The why of business blogging
Or: why blogging is a long-term form of customer service
The focus of business blogging is customer service. That is, answering questions to provide value. The ancillary benefit, that is, the knock-on effect of good customer service (of providing value) is search engine rankings and sales.
The buying pyramid as a vague, crude framework
If you think of the buying pyramid and the whole, there are “people who don’t know what they don’t know”; “people who know what they don’t know”; and “people who are ready to buy” the blog posts need to answer questions tailored to these three categories. And obviously some questions will go across these vague, somewhat crude, categories.
Blog posts will also answer post-sale information to keep people coming back.
This, as a framework for creating content, is crude because it’s taking a 2D sales concept and applying it to the slightly more nebulas realm of blogging as customer service.
Answer questions people are actually asking
The best way to find out what people are asking is to use SEO software. And then just answer those questions in 7–800 words. If there’s only an average of 10 people searching for a question and you are the only ones answering those questions: you are gaining a (deceptively handy) competitive advantage.
This is an advantage because if not many people are creating content around these small volume search questions, it means the competition is low. Which means your chances of ranking well, are high.
How to answer the question
The blog post should be an extended answer. Like (some pieces of) journalism where the story is sketched out in the intro paragraph and then the details explained throughout the piece. By doing this, you are giving someone a reason to read and keep reading. Because, after all, you have to give people a reason to want to keep reading.
And the easiest way to do this is by providing value in the form of the answer at the beginning. You don’t want to sum-up all the details at the beginning. Otherwise why would someone keep reading? But you want to give enough detail to qualify your readers and incentivise them to keep going.
The style and voice of a brand
Some writers cringe when the word ‘voice’ is used in reference to writing. After all, it’s an auditory thing. However, this is marketing. Not literature. And brands do have a voice and a style which should be across all marketing and sales communication.
Whether or not the blogs should be written more formally, casually etc is not so much a question of preference, but a question of brand presence. How do you want your brand to be received online? How do you want to sound?
Brand through the lens of customer service
Have you ever stopped and thought about how people discover a business? That blog or article you’re writing could be how someone first discovers you. How well does that piece of content reflect your business? Is it a good representation?
It’s a bit like the first time you call a place.
If you get a rude/disgruntled receptionist you’re less likely to deal with that business. You’ll go elsewhere because you have options. To a certain extent you need to bring this mindset to your business blogging. And really, to any piece of content created for your business.
You need to remember that while you do have value to provide your customer, you’re not the only one. But rather than being embroiled in a price war, why not simply be the most useful, the most helpful business.
After all, it’s easy to slash prices, but it takes practice to be good at customer service and sales.
Blogging for business
Well-written blogs drive traffic which can turn into sales. If you are interested in creating easy-to-read sales-driven blogs that provide value, then you will want to use blogging as a customer service and sales tool.
Blogging to provide value is a must for your business to succeed online. If you don’t have the time, resources, or expertise to write blog content you can outsource the content a freelance copywriter such as myself who can write unique, relevant and engaging content for your business.
If you would like to know more, or if you are in need or blogging or webcopy, I offer a range of content creation services.
