Is Your Brand Blog a Soapbox or a Stumbling Block?
Your brand’s blog is one of the most valuable tools available to reach and engage with your audience. On average, businesses that blog generate 67 percent more leads than competitors that don’t, and 60 percent of consumers feel more positive about a brand after reading custom content. At the surface level, blogs provide a regular vehicle for external communications and encourage direct dialogue with your most ardent followers; however, your blog also affords you an opportunity to reinforce your brand’s core purpose, inspire loyalty and drive your business forward.
The best brand blogs build upon established strategy and drive tangible value for the reader. For example, the personal finance application Mint supports their mission “to help people understand and utilize their money more effectively” through blog posts covering a range of relevant topics including budgeting groceries, preparing for maternity leave, mortgage interest deduction and more. These are real issues that Mint’s users face every day, with real solutions to match. Notably, Mint does not use its blog to explicitly support its product offering. Instead, the brand utilizes the space to build authority and trust, establishing itself as a thought leader for individuals seeking financial advice.
It is particularly important to establish trust and demonstrate value to readers who discover your content via organic Google search. Such visits rarely produce direct conversions, but instead, help your brand build credibility by offering an immediate solution to a pressing problem. High-quality content delivered in harmony with your brand purpose is one way your brand can reinforce its position as a subject-matter expert—one who readers will turn to again and again as a reliable resource.
Conversely, the goal for your blog might be to generate actionable leads. One way to achieve this is to build a thriving community that celebrates not only your products but also the core identity of your brand. Weber uses its blog to inspire passionate brand enthusiasts to adopt new techniques and tools for grilling and share them with others. Whether it’s “tools for tailgating” or “must-have accessories for grilling turkey,” Weber encourages their community to not only expand and build upon their grilling skills, but specifically details how to do it using Weber products. Weber uses existing loyalty to reinforce the brand’s core values of Quality and Innovation to drive the business forward.
The best brand blogs do the following for readers:
- Support established strategy
- Establish trust
- Build authority
- Drive value
- Foster community and loyalty
By aligning your blog content with the purpose and core tenets of your brand—and by providing consistent and demonstrable value to your readership—your blog can inspire passionate advocacy that will support your overall brand strategy.
To learn more about this topic or to discuss an issue impacting your business, contact Bailey’s Vice President of Client Services, Jamie Gailewicz, at 610-818-3103 or click here to contact us via [email protected].
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