Blogging pay your business dividends. Websites with a blog tend to have 434% more indexed pages. Many business owners I talk with struggle to find the inspiration or time to blog regularly and yet they will work hard on their branding. But branding and blogging should be working together to support each and this makes life easier for their creator.

What is a brand?

According to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Branding is how people describe your business to others, it’s what they think and feel when they use your product, hear your name or see your logo. By this definition, you have a brand whether you like it or not, so it’s probably better to be involved in developing it in the way you want rather than leave it in the hands of others.

Your blog is an important way to build your brand, but it’s just one method. You need cohesion and consistency across all your marketing efforts to make sure you reinforce how you come across and not confuse people with different messages. As with your other marketing, you should consider the following:

• Focus: What specialist knowledge are you displaying by writing about it?
• Personality: How is your personality coming across to readers – expert, approachable, local or global, issues-based?
• Language: Industry jargon and SEO key words speak to a particular audience of peers or B2B customers in displaying your expertise but it can turn off the general public.
• A visual theme: Page structure, type face, colour, graphics all establish and portray your brand, but make sure they don’t get in the way of your readers’ understanding.
• Frequency: Regular posting builds your brand as customers have more opportunity to connect and learn about your business and encourages them to engage in expectation of getting a response.

Blogging can, and should, have a tangible impact on the strength of your brand, just as a strong brand can make it much easier to find topics to blog about and to know who you’re aiming it at.

Creating a strategy for branding

Take time to reflect over what your brand means to you. Look at others’ brands and think about how they make you think and feel and what influences your thoughts and feelings. Spend time planning how you intend to create your brand so you can take a comprehensive approach, bearing in mind the following:

• Set aside a budget: Your brand is your most valuable marketing investment
• Define your target audience: Who you want to speak informs your brand choices, the kind of content you share and the others you follow
• Set goals: What is your blog for? How will you define and measure success?
• Defining a style guide: Your blog style guide should be an authentic reflection of your personality (and therefore your brand), or readers will spot a fake
• Create content ideas: What will you write about and how can you bring your blog to life? Also consider how imagery and interaction, such as surveys, can make your blog more appealing and engaging.

 Commit to your blogging and get started, now

If you are serious about making your blog work for you and deliver a ROI for your business by building your brand, you need to blog regularly. Building content makes you more visible in searches and is a great way to engage with existing customers and generating leads. It’s your opportunity to tell your story in your way.

And don’t worry about kicking off with the perfect blog, make it genuine and make it honest. It’ll reach out to more people than your silence ever will.

 Having said that, if you do want some help getting started, or you’re struggling to find the time or inspiration to write a regular blog, contact Bill Blogs, email bill@billblogs.co.uk or ring 07981 269162 and we can discuss your ideas.