Your blog is a component contained within your overall marketing strategy.
When you start a company or planning for the next year you create a marketing strategy that outlines how you will increase sales and grow the company.
A marketing strategy is encompasses the online and offline aspects of the marketing efforts which include the website, the blog, the print ads, radio, tv, mobile advertising, events, event attendance.
It all is contained in the strategy as independently and collective all play a role in the growth of the company.
Marketing Strategy Marketing strategy is a clear roadmap and path as to how and where best to focus your energies and resources within your budget.
The marketing strategy is broad in the sense that each of the components (product development, service offerings within a clearly defined niche, promotion, distribution, pricing and CRM) will have their own marketing strategy with goals, objectives, strategy and tactics and measurable metrics.
Your blog is no different.
A company blog is created and maintained to support the overall marketing strategy but needs its own marketing strategy.
As previously discussed, blogging is not a short term fix or campaign.
It is a long term, viable means of creating awareness, generating leads and increasing sales.
The goals for your blog are generally about growth and start with a verb for action.
Continuing with the blogging goal set forth previously, Blog Goal: Increase Awareness of Company Offerings through inquiries for more information or proposals.
Blog Objectives: 1.
Write 40 blog posts per month.
2.
Increase blog subscribers 25% over 6 months.
3.
Participate in industry forums to increase and connect and engage with 3 members per month for 6 months.
Blog Strategy & Tactics Your blog strategy is answers the how you are going to attain the measurable objectives.
The objectives clearly state what you are wanting to accomplish and within a certain time frame.
How are you going to create and post 40 blogs per month? How are you going to increase blog subscribers 25% over 6 months and how are you going to participate in industry forums to increase and connect and engage with 3 members per month for 6 months? Creating objectives is not very difficult until you look at the strategy of how will you get this done.
Blog Strategies Objective 1: Write 40 blog posts per month.
Strategies: Create editorial calendar for to outline the topic/subject for 40 posts Create blogging team within company to contribute 15 posts Create external blogging team with guest bloggers to contribute 10 posts Here what we have done is removed full and exclusive responsibility to the main author as well as to the company and related staff.
The objective now seems extremely attainable as a portion the posts have been delegated.
Objective 2: Increase blog subscribers 25% over 6 months.
Strategies: Create relevant and useful posts that identify with the target audience, helps them and solves their problem.
Read and comment on industry blogs.
Include popular, up and coming in popularity and newer blogs to obtain a well rounded audience base.
Delegate the reading and commenting to internal blog contributors with an assigned amount of comments each week.
Prominently display subscribing to the blog.
Promoting post on social media platforms that have been identified as a community building arena for your niche.
Here we have identified the top, middle and lower sites within the niche and are able to reach out them and gain awareness.
The top sites may not notice you as much but the middle and especially the lower sites will come on over and look at what you are doing.
Objective 3: Participate in industry forums to increase, connect and engage with 3 members per month for 6 months.
Strategies Create list of industry forums and first listen to see if this is the proper place for your company.
Cross check current customers as well as industry leaders to determine if they are members of the forum.
Follow their activity.
Review and respond to/answer postings and inquiries.
Build rapport with members before requesting connection.
Participating in forums is one of the best ways to share your knowledge on a certain subject/topic.
People talking to people by helping.
You are there to lend a hand because you can and want to.
This is sort indirectly selling as you are giving advice and if it good advice, it will be remembered and recommended.
Blog Tactics Your tactics are where you get the busy and actually do the hard work to get the dirt under your nails and the grass stains.
Tactics: Objective 1 - set aside 2 hours a day for the blog, reach out to industry folks who you have seen guest blogging and ask for a post, designate internal or external consultant to assist employees with posts.
Tactics: Objective 2 - Designate internal or external consultant to compile list of industry blogs to read and comment upon as well as assist internal employees with their responsibilities, create a call to action at the bottom of each post to encourage subscribing, create profile on social media platforms and share others information (esp.
ones you comment on); build a network around you to promote sharing of your posts.
Tactics: Objective 3: Set aside 1 hour each day to review the postings/inquiries and provide comprehensive and well thought out answers, check other platforms to see if forum members have profiles on LI, twitter, FB, etc.
to connect with them there for recognition and repore, ask questions of the forum members to start a discussion.
These are a few strategies and tactics that can create from the objectives provided.
The main point of focus is to be sure that through your strategies and tactics that your objectives are attainable.
If not, you need to establish new goals.
It also may be of use to have an external consultant for a period of time to train a staff member to be in the internal consultant.
While many may frown upon the use of an external consultant, it money worth investing as the goals, objectives and strategies look great on paper however when delve into it and have no-one there to keep the focus on the tactics, many fail.
We are all taught, we spend countless years receiving an education that is taught to us by a teacher or professor, we continue to learn each day from each other but yet when it comes to creating and implementing a strategy, suddenly the teaching part is forgotten.
When you start a company or planning for the next year you create a marketing strategy that outlines how you will increase sales and grow the company.
A marketing strategy is encompasses the online and offline aspects of the marketing efforts which include the website, the blog, the print ads, radio, tv, mobile advertising, events, event attendance.
It all is contained in the strategy as independently and collective all play a role in the growth of the company.
Marketing Strategy Marketing strategy is a clear roadmap and path as to how and where best to focus your energies and resources within your budget.
The marketing strategy is broad in the sense that each of the components (product development, service offerings within a clearly defined niche, promotion, distribution, pricing and CRM) will have their own marketing strategy with goals, objectives, strategy and tactics and measurable metrics.
Your blog is no different.
A company blog is created and maintained to support the overall marketing strategy but needs its own marketing strategy.
As previously discussed, blogging is not a short term fix or campaign.
It is a long term, viable means of creating awareness, generating leads and increasing sales.
The goals for your blog are generally about growth and start with a verb for action.
Continuing with the blogging goal set forth previously, Blog Goal: Increase Awareness of Company Offerings through inquiries for more information or proposals.
Blog Objectives: 1.
Write 40 blog posts per month.
2.
Increase blog subscribers 25% over 6 months.
3.
Participate in industry forums to increase and connect and engage with 3 members per month for 6 months.
Blog Strategy & Tactics Your blog strategy is answers the how you are going to attain the measurable objectives.
The objectives clearly state what you are wanting to accomplish and within a certain time frame.
How are you going to create and post 40 blogs per month? How are you going to increase blog subscribers 25% over 6 months and how are you going to participate in industry forums to increase and connect and engage with 3 members per month for 6 months? Creating objectives is not very difficult until you look at the strategy of how will you get this done.
Blog Strategies Objective 1: Write 40 blog posts per month.
Strategies: Create editorial calendar for to outline the topic/subject for 40 posts Create blogging team within company to contribute 15 posts Create external blogging team with guest bloggers to contribute 10 posts Here what we have done is removed full and exclusive responsibility to the main author as well as to the company and related staff.
The objective now seems extremely attainable as a portion the posts have been delegated.
Objective 2: Increase blog subscribers 25% over 6 months.
Strategies: Create relevant and useful posts that identify with the target audience, helps them and solves their problem.
Read and comment on industry blogs.
Include popular, up and coming in popularity and newer blogs to obtain a well rounded audience base.
Delegate the reading and commenting to internal blog contributors with an assigned amount of comments each week.
Prominently display subscribing to the blog.
Promoting post on social media platforms that have been identified as a community building arena for your niche.
Here we have identified the top, middle and lower sites within the niche and are able to reach out them and gain awareness.
The top sites may not notice you as much but the middle and especially the lower sites will come on over and look at what you are doing.
Objective 3: Participate in industry forums to increase, connect and engage with 3 members per month for 6 months.
Strategies Create list of industry forums and first listen to see if this is the proper place for your company.
Cross check current customers as well as industry leaders to determine if they are members of the forum.
Follow their activity.
Review and respond to/answer postings and inquiries.
Build rapport with members before requesting connection.
Participating in forums is one of the best ways to share your knowledge on a certain subject/topic.
People talking to people by helping.
You are there to lend a hand because you can and want to.
This is sort indirectly selling as you are giving advice and if it good advice, it will be remembered and recommended.
Blog Tactics Your tactics are where you get the busy and actually do the hard work to get the dirt under your nails and the grass stains.
Tactics: Objective 1 - set aside 2 hours a day for the blog, reach out to industry folks who you have seen guest blogging and ask for a post, designate internal or external consultant to assist employees with posts.
Tactics: Objective 2 - Designate internal or external consultant to compile list of industry blogs to read and comment upon as well as assist internal employees with their responsibilities, create a call to action at the bottom of each post to encourage subscribing, create profile on social media platforms and share others information (esp.
ones you comment on); build a network around you to promote sharing of your posts.
Tactics: Objective 3: Set aside 1 hour each day to review the postings/inquiries and provide comprehensive and well thought out answers, check other platforms to see if forum members have profiles on LI, twitter, FB, etc.
to connect with them there for recognition and repore, ask questions of the forum members to start a discussion.
These are a few strategies and tactics that can create from the objectives provided.
The main point of focus is to be sure that through your strategies and tactics that your objectives are attainable.
If not, you need to establish new goals.
It also may be of use to have an external consultant for a period of time to train a staff member to be in the internal consultant.
While many may frown upon the use of an external consultant, it money worth investing as the goals, objectives and strategies look great on paper however when delve into it and have no-one there to keep the focus on the tactics, many fail.
We are all taught, we spend countless years receiving an education that is taught to us by a teacher or professor, we continue to learn each day from each other but yet when it comes to creating and implementing a strategy, suddenly the teaching part is forgotten.