When it comes to branding and your overall brand message, I believe consistency is very important. You want to maintain a certain tone that reflects your brand in every piece of marketing that you put out there.
Consistency with Variety
However, when it comes to your business blog, I feel it’s a good idea to mix up your messages in terms of the types of articles you produce and the topics that you cover. So, there should be a common tone throughout your posts, but it’s a great idea to vary what types of posts you are making.
Here’s an example. I have one client who is very partial to repurposing news articles related to their industry. It is fine, and it’s what they want to do. The content is very searchable and relevant to current events. At the same time, the articles can get dated. When that “news” is no longer new, then the post won’t have a ton of shelf life. I do my best to encourage this client to work in some “evergreen” topics from time to time. These are more information-based and will stay relevant for a much longer time.
Then, I have other clients who prefer more general content and there isn’t a whole lot of personality in the posts. They don’t want to talk about current news or inject an opinion. We always work in key brand messaging elements and SEO keywords, but again the overall blog loses a little something because all the posts have a similar feel. I do my best to mix things up when I can, but there’s only so much you can do when clients set certain parameters.
It’s Okay to Try Different Approaches
What I always try to recommend to my clients and anyone out there running a business blog—whether they choose to follow my advice or not—is to use a variety of topics, approaches and article styles. One week you might have a case study or customer testimonial story. The next week might be a current news article relating to your geographic market or industry. You could mix in employee profiles, tips, general information, product and service features, and more. This point is to do something a little different from week to week. This will keep the blog more engaging and also give you a wider reach in terms of SEO potential.
Now, you may end up with a rotation of article styles. This works well and you can create series where you revisit certain topic themes or use a similar approach that applies to multiple articles over the life of your blog.
Study the Results
Mixing up your blog approach is also great for testing the campaign results. Over time, you can see which types of posts draw the most site visitors or clickthroughs on social media. As the blog goes on, you can still keep a variety going. Just do less of the articles that aren’t working as well and more of the ones that are generating the most interest.
Your business blog should be ever-evolving. Have fun with it, so it is entertaining, engaging, information and unique to your brand identity.
For help building a successful business blog campaign, contact NextGear Marketing. I’d be happy to show you my approach and how it can make a difference as part of your company’s marketing system.
NextGear Marketing 