With so much time and financial pressure on small businesses these days, it’s no wonder many fail badly when it comes to prioritising their blog and content management strategy.
Yes, writing a useful blog indeed takes time, focus and something topical to blog about, but, done well and often, regular blogging can be a cost-effective way of increasing your credibility, widening your audience and growing your sales.
Here at 22 Century Design and Marketing, we’re convinced that regular blogging should form an integral part of a SMEs content management strategy. Having designed and upgraded many SME websites over the years, we are constantly surprised to find that many don’t even have a blog page!
Don’t forget; that blogs are a proven way of reaching out to the people that you want to influence – and getting them onside – so here’s why we think it’s worthy of consideration.
77% of internet users read blog posts
These days, blogs are a vital source of any marketing campaign. When a customer is searching for a supplier or service provider, they browse online for a business that is an expert in their field and has an in-depth knowledge of what they’re selling.
Blogs go way beyond comments left on social media platforms or the bullet points in a sassy ad. They provide compelling evidence, technical knowledge, opinions and up-to-date research on a given area, in a free format. In essence, it’s a one-stop shop for everything your audience needs to know.
According to LinkedIn, over ¾ of all internet users read blogs regularly
But it’s not just posting regular blogs that matters – the interaction with prospects that it encourages, helps to drive engagement and posts on your website. According to WordPress (website builder and content management system), blog readers are leaving millions of comments per month on posts – and that’s just on WordPress.
Allowing prospects and customers to ask questions via enquiry forms or comment sections and to learn from you, is a fantastic opportunity to win them over, leading to more interest, and increased sales, whilst building trust and respect.
Why is blogging such a great marketing tool for SMEs?
... Builds your brand and ‘voice’
Most marketeers would agree that the most successful businesses are those with a strong brand culture and identity.
Blogging has come a long way since it was introduced in the early 1990s. It’s now gone beyond just sharing a basic idea or opinion. Well-written blogs are an extension of your brand and offer a real learning opportunity.
Every time you blog, you are giving yourself a voice that people listen to, respect and want to follow. A blog builds your authority. Everything that your brand stands for can be built into your blog and conveyed to your audience. That makes it exceptionally powerful.
Regular blogging can fuel your online searchability by linking your content to specific keywords or topics.
Over time, with frequent posts and as your traffic increases, Google will start to recognise your business as a legitimate source for a given subject. That will mean your blog posts will start to rank more highly on Google for specific terms.
Don’t forget too that blogs can be posted on your website, but also used across your other social platforms, i.e.: LinkedIn, Facebook etc. This increases your exposure.
It is a fact that a well-written and presented blog remains a cost-effective way of reaching a large audience. This is appealing to SMEs who may have limited funds for marketing.
Whilst we would always recommend that you work with a specialist marketing business (like ours) that uses professional writers, designers and content managers, blogging is low cost in comparison to many marketing tools.
People that read your blog are looking for answers to their questions, so this is a real opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Put it this way, if your competitors are blogging, and you aren’t, browsers will approach the business that best addresses the things that they want to know – your absence could cost you!
The modern customer wants to be informed, to learn about different subjects, and to deal with businesses that they think best understand their needs.
Regular blogging is a great way of keeping your customers in the loop and your products and services in front of them.
A blog, posted as part of a wider content management strategy, can delight your customers each month, and give them a valid reason for coming back to you. Essentially you are becoming a thought leader in your field. If publish a regular series of blogs that continue to delight and inform your customers and prospects, you will become their go-to business.
The latest research confirms that businesses that post up to 10 blogs per month can expect approximately 5 times more inbound traffic than those that do not. That means more leads, more opportunities and more customers potentially buying your products and services.
It’s proven too that businesses that blog regularly, enjoy an increase in their conversions and sales, and this is directly related to their blogging strategy.
Blogging is a key component of a strong content management strategy
We are working with an increasing number of SMEs that are seeing a return on their marketing spending as a direct consequence of their blog and content management strategy.
If you can establish the right tone, content, keyword optimisation and placement, your blog posts can fast become a highly effective element of your overall marketing strategy. Just think about the possibilities: if you can get people reading, sharing and talking about your blogs, you’ve cracked it!
Educate, inform and lead – from the front
To conclude then, blogging is effective, blogging leads to more sales opportunities and blogging is a proven and tactical SME marketing tool.
If you need help defining your content management strategy or want to consider how blogging can best benefit your business, we’d like to hear from you.
