17 Jun Write Blog Posts That Strengthen Your Brand, Not Create More Noise
According to Envisage Digital, 4.4 million new blog posts are published every day across all platforms. That’s a lot of content, not to mention a lot of competition for eyeballs. If you’re going to stand out, you’ve got to shift your strategy from creating content “just because” to writing blog posts that strengthen your brand.
That might sound like a tall order, but trust me, it’s not. We do it for our clients, and I do it for Jansen Communications.
Generic content doesn’t support your brand
You know you need to write and share new content on a regular basis. But when you’re busy, you might be tempted to slap something together and hit publish. Don’t.
Generic content is a waste of your time, adds to the clutter, and does nothing for your brand. No one is going to read it because it’s not interesting or valuable. No one is going to find it in a Google search because it’s probably already out there.
Case in point: I just did a quick search on “how to write a blog post” and got a zillion hits. If I wrote a blog post on that topic, it’ll be buried on page 27 of search results.
You might be thinking, “Well, I just need to get fresh content out there – that’s what search engines look for anyway.” This hasn’t been true for a long time. In my recent blog post on SEO 101, my friends at Sage SEO outright said:
“Creating content is not enough for search engine optimization. Doesn’t matter if 100,000 people come to your website, take a look, and quickly leave. They need to hang around and reach or watch that content. That’s how Google knows your content is high-quality and relevant to your audience.”
THAT is how you break through the noise and get some of those eyeballs on your stuff. High-quality, relevant content is all about blog post that only YOU can write.
This is why people and companies hire us to help with their blogging. We don’t do generic. We coax out their perspectives, stories, and experiences to produce content that is truly unique to them.
I strive to always do this for Jansen Communications, too. Back in the day, I used to write a lot of how-to and tips blog posts. I could get away with it, too, because I already had an audience and there was less content out there.
But people want more, and they want better. My favorite bloggers have their very own points of view. I cannot get the information they present in their blog posts anywhere else.
That’s what I want for you, so let’s talk about …
How to write blog posts that strengthen your brand
High-quality and relevant content requires that you go well beyond sharing your knowledge. Here are four ways to take your expertise even further when you write blog posts.
Tap into personal experiences
I write a lot about what I’m doing and why. When I finally sat down and created a schedule to keep my marketing updated, I figured this would be good information to share. So, I wrote a detailed post on how and when to review and update your website, email marketing, and social media marketing.
Earlier this year, I wrote how I built my personal brand over the years. (It took a lot of time and effort, but now I work a four-day work week – worth it!). I also wrote about an absolutely crazy week I had in March that made me realize I needed to take care of me and my family first. Marketing could wait.
Take a stand
I am famous among my friends for not holding back and saying exactly what I mean. And I am not afraid to take a stand in my blog posts. Will I offend someone? I don’t purposefully try to, but if I do, they are probably not a good a fit for me or my agency anyway.
In this blog post on how to properly build an email marketing list, I don’t hold back. My first paragraph reads:
This blog post is a bit of a rant, because people I’ve never heard have been inundating me with marketing emails. You cannot build your email marketing list by randomly adding people! Ever!
One of my favorite blog posts I’ve written begs people to stop abusing LinkedIn. (They haven’t, but a girl can hope). I wrote:
For years, I’ve been writing about how to use LinkedIn properly, but we’ve reached a new low. More people are abusing LinkedIn, and it’s getting out of control.
It’s so bad that even LinkedIn is now asking people to knock it off.
And then there’s my blog post that demonstrates why Facebook hates small businesses. My brother’s business account was hacked, and Facebook did NOTHING to help him get it back. (It’s common knowledge that their security sucks, yet they sit there on their hands and let small business owners dangle in the wind. Yes, I hate Facebook, but I hate Mark Zuckerberg even more.)
These blog posts do particularly well. They are not controversial, but they are bold. And they are very me.
Learn something new? Share it
Every industry is constantly changing, which means we are always reading, researching, and learning new stuff. I figure that what I learn can help others, so I am always happy to share. Sharing is caring, as I like to say.
In a post on whether or not you should use memes for marketing, I wrote:
I always include [a meme] in my monthly newsletter, but I began wondering if I could use them on LinkedIn, in blog posts and in presentations.
So, I did some research on using memes for marketing, and all signs point to “yes, it’s a great idea.” Even better – any industry can use them, no matter how conservative.
And then I went on to document what the research says.
Last year, I worked on a project for a marketing strategy and research agency to coincide with the release of their second Brand Authenticity Index. The report was absolutely fascinating, so I wrote a blog post about what I learned in the report.
Write about client conversations and projects
This is a tactic we use for our clients a lot. A question from a client can be a great jumping off point for a blog post. Writing about a project you are in the middle of, abandoned, or successfully completed is despite non-stop challenges are also great topics. (And yes, it’s OK to write about failures. It shows you’re a human being who makes mistakes.)
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about a massive website redesign I worked on for a nonprofit (yes, I wrote all the content). Less than a month after the site launched, the nonprofit’s traffic and leads nearly doubled. My blog covered the key pieces of content that made a difference for them.
Your homework
I want you to write down three ways you are different from your competition.
Maybe you created a proprietary method – write about why and how you created it. Maybe you deliver better results than anyone else – share some stories that prove it. Or maybe you see something happening in your industry that is driving you nuts. Rip a page from my book and write about it.
Already you have some blog post topics to start with.
If this sounds like way too much work, my team and I can help. We love helping our clients create blog posts that strengthen their brand. Ping me, and we’ll schedule a time to chat.
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