Corporate blogging remains a surefire way to promote your business. Blogging generates engagement, raises brand awareness, and drives leads over time.
But blogging is not for the faint-hearted. Blogs are time-intensive and require discipline to maintain. Having a blog is one thing, but blogging well is another. And understanding the deep and complex ROI of blogging is different again.
Beyond driving organic traffic and generating leads, here are seven not so obvious reasons why blogging regularly is good for your business:
1.Staying Current
Blogs require research, and research involves staying aware of what’s going on in your industry. Maintaining a company blog keeps you and your business informed of what's new in your world.
It also provides a platform for your company to share back its own insights. Give to get, right?
2. Sharing Company SME
Insights from your blog can easily be re-used in other company communications.
The practice of blogging on a consistent basis helps unearth subject matter expertise within your organization.
The more internal experts involved with your blog, the stronger the learning opportunity will be. Be surprised at what you discover in your company’s blog.
What’s more, insights from your blog can easily be clipped and re-used in other company communications. It takes a village to blog well.
3. Making Connections
The process of blogging requires you to make connections outside of your company that you otherwise wouldn't.
You reach out to an industry expert for comment on a story. You contact an organization you're referencing for permission to use its photography. You interact with new people on social as you promote your piece once it goes live.
We tend to think of writing as a lonely pursuit. The reality is less straightforward. Blogging can be great for networking.
4. Stating the Case
Blogging requires you to argue the business case for whatever point you're making.
But be prepared to be surprised: the act of arguing something out sometimes leads you to a conclusion that is more nuanced than where you started.
This is a good thing. Companies that adapt best to the future are those which incorporate a range of points of view. Think of your blog as a company lab for pressure testing ideas.
5. Simplifying the Theme
To blog well, you need to distill your industry topic into a language that relates to your audience. That means simplifying your explanation. Convoluted explanations on complex topics will not gain traction.
This may seem self-evident, but achieving simplicity of expression is perhaps one of the most challenging of things for a business. It can take a company years to get its talking points fully chiseled.
Maintaining a blog brings the struggle for self-expression to the company front line. Work hard at it and you’ll make progress.
6. Sparking Conversation
The act of publishing invites conversation, challenge, and dissent. Be prepared to justify your opinions, while staying open-minded to other points of view.
Exposure can be the greatest marketing engine of all. The more you’re talked about, the more you’re recognized. And the more you’re recognized, the greater your brand equity. This breeds trust, and an appetite in the marketplace to connect with your products and services.
7. Developing Momentum
Once your organization is in the habit of consistent blogging, the practice of creating content will develop a momentum of its own. Regular blogging is a great way to get your business into a content creation groove.
The Power of Words
So those are seven of the not so obvious ways that blogging will benefit your business.
And then there’s this: an understanding that at the heart of blogging is the art of writing—conveying information, telling stories, and sharing thoughts through words.
By keeping a blog and insisting on tight editorial standards, your business is sending a signal that it values writing. And strong writing fosters sharp messaging, which in turn helps your company stand out from the pack and take your business case confidently into the marketplace.
Because, handled skillfully, the pen is indeed mightier than the sword.
“Not to blog regularly is a missed opportunity for your organization.”
