Not so long ago, blogging was one of the most effective digital marketing strategies available. It revolutionised not only how people shared information online, but how businesses could easily and affordably demonstrate their authority within their industry. But with blogging having been around for some time now, we know the internet is filled with countless posts on nearly every topic imaginable – and that number is growing by the second. So, we wanted to explore if blogging is still an effective digital marketing strategy today.
What is Blogging?
If you’ve been in business for more than a minute, you know that digital marketing is key to reaching new customers and retaining existing ones. While social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn are widely used, they have limits—for instance, you can only post on your own feed rather than others’.
Then there’s blogging.
Blogging is the process of consistently creating articles filled with insights, engaging structures, and carefully introduced keywords that serve a variety of purposes, including establishing authority within your industry as mentioned above, telling your personal brand story, and garnering new and repeat traffic to your website through various digital platforms, including those of others who have shared your content.
What are the Benefits of Blogging?
Your target audiences who may greatly consist of those not quite ready to convert, but would certainly benefit from your products and services. How then do you bridge the gap to ensure they know you can help? Finding the platforms frequented by your potential customers gives you the means of reaching them, and blogging is the perfect medium to make your first, second, third and ongoing impression.
If they find your brand freely offers the answers to their questions, challenges and problems, it leaves your brand front of mind as a solution they could consider. A well-structured blogging strategy will therefore be tailored and structured to appeal to target audiences, engaging them to follow your activity and feel nurtured towards making a direct conversion, or submitting an enquiry and start the conversation towards a sale.
How Does Blogging Complement Other Forms of Digital Marketing?
While blogging is often seen as a standalone strategy, it’s much more effective when it’s implemented alongside other forms of digital marketing. By layering different types of content promotion and outreach across social media channels, guest blogging, search engine optimisation (SEO), and email marketing campaigns—all based around well-developed content—you can create a powerful digital presence that boosts brand awareness.
There’s a reason why blogging has been a go-to digital marketing strategy for so long. Most importantly, though, blogging is a great way to establish trust and foster relationships with your target audience. If you manage to create an impressive and consistent publishing schedule, you can get your target audience to come back again and again – making it easier for them to choose you over competitors when they’re ready to buy.
What are the Disadvantages of Blogging?
While the benefits largely outweigh the limitations of blogging campaigns, there is certainly a large disadvantage we must discuss: over-saturation. After decades of blogs compiling over countless websites, it can be difficult to push your articles through the noise and get them in front of your audiences.
Successful marketers utilise strong-performing blogging campaigns by analysing the market to see what content their audiences are craving, and either repeatedly publishing fresh content not yet covered, or improving on what their competitors have distributed in the past to cement themselves as the superior source within their field.
How To Build An Effective Blogging Strategy?
The best blogging strategy is always one that can be customised to your needs and budget, while aligning with your company’s brand and goals. In our experience, we have learned that a successful strategy is typically informed by five basic questions:
- What specific areas are my audience seeking to learn more about in my industry?
- What information do I know that will deliver value to my audience?
- What obstacles or common constraints are experienced by both myself and my audience?
- How can I use blogging to overcome these?
- How will I measure the success of my blogging campaigns in relation to my wider business goals?
Asking yourself these questions will help you build a digital marketing plan that keeps your audience at its centre—and leads you toward meaningful connections. While not every campaign will work for every business (and some may perform better than others), one of these digital promotion methods is sure to pay off for your business if you implement it well. Successfully layering various campaigns is key to effective blogging as a part of your overall digital marketing strategy.
