When you think about your business brand, chances are your blog isn’t one of the first things to come to mind. But your company’s blog can be an integral part of your branding, if you know how.
Let’s look at how you can use your blog to support, or help build, a stronger brand for your business.
3 Ways Your Blog is an Extension of Your Brand
Here are three ways your business blog can become an extension of your brand.
1. Your Blog as a Customer Service Tool
This won’t apply to every business blog, but if you routinely address customer service issues and customer questions, your blog can become an extension of those efforts.
For example, if you sell products and you’re about to release an updated version of a product, you can use your blog for more than promoting sales.
In that case, you might introduce customers to key changes ahead of time to minimize questions or complaints later when they’re presented with something unfamiliar.
You can also use your business blog for more proactive customer outreach.
For example, if you see the same question coming in repeatedly, write a well-optimized post (perhaps with a video where appropriate) so customers find the answers they need when they search Google before ever reaching out to you directly.
2. Your Blog as a Continuation of Your Brand’s Voice
All business blogs should incorporate your broader brand “voice,” regardless of who creates your blog content. Consistency is important in branding, and that includes all content you produce.
For instance, if your brand is known for its light-hearted, family-friendly tone, you don’t want edgier blog content filled with expletives.
This goes beyond tone though. Your brand voice also includes what you talk about.
Let’s say you use your company social media accounts to advocate for specific causes that impact your customers or community (being eco-conscious for example).
You might then use your company blog to share your efforts in greater depth, like sharing photos from an event you participated in or fundraising totals for a campaign you ran.
3. Your Blog as a Reflection of Your Authority
If authority is vital in your niche or industry (healthcare for example), then that authority also needs to be a key element of your branding. And your professional or company blog can help convey that authority.
This is what’s often called “thought leadership” publication, long important in PR efforts despite the more recent label.
Thought leadership publication isn’t about building an image of expertise (how many marketers encourage people to use it even without legitimate authority). When done right, thought leadership publication is about showcasing the expertise you’ve already built.
There are several ways you can use your business blog to emphasize the authority of your brand. For example, you might:
- conduct original research and publish the results;
- offer expert insight into industry issues, news, or legislation;
- publish case studies relevant to your industry or customers;
- use your blog to highlight expertise of staff, not just yourself;
- post instructional or informational content you’re in a unique position to provide.
Think about the ways your experience, or your company’s experience in your industry, set you apart from most in your niche. Then tie that expertise or authority to your brand itself via your blog. The value of becoming a recognized leader can be just as important as short-term promotion and sales.
Your brand is about more than a name or image. It’s about the reputation behind those things. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to expand or improve that reputation using your business blog. Blogs can be an often-overlooked element, or booster, of your brand.
Do you need help coming up with a content strategy for your business blog? Get in touch and find out how I can help you incorporate your blog into your broader branding or even ghostwrite your company’s blog posts (in your brand’s voice, of course).
