Did you know that blogging is a super effective way to combine the message of your company with marketing?
Yes, you read that right. Blogging can be used for marketing.
There seems to be a general theme when it comes to business blogs – most people have an inkling that they need one, but if they’re honest, no one really knows why. After all, isn’t blogging just for moms, DIY’ers and the introspectives of the world to share their thoughts with the great wide internet?
Well yeah… but that’s only half of it. These days, there are just as many business blogs as personal ones!
But why is that? What is it exactly that makes blogging a vital component of any well thought-out marketing plan?
Starting with a clear message on your blog is often times the first best step in establishing your online strategy.
Having an active blog helps build trust, enhance your image and helps establish credibility. Plus, it integrates almost seamlessly with your current efforts, especially when it comes to email marketing.
Still not totally convinced?
Well, keep reading because, in this post, we’ll share 10 ways blogging can compliment your current strategy. Plus, we’ll also delve into a handful of ways to jumpstart your efforts by smoothly integrating a blog with your email marketing!
How blogging boosts your current strategy
1. Drives new traffic to your website
Want more visitors to your website?
Who doesn’t? And, blogging actually makes it pretty easy.
First, think about how people get to your website in general. Maybe they search for your name… but that’s either an audience you already have or a complete stroke of luck on your part. Maybe you pay a lot of money for advertising… but that’s pretty expensive.
Now, think outside the box. How do you drive people to your site in an organic, cost-effective, and ethical way? In short, social media, email marketing, and blogging.
And here’s the great (and easy) thing about blogging: it adds new and relevant content to your site on a regular basis, which means that there are more active pages tied to your business for search engines to pick up on.
Blogging is a great way to remind sites like Google that your website is alive and well and should be checked frequently for new content to add to their results.
The natural results of that? More traffic to your website!
2. Strengthens your SEO value
Speaking of search engines, blogging is basically the heartbeat of a healthy SEO strategy. Not only do active new pages on a blog drive more traffic, if you’re writing with strategy, those pages can also beat out your competitors when it comes to search engine results.
The key to SEO success?
Keywords. Research them, use them, and reap the rewards!
On a basic level, all you need to do is list out all the keywords, topics, and categories that you want people to associate with your business and then use them when you’re blogging.
And if you want to get fancy, there are tons of tools that can help you research the best keywords for your business and use them so that search engines find and list your site before someone else’s!
To find some of them, head on over to our article on content marketing tools.
3. Establishes your credibility
A well-executed blog strategy will create space for you to talk about industry trends and establish yourself as a thought leader in your field.
Research and post topics that resonate with your market and target audience, and at the same time, you’ll be subtly showing off your knowledge and expertise in the space.
Go even further by asking other respected companies in your industry to get involved with your blog as well. Ask them to write guest posts or offer to write for their blog – it’s a great way to expand the reach of your brand and associate yourself with other respected and trusted brands.
4. Keeps you relevant
Sometimes, it’s a challenge to keep your website updated. That’s exactly why a blog is so great!
By blogging regularly and well, you can show your audience that you’re relevant and hip to current events in your industry. And it’s a lot easier than trying to update your entire website on the regular.
Oh, and did we mention it’s helpful to readers as well?
When you write about things that will actually help your audience learn new things or best practices, they’ll be thankful. And begin associating you with all the best ideas.
5. Connects with customers
Not only do blogs establish you as a credible thought leader and relevant expert in your industry, they provide a direct connection to your customers.
By interacting directly with your website through blog comments or even just reading helpful content and putting it into practice, your audience is able to get to know your business. They’ll think of you as a trusted brand that actually makes everyday life easier.
6. Becomes the heart of your content marketing strategy
If you are aiming to have a successful content marketing strategy, blogging is going to be the heart of it.
Why?
Because it’s where all of your content will start.
As you begin to compile a solid library of articles, you can also focus on building up a web of links – both internal and external – as well as adding in relevant product promotions, demo videos, product reviews, images and more…
From there, the sky is the limit when it comes to reusing content. Whether it’s by repurposing that content on social media or building out eBooks and infographics out of your most popular posts. Repurposing blog content is the bread and butter of any successful content marketing strategy – partially because it’s easy and partially because it works!
7. Is a long-term investment… with long-term results
We won’t sugarcoat it – setting up a blog and writing consistent content for it is no small task. The only way your blog will be successful in your overall marketing strategy is if it’s planned out and features consistent content that is well-written, and up-to-date.
But here’s the good thing: the investment you make will reap rewards for much longer than you can even imagine.
Think about it this way…
Imagine taking three hours to research, write, and publish a stellar blog post.
Imagine that that blog post is so amazing (because you wrote it, of course!) that it gets 500 views and results in 10 new leads for your business in its first week of life on the internet. But that’s not all.
Because you put in a little extra effort to add SEO value to your post, imagine that it starts ranking in search engines. And it keeps ranking, driving traffic to your site and building a bigger audience and even more leads long past your initial investment.
So sure, it did take three hours to get that post into the world – that’s not a small investment in your busy day. But the rewards last for days, weeks, months, even years afterward. Imagine that!
8. Supercharges social media
Blogging also helps boost your social media presence.
How?
Well, whenever you create a new blog, you’re creating shareable content. Content that you can link to on Facebook or Twitter, or create a brand new graphic and post on Instagram. No matter what platform you use, sharing your content helps expose your business to a new audience that may not know you yet.
Basically, your blog can serve as a repository for content when you need ideas for social media.
Whether you re-share older, evergreen articles or pull stats, facts and tips directly from your blog, you have an entire library of content to pull from & create new social media posts.
You’ll be strengthening your social reach with worthwhile content and driving new website visitors to your blog via your social channels.
9. Leads to more leads
Blogging isn’t just helpful for driving traffic to your site, it can also help turn that traffic into bonafide leads for new sales. In short, every new blog post is a new lead generation page on your website!
How? By making use of a Call to Action (hint, hint: more on this later).
Whether you’re asking people to download a free eBook or just subscribe to your email list, every single blog post you write should have a CTA to capture an email address.
And every email address is a new lead!
10. Helps build brand recognition and show off your personality
Are you a small company or recent startup who is looking for ways to get your name out into the world? Blogging is your best friend!
Customize your blog based on your brand and write fresh content that shows off your more casual or silly side.
Of course, being in business is serious business. But let’s be real, everyone needs to show off their fun side at some point or another. At least, if they want customers to believe that there’s another real-life person on the other side of the computer…
Blogging is a great way to give your company a voice and share your story so that readers (and prospective customers!) have better insight to why you exist and how you want to help them thrive.
And the best part? You can use a lot of the same strategies to build brand recognition in blogging as you would in email marketing!
Which brings us to the next section:
Email marketing + blogging
As we just discussed, the reasons for starting a business blog are many, but one question still remains: how do you bridge the gap between all that amazing content on your blog and email marketing?
Well, as an email marketer, you already have the skills and knowledge you need to be successful with blogging. You just need to know how to make the jump!
Read on for a few easy ways you can integrate blogging and email marketing for crossover success!
Calls to Action
Calls to action are a MUST when it comes to both blog posts and email marketing.
For emails, simply include a clear CTA button that includes some teaser text and a link back to your website or blog – it’s the best way to drive more traffic to your site and more leads into your hands.
But the power of the CTA is really shown off when it comes to blogging. Just think about all the people who come to your website through social media or SEO traffic who have never given you one bit of personal or contact information – the blog is the perfect place to get it.
Offer incentives in the form of an eBook or tool directly from your blog (see how we did it on our site?!) and simply ask people to share their email address in the process.
What a great way to build your email list and your overall leads!
Content Footers
People often overlook the footer, but it’s a surprisingly powerful tool when it comes to converting prospective customers and funneling them through your sales channels.
On the email side of things, include a stylized footer that links back to blog posts that relate to your message. On the blog side of things, add an opt-in offer of some kind that will encourage readers to sign up for your monthly newsletter.
Blog Newsletters
This one’s pretty straightforward – just write up a monthly email that shows off your favorite recent blogs.
It may be simple, but the rewards of a blog newsletter are two-fold. First, it is an easy way to provide regular content to your email subscribers, always keeping your company top of inbox and top of mind.
Second, it shows off both your relevancy and credibility by highlighting the blogs that provide helpful and insightful content.
Editorial Planning
The best content marketing plan is a well-thought out one.
Create an editorial calendar that brings every content component – from social media posts to email marketing to blogging – together in one place. This will help you map out every element of your content marketing plan, ensuring that both blogs and emails are seamlessly synced up with similar themes, categories, or even titles.
That way, readers will be able to tell with a single glance that your blog and your emails go together and are ready for easy reading, increased engagement, and eventual sales!
Email Automation
Want to hit email subscribers with consistent messaging but don’t have the time to write a fresh new email every week?
Email automation is your best friend… and it works perfectly with blogging!
First – take some of your most popular, helpful or favorite blog posts and create a collection of emails that share their most important lessons or answer frequently asked questions.
Then – fill those emails with a ton of links back to that foundational blog content or your site’s product pages.
Finally – drop those awesome emails into an automation series (using a platform like Sendlane, of course!), hit send and watch everything roll off like clockwork. Your readers will get fresh content from you on a regular basis and you won’t have had to spend a ton of time making it happen!
In the world of online marketing, email marketing is one of the best ways to be sure your content and your company gets in front of people. So, if email marketing is the medium, use blogging as the message!
Write content on your blog and link back to it in emails you send to prospective customers or current clients. Use your blog as a way to organically build your email list. Whatever you do, we hope the point is clear – with a healthy blog and a tool like Sendlane, you’ll be unstoppable!
Over to you!
If you haven’t already jumped on the blogging bandwagon, are you looking forward to getting started?
Are you excited about the prospect of adding a blog to your current strategy?
Let us know in the comments below & please take a second to like/share this article 🙂
Jimmy Kim
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