This is a guest post by Steve, regarding how important a role a blog can play in the success of your company. And as a blogger and entrepreneur myself, my blog is a huge part of the impact I make on potential clients every day… so this is me, giving this post a huge thumbs up!
More and more businesses now understand the importance of a blog to their company. A quick scan across business sites will show that everyone from multi-nationals to small one person organizations are using blogs to communicate with current and prospective customers.
This is good news for everyone, as blogs are one of the very best ways to communicate and engage clients or customers with a business and keep them up to date with news.
However, there is a lot more potential to blogging that many businesses are not exploiting. On top of this, there is one point that a surprisingly high number of business bloggers seem unaware of…
What a blog says about you and your brand.
Although a blog is just a small part of an overall business plan, it is a good idea to think of blogging as a company’s receptionist. The person who works on reception may not be involved in board meetings or be at the top of the pay scale (normally just the opposite), but they are often the first contact for people coming into the premises (or calling on the phone).
It is therefore vital that this person makes the right impression, as many people will judge the company by the professionalism of the receptionist.
Points to Consider Before Blogging
Blogs are just the same. To this end, it is important to remember a few key points whenever committing a blog post to the internet.
Watch Your Tone
1. Think about tone of voice. A business blog should maintain a tone of voice that is completely in tune with the business’s sector. Obviously an owner of a joke shop should have a different tone to their blog than that of a funeral director, but all blogs needs to have an appropriate tone.
A business is asking potential customers to invest their money whether this is to buy physical goods or invest in a service. If a blog does not maintain the right voice, it will come across as unprofessional and inappropriate and customers will turn away.
Perception is Everything
2. Remember at all times that how clients perceive a business will become how that business actually is: in other words, it does not matter if a business has genuinely first rate products or the highest level of professional services to offer, if customers perceive this not to be the case, they will make their buying decisions based on perception and not fact.
To this end, business blogs should resemble business face-to-face meetings: if you would not say something to customers’ faces, then don’t put in a blog.
Consider Your Image
3. Always remember your company’s image. Think how your current customers perceive your business as well how you would like prospective customers to think of you and then pitch your blog at this level.
Jokes about the latest celebrity scandal may be funny, but they are wholly inappropriate for a business blog. Every blog post is in one way a statement of intent for a business. One poor choice can undo many months of good work.
Double Check Your Content
4. A very basic (but very important) final point: ensure there are no spelling mistakes. Far too often, blogs by even the biggest names are let down by these errors. If you’ve never considered spelling that important, think again.
This is the key point: you may not consider something important but will your customers? Check and re-check, but don’t just rely on spell checkers. Look out for usage (there, their, they’re). If you’re not sure which is which, ask someone to check it for you. It really can make all the difference.
Taking time to ask yourself what your blog says about you can help make your blog a valuable asset for your business and not a liability.
What Does Your Blog Say?
Taking into consideration the above mentioned points, what do you believe your blog is saying about you and your personal brand or business? Please drop your thoughts in the comments below.