As an additional channel for brands to engage with audiences, the blog is, and should be, a lead-generating, prospect-converting, revenue-driving workhorse. You should be able to clearly identify why you blog, what you post, and what key performance indicators you will used to measure your success. Lacking this clear vision, you may be wasting time and resources developing content that will not contribute to improving bottom line or supporting future customers. This article will deconstruct the blog strategy as a guiding document and hopefully provide the reader with ways in which to measure the performance of his or her blog and maximize desired outcomes.
There are several templates available online (Google “blog strategy templates”). However, rather than providing the reader a ready-made template, this article will breakdown sections and explain why each is essential to your strategy. It is important to remember that this doc should be as actionable and concise as possible, meaning cut out the rambling sentences and stick to bullet points.
Objectives
Here, you want to quickly identify why you blog. Are you increasing brand awareness? Hoping to establish yourself as a thought leader? Wanting to drive conversions and increase revenue for your brand? These are bottom-lines that serve to substantiate arguments in favor of blogging. There are more people voicing opinions, and sharing insights and perspectives than ever before in the history of mankind. Borrowing a term from Apple’s new iPad commercial, “the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” Don’t waste your verse on drivel. Blog with intention and purpose.
You may choose to follow the below template for objectives or create your own version. Be sure to minimize ambiguity and uncertainty and maximize action.
Objectives:
- Drive interest in Company X and increase prospect conversions
- Establish Company X as thought leader
- Maximize SEO efforts
- Increase new and return visitors
- Make Company X visible as emerging name and brand
Audience
To publish great content and ensure it makes it to the right readers, identify who your projected audience is. If you’ve been blogging for some time, you already know this. Jot it down to remind yourself that this is whom you write for. If you’re just getting started, then fill out this section keeping in mind: your market and product/service/niche. Nailing down your audience will make meeting your objectives simpler.
First, define the person or role, then the specific market, and finally topics.
Audience:
- Customers
- Marketers/Marketing Interns/PR
- Finance – manages bank social media and marketing collateral
- Ad agency – produces collateral and info graphics for clients
- Brand – develops brand awareness
- Marketers/Marketing Interns/PR
- Topics
- “What does this blogger bring to make my job more cost-effective, efficient, or simpler? Where does the blogger fit within our market?”
- Analysts
- Mining data for white papers and research reports.
Methods
After defining your objectives and audience, move to how you will meet your goals. Again keep this concise and actionable. For example, “post industry-specific research that will increase reader knowledge” provides a far more stable foundation than “posting original and unique content.” You want to make sure your methods are measureable.
Methods:
- Link to relevant content
- Compose blogs that include at least one study: show the research
- Use most popular SEO keywords in posts
- Guest post for authoritative blogs with engaging communities
KPIs and Benchmarks
It is great to say that Article DEF received X number of likes, shares, or comments. However, this does not provide you with actual data to reflect on your effectiveness. Key performance indicators (KPIs) and benchmarks provide you with the quantifiable metrics to measure your success and adjust accordingly.
If you’re new to blogging, research industry standards within your market. If you’ve been blogging for some time, average metrics across your content. Set targets for to quantify success.
KPIs and Benchmarks
- Organic blog traffic
- Paid blog traffic
- Social media blog traffic
- Blog bounce rate
- Blog conversion rates
These are the essential components of a blogging strategy. You may choose to hone in on what sort of content you want to push or when you will publish. The more thorough you are, the easier it will be to stay on track. Once you’ve set realistic goals, start small and slowly improve. And with vision, direction, clear objectives, and KPIs, you’ll find results more reliable, predictable, and able to be improved upon.
