A brand is one of the most powerful things a business can have. If we look at the massive corporations of today’s modern world, we recognize many of them solely by the image they’ve created for themselves.
What about a small business, though? How can they create a brand from nothing? The answer lies in blogging. Here are some simple steps to how any small business can create engagement, awareness, and results by using a blog to promote their brand.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Brand Through Blogging
The key to developing a successful brand lies in connecting with your audience in an emotional and profound way. You need to make potential customers feel like your product can change their lives for the better, and make it relatable to them.
Related Article: 5 Ways Blogging Will Boost Your Startup’s Reach
A blog, when constructed and maintained the right way, can create this connection much faster and more efficiently than a static website ever could. Read on to find out how you can start a blog today and build a brand that stands the test of time.
Step One: Starting Your Blog
If your business doesn’t already have a blog, it’s time to set one up. You can do research into platforms and options, but I’d like to save you some time and tell you that WordPress is the ideal option for setting up your business blog.
Not only is WordPress the most widely used platform for blogs, but it’s used by the top business brands in the world, and for good reason. It offers flexibility, options, themes, and user-friendly interfaces for all levels of experience.
Once you’ve set up the blog for your business, the next step is to familiarize yourself with WordPress SEO tips that can help you understand the ways you can design and write your posts to appear higher on search engine results. Next, it’s time to define your audience and your readers.
Step Two: Understanding Your Blog’s Purpose and Audience
In this case, the purpose of your blog is simple and focused:
Your blog’s purpose is to build your brand.
What does that mean to your business though? Well, here are some common characteristics of a successful business blog:
- Posts help solve common problems or provide advice to the target audience.
- Each piece of content increases brand awareness without pushing sales.
- Everything is written for people, not search engines.
The last point there rings true. Many business blogs may be tempted to throw in as many keywords and SEO tactics as possible, but the ones that truly find success do so by writing for people, not search engines.
Speaking of people, the next step is to define your buyer persona. This is essentially a profile that describes your ideal customer. It describes their desires, their daily life, and how your product can benefit them.
To create the ideal persona, ask your customers some of these questions:
- What attracted you to our brand?
- How did the product/service make you want to return to do more business with us?
- If all else fails, go to your competitors and see what they are doing that works.
Understand the how’s and why’s of your audience will help you better produce content that appeals to them and speaks to their needs.
Step Three: Create High-Quality Targeted Content
The ideal content on your business blog shouldn’t be constant advertisements for your latest products and discounts. Instead, the perfect posts should offer emotional and relevant value to your audience.
This means connecting with them. It could be a how-to-guide on using your product in common situations where your audience has problems. This shows how your product/service can positively affect their daily lives.
The other secret lies in storytelling. While it may sound odd to tell a story in your blog posts, it’s an incredibly effective method of engaging the reader and giving them something to attach to emotionally that forges a bond with them and your brand.
Always provide a clear call-to-action that tells them what to do next. This could be asking for their email, or even offering them a discount on your product. It can even be as simple as showing them what to read next.
Here’s the bottom line:
- High-Quality content targets readers’ needs and desires.
- Show how your product/service benefits them in their lives
- Tell a story that connect with your brand (form an emotional connection)
- Link to other relevant posts on your blog (to keep them on your site)
- Always link out to your sources.
- Provide a clear call-to-action that tells them what they should do next.
Final Thoughts
A blog is a powerful tool for any business, but it’s especially important for small startups. By creating high-quality and targeted content, you can build a brand up from nothing and forge an invaluable bond with your customers.
How do you utilize your blog to bring in new customers? Share your thoughts and tips in the comments below!
Author: Matt Banner is the author of onblastblog.com, a website focusing on helping beginners learn how to start, grow and profit from a blog. You can follow Matt on twitter @blastyourblog.
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