Using Blogs To Improve Your Inbound Marketing Campaign
You’ve been a customer in some way for most of your life. You know what has spurred you to buy products and services. As you help formulate your company’s or advertising agency’s inbound marketing campaign, you should think more like a customer or prospective customer than an executive.
‘What would spur me to buy my company’s products and services,’ you should think to yourself. The more you think like this, the more you will be convinced that blogs can improve your inbound marketing campaign. More importantly, thinking like a reader of your blogs will help you write better blogs, convince you to write more blogs on more customer-friendly topics, and utilize your blogs to establish or improve your relationship with existing and prospective customers.
Here are some ways you can use blogs to improve your inbound marketing campaign:
1. Show You’re An Expert
When people tell you they’re an expert, are you impressed? You shouldn’t be. ‘Show, not tell,’ should be your credo in your blogs. If your company fixes computer equipment, your blog should convey that you’re an expert in the subject. A how-to article on fixing a computer’s problems or a tips article on steps to take to minimize the chances a computer will need repairs can do precisely that. Some readers/prospective customers might follow your advice. Some might pay you to fix their problems. Either way, you are establishing a level of trust that can pay off in the long run.
2. Become An Informational Resource
Many prospective customers might be very interested in news in your industry, but might not have the time to read trade magazines and business publications. What if YOU read for them and posted a link to the most pertinent and interesting articles you found on your blog? These articles can keep people on your company’s website for a longer period of time -- and spur them to return. Posting newsworthy articles on your website is also an excellent way to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) position when Internet users seek the products and services you sell.
3. Communicate With Readers
Your website should be set up in a reader-friendly way that makes it easy for readers to go to your social media websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Similarly, your social media websites should provide links to the blogs you posted on your website. Take an extra step though -- communicate with your readers on your blog and social media websites. The blogs you posted should be topics for discussion -- and you should start those discussions. Ask your readers what they think of the latest news in your industry. Ask them what kinds of blogs they’re interested in. A better rapport with readers of blogs can spur more sales.
4. Utilize Videos And Audios
Inbound marketing campaigns are better when they include a personal touch. A blog with a link to a video or an audio with you or another executive in your company talking about an issue relevant to your industry can provide that touch. You don’t even have to talk about your company. Perhaps, the video or audio can supplement or replace the tips and how-to articles we mentioned earlier. Forbes magazine reports in its article “How To Develop A Strong 2017 Inbound Marketing Plan” that blogs with visuals that are posted to social media websites receive more social shares.
5. Keep Track Of What’s Working
You can keep track of each blog posts’ clicks, click-through-rates, and page views, reports the Forbes magazine article “3 Inbound Marketing Strategies To Get More Qualified Leads In 2017.” Olivia Plotnick, the marketing manager for Adsmith China, recommended that these “audits” be done via automated e-mail reports in HubSpot and be done frequently. By keeping track of what kinds of blogs succeed, you can increase the chances that you will make better decisions about future blogs. It should also be noted that updating your blog regularly improves your SEO position.
Excellent blogs that prospective customers read aren’t the only tool for improving an inbound marketing campaign, but they can be a very important one.
Source:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/miketempleman/2016/12/22/how-to-develop-a-strong-2017-inbound-marketing-plan/2/#502f7812b3f0
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joeescobedo/2017/01/16/3-inbound-marketing-strategies-to-get-more-qualified-leads-in-2017/#259287a11ef1