My clients often say to me “I really want to step up my maketing but I don’t want to start a blog. Is that ok?”. The one-word answer of course is “yes”. They are running their own business and it’s totally up to them what they do – that’s one of the bonuses of being your own boss. But the longer answer is “it depends”. It’s less about being ok and more about making the right decision for your business.
The fact that people are phrasing their question in this way suggests a myth about blogging – that it’s a magic wand that will propel you to instant stardom and 1000s of adoring customers overnight. That it’s the only thing that will boost your business. The reality of course is that there are no shortcuts in business and a blog is just another tool in your marketing box – albeit a really powerful one if you do it properly.
So why blog?
- Blogging is a great way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise.
- It can help you to build credibility in your line of work.
- It helps potential clients get to know you before they work with you and can keep a relationship going with your existing customers.
- It can drive people to your main website content and can help to include your SEO rankings (increasing traffic to your site from search engines).
- It’s easy to share your content on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, giving you interesting original content to contribute to the conversation.
As part of a well-planned business strategy, blogging is an amazing low-cost marketing tool.
But how do I know if I should be blogging?
Just because it seems like everyone else is doing it, doesn’t mean it’s right for you. So how do you know if your fear of the unknown means you are missing out on valuable business opportunities? The answer lies in having a plan. What do you want to achieve in your business this year? What marketing activities do you need to do to get you there? When you are clear how you’ll raise awareness of your services and where you’ll find your clients, then you start having an idea what you might get from starting a blog.
Successful blogs have well thought-out objectives so before you take the plunge, you have to be clear:
- Why you’re blogging
- How it supports your overall business plan
- How it fits with your other marketing activities
- What results you want to achieve
- Who your audience is
- How frequently you’ll blog
- How you’ll measure your success
Only then can you make an informed decision whether blogging is right for you, your business and your audience.
So if you don’t want to blog, that’s fine. It’s better to have a well-designed, well-executed marketing strategy without a blog than a half-hearted commitment to to having one. So long as you have a defined plan for reaching your customers, you can still be successful. But you could be missing out on the potential of something wonderful so if you’re undecided, don’t write it off just yet!
Blogging is a huge topic and I’ll be covering it more in future posts. In the meantime, I’d love to know what you think about it. Love it or loathe it? What questions have you got? Just pop your comments in the box below.
Thanks for reading.
Lucy