No matter what industry you work in, branding yourself is crucial.
In the global marketplace where competition is getting progressively higher, establishing your brand’s digital presence is a definite must. The best way to stay on top? Set yourself as a thought leader. The most effective way to become one in the digital age? Blog.
Case in point, I was first introduced to these brands because of their blogs. Zendesk blogs about Customer Service insights, Hubspot provides marketing tips and tricks, Copyblogger blogs about writing and blogging, and Buffer talks about social media, startups and work productivity.
There’s so much value you can get off the pages of their blogs, which is usually the thing that draws people in. Their blogs have become a gateway for people to get to know the brand first, and what their product or service is later.
Blogging and thought leadership go hand in hand in today’s marketplace where content marketing should be at the heart of your business strategy. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates mentioned this years ago and it remains relevant today: content marketing is king.
If you want your business to prosper, you also need to pour efforts into publishing valuable content, aside from continuously developing and improving your products and services.
Here are some other reasons how blogging helps you become a thought leader:
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Blogging showcases expertise in your field
The quality of your products and services may say a lot about your brand, but this is not always enough to stay relevant.
When customers encounter a problem, they usually turn to search engines to look for information that can help them address the issue. In this situation, you want your business to come up in their search results, which could be achieved efficiently if you venture into SEO and blogging.
Around 77% of internet users read blogs. You can make yourself known in your industry by providing solutions to customers’ problems. Become an expert whom customers can always turn to in case they need help with relevant and valuable information.
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Blogging facilitates forward-thinking
Publishing timely content on a regular basis requires you to research the latest trends and keep up to date with news in your field. This aside, it also helps you stay consistent in your forward-thinking, which is one of the main foundations of being a thought leader.
You set yourself apart from your competitors by having an innovative mindset that allows you to better predict things in the future, to discuss trends and new technologies that can disrupt your industry, and to rise as a voice of reason in an increasingly saturated online space.
In the age where the business landscape is evolving so quickly, your foresight would be valuable not only to your customers and clients but also to other related organizations in your field. When this happens, you’ll earn links from other credible sites, which is great for SEO. You want to be known in and out of your industry as a quality information provider.
There are many thought leaders that use their own blog as a platform to produce content related in their industries. For instance, Neil Patel is a successful digital marketer that holds an impressive roster of clients, including Google, Amazon, and eBay. He uses his blog to chronicle his expertise, knowledge, and share tips and lessons from his career, which boosts his credibility.
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Blogging helps build customer relationships
Retaining brand loyalty is becoming increasingly difficult considering how fast new businesses are emerging. Establishing a solid community by engaging your customers through blogging can help you build a loyal community and increase customer retention.
If you want to properly build customer relationships, you need to personalize your message. Newsletters, banner ads, and social media posts may help you get this message across, but nothing else quite does the trick better than a well-crafted blog post.
Whatever your message, the communication feels more personal when your customers know that you’re directly addressing their problems and concerns. Assure them that you’re here to help, that you have the solution that they’re looking for. Demonstrate your expertise by educating them on what you think they need to know to make better decisions.
The benefits that you’ll reap later on will be worthwhile. Having a loyal and engaged blog audience who read your posts regularly and purchase the products or services you create can generate you 6-figure revenue, much like Carol Tice.
Carol Tice, an award-winning writer, runs the Make a Living Writing blog. Her niche blog earned six figures by developing the types of products her readers want and selling those products when she had less than 2,000 subscribers. This number may be small for some, but the power of customer loyalty proves any brand can earn well from with an engaged audience.
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Blogging promotes and builds credibility for your brand
Blogs have been rated as the 5th most reliable source for collecting information online. Thought leadership blogging is not meant to be a sales tool to promote your company. The promotional aspect comes as a secondary effect for your business or organization as you establish yourself as an expert in the field.
When you reach out to prospects, you can provide a link to your blog posts for useful information they might need, which should help answer some the questions they may have. As you become a more prominent figure in the industry, you get to build credibility for your business at the same time.
When writing thought leadership content, avoid self-serving tones and sales-y language. Be authentic.
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Blogging boosts your visibility
You don’t want your expertly written and well-crafted blogs to go to waste, do you? Your blogs can gain some much-needed exposure when you link and share them to your social media accounts. Make sure to choose social media platforms that reach your ideal audience.
By sharing thought leadership blogs on your social media networks, you get to engage and encourage participation with your audience. Encouraging interactions is an opportunity for you to educate your audience (who can turn into prospects) and sway them with your valuable, relevant content.
Demonstrate thought leadership through blogging
Brands and organizations that practice thought leadership blogging understand its gravity as a strategy for growth—for elevating a startup or unknown brand to an esteemed authority in the industry.
Competition is only increasing, but you can always make yourself stay top-of-mind by becoming recognized as an authority. Instead of following the status quo, set yourself apart by becoming a thought leader—share your out-of-the-box, forward-thinking insights— and set the standard through blogging.
Quality business organizations come and go but thought leaders?
They’re indispensable.
