Blogging and long-form content publishing is a marketing strategy that has grown over the last decade. As the world shifts from print to digital, new technologies are influencing web publishing. With the development of the internet there was a fear that the publication business would go away, but promoting articles is easier now than ever and just as important.

Over the years, businesses have used online newsletters, blogs, journals, and other publications to grow their web following. If your brand hasn’t invested time into content strategy, you could be missing out on ways to expand your business. Creating a long-form content strategy will give you a new way to reach your most engaged consumers and encourage online growth. The following are some benefits you may reap from investing time and effort into your content plan 

Challenge Your Competition 

When creating your content strategy, you can analyze content produced by other businesses and see how they use blogging to promote their products and strategies. Through competitive content analysis, you can find weaknesses and gaps where your business can step in to answer consumers’ questions and take a competitive advantage. A unique value proposition is a valuable aspect of marketing strategy, and it’s crucial for your blog as well. Focus your writing on the unique values and strengths of your business. When you do, you can set yourself apart from other brands.

Researching other companies in the same industry can also help you learn from their successes and apply them to your strategy. Aspects like topic, structure, and link usage can all come into play in determining the success of your content. Looking at the first few search results when you browse for an industry topic can help you nail the tactics that work for competitors. 

Improve Online Visibility

Blogging has been an avenue used by individuals and businesses alike to influence online engagement and brand awareness. Long-form pieces allow you to explore topics more deeply, and make a stronger impact on your followers. If your audience is inspired by your publications, they may share your content on their own feeds and further your reach even more.

Search engine optimization is a technological feature that can lead people outside your target audience to your articles. By using SEO, you can utilize links to push your website to the top of search results. Highlight key phrases in your content and link them to resources outside of your website. This linking strategy will help your brand show up in results when the keywords are searched in a browser.

Nurture Partnerships

Companies often use their publications to promote partnerships and collaborations with other businesses. By including public releases in your blog, you can highlight and showcase the brands you’re working with. Publishing a release about a charitable collaboration, for example, will not only publicize your philanthropy but also boost awareness of the charity you’re partnering with. 

Unveiling these partnerships in your content may also give you access to the consumers that follow your business partners more closely. When establishing partnerships, it’s common for social media and media packages to be a part of the public release plan. Request that your partners share your partnership announcement with the article link across their social media channels. With this strategy, you’ve easily gained visibility among a new audience. Audiences who see and interact with this content may gain new interest in your business and even become customers.

Thought Leadership

As your blog gains readers and popularity, you should establish yourself as a thought leader in your space. Sharing your subject expertise through content writing will help you grow an online library in which web visitors can indulge. Educational content is often successful in professional spaces like LinkedIn, as people are eager to learn. In the end, sharing your expertise can make your brand look more credible and trustworthy to followers. 

Thought leadership can also open your brand up to other opportunities down the road. Potential business partners may stumble across your publications and become inspired to contact you. Other brands may start to use you as a resource as well and reference your work, allowing your pieces to spread further across the web. 

Inform Your Customers

Sometimes, major business or product updates are too detailed to summarize in a social media post. A company blog will give consumers and followers deeper insights into company news and updates. Sharing news in a long-form structure prevents you from leaving out important details and will help your customers feel in the loop during major business changes.

Many SaaS businesses use a blog format to introduce their consumers to new features within their platform. Organizing your tutorials in a blog format makes your library easy to navigate and find via search. If you want to encourage followers to use a new tool your team developed, you can create blog posts that list explicit use cases and advantages. This type of content can be beneficial for consumers who are trying to get better at using your product and improving their skill set. 

Worth the Work

Developing and enacting a content strategy can feel like a lot of work, especially if you’re a small business. However, refining this part of your marketing efforts can contribute to your overall growth. By sharing knowledge, company news, and successes in this manner, you’re able to dive deeper into topics and establish yourself as an expert among connections. 

Published by: Nelly Chavez