep customers on your site, and blogging helps you to do that.
You'll get more exposure through social sharing.
Many bloggers chase the viral story, but smart bloggers know that going viral isn't all it's cracked up to be. Instead of chasing viral content, those who pursue good leads with strong content and real headlines (instead of clickbait ones) will see a gradual increase in the number of visitors month over month. This means more customers becoming familiar with your service, more customers moving into your sales funnel, and more customers buying.
You'll show customers that you care.
Why? Because despite the fact that every single marketing and SEO expert shouting from the hilltops that customer driven content marketing is the wave of the future, lots of businesses are still convinced that blogging isn't for them. By blogging, answering customer questions, and being transparent about the state of the industry, your customers will be more trusting of you, and be more likely to buy from you than from your competitors, simply because they believe you know what you're doing.
You'll understand how to create more content, like whitepapers and downloadable ebooks
As you generate more content and begin to understand what your customers need more information about, you'll have insight into what tools are still lacking in the blogging world. You'll be able to create downloadable tools, valuable white papers, and ebook compilations of blog posts, which is even more content to draw new customers into your webpage.
Content marketing is the next wave of the future, and it has the potential to change the landscape of marketing just as much as radio or TV or Internet banner ads did. If you want your business to be on the frontlines of content marketing, reaping the many benefits for your blog, it's time to get started.
You'll learn both through mentorship and mentoring
When you blog, you will find yourself drawn to leaders in your industry to understand differing perspectives within the industry itself. Blogging may not pay the bills, but you can create opportunities to be mentored that will help you drive forward and run your business more efficiently.
You can also find yourself in a position of mentorship to those who are starting businesses like yours or in support of yours. There's an idea in martial arts practice that, at some point, to continue your learning you need to teach. This is something that translates into most endeavors where you work on learning new skills and that's how great ideas are born after all. By teaching someone else, you use different parts of your brain, and relearn the material in new and different ways.
You'll gain insight into what your customers do and do not care about
By writing about varying topics, then tracking what your customers read, share, and comment on, you'll learn more about what your customers want to know that any survey ever can. This will give your sales team more information on how to close the sale, and necessary information on how to drive your business going forward.
What's the most important part of blogging for your business? What benefits have you seen since you started blogging?