Reaping The Benefits Of A Weekly Blog
A few years back I was meeting with a mentor discussing various options we might explore to expand our company’s presence in the market and grow the business. He immediately suggested a regular blog, and I immediately resisted. As a former professional journalist, I was accustomed to getting paid for my writing, so crafting a blog for free held very little appeal.
My more experienced mentor calmly explained, “If you’re blogging for your business, and you’re doing it right, you are not writing for free.” Long story short, I took his advice, and you are currently reading blog number 200 in a close-to-weekly series that Cronin Creative has been cranking out for a few years now. To say that I have not been writing for free is a major understatement.
Communicating your expertise, growing your list of contacts, driving traffic to your website, and differentiating yourself from the competition, these are just a few of the more obvious and quite powerful benefits of sending out a weekly blog. Consistency is key. By regularly sending out a blog, we have steadily grown our audience and substantially raised our profile for our target customers.
There’s no denying that Cronin Creative’s weekly blog has reaped all of the above benefits, but, for me at least, the secondary benefits are at least as important. Writing every week about your business can be challenging. You’re forced to do some digging to find that relevant topic, and, in the process, you become far more fluent in talking about the ins and outs of what you do for your clients. Another big plus to blogging is the gradual development of a unique, individual voice, a point of view that is yours alone and that you reinforce on a weekly (or whatever frequency you choose) basis.
The fact is, a good percentage of folks who receive your blog won’t actually read it, and that’s okay. Write for those that do and know that your blog is still making an impression and having an impact. Running into the non-readers, I often hear comments like, “Cronin Creative, yes, I see your newsletter and hear good things.” Although many readers will read and absorb what you’ve written and maybe even turn into clients someday, sometimes being seen is more than enough.
If you’re shy about putting yourself out there or maybe just resistant to the idea of writing, go ahead and hire a professional (I know somebody!). But, either way, one way or another, get it done and watch what happens.
No Comments