Whether you’re excited about blogging, you can’t seem to find the time for it, or you’re just now considering blogging for the first time – the sustainable content marketing framework helps you answer this question:
How do I utilize blogging better?
You might have a personal brand like Alicia Keys, or a collective brand like Apple. Or maybe you’re managing both. Either way, blogging is relevant. So take this information, and apply it to your specific situation.
Business Blogging Lens
In order to use blogging to your advantage (without coming across as a hobbyist), you have to start seeing things a bit differently. Here is the 5-part business blogging lens that will help you utilize blogging better in 2023:
1. See your brand as a media company.
What you do to never run out of new blog post ideas is think of your brand as a media company. Therefore, your blog is your media channel that houses all of the important messages that relate to your niche or industry. You’re striking a balance between hobby blogging and super sales-y copywriting, so that each blog post serves a purpose toward eventually making more sales. Providing entertainment, so that when it does come time to push sales, you have an audience that’s familiar with how you see them, the problems they’re trying to solve, and the world at large.
2. See your website as a pin on a map.
It’s where your ideal customers or clients can find you and buy an amazing product or hire you to complete a service for them. This pin should not only locate you but it should tell your story. All of the elements of your website together – branding, graphic design, copywriting, user experience – should be telling this story, just in different ways. That’s why I talk about being website-ready before being Google-ready.
3. See your blog as an audience builder.
It’s a space within your website that impacts your audience to say, “Wow, they really get me.” It gets your audience to subconsciously place tally marks under your brand, as to why they’d choose your brand over another similar brand or competitor. And these tally marks are usually qualitative, not quantitative, because your blog is creating a feeling that you can’t quite measure in numbers or data. It’s like your favorite middle school teacher who also happened to be the kindest and funniest human ever.
4. See your readers as skimmers who need structure.
The internet is distracting. There are questions to be answered. See your audience as intelligent, but still needing structure and easy-to-read blog posts. Make it easy on a skimming reader to access information you believe they need.
The human brain loves organization, so don’t be afraid to create comparisons and hierarchies, using bulleted or numbered lists.
5. See your writing process as data-driven and templated.
Keep your writing process SEO- and keyword research-based, so that you’re using your time efficiently and leaving space for other important work within the business. Ultimately, the goal is to create content that’s on-brand, Googleable, and reader-focused.
Through this business blogging lens, you’re able to produce more and better written content. Ready to continue on this sustainable content marketing journey? Let’s move onto social media and blogging.