WRITING AN EFFECTIVE CORPORATE BLOG
Corporate blogs are a wonderful, cost-effective way to educate your current customers, attract new ones and raise your company profile online. Here are some points to remember as you establish or perhaps, revamp, a blog for your company:
A corporate blog should help your customers, not advertise your products.
The primary purpose of a blog is to provide objective, useful and timely information about your industry, market and the trends affecting them to your customers, potential prospects and the world at large. Remember, if you attempt to sell on your blog you’ll probably turn off readers and undermine its credibility as a trustworthy informational resource. Think of your blog as a way to deepen customer relationships and enhance your brand’s overall reputation rather than a sales tool.
Even blogs written for scientists and technicians should have a conversational tone.
As stated above, blogs aren’t ads. However, they’re not mini-white papers either. Even if you’re writing primarily for readers in highly complex fields like engineering, technology, finance, etc., interested laymen should still be able to understand your subject matter as well. So avoid using industry jargon and acronyms, write short, easy to follow sentences and try for a tone that’s friendly and conversational.
A blog should reflect the perspective of your company and brand.
A major attraction of any blog is that it expresses the author’s point of view expressed in his or her own style. Corporate blogs should do the same.
Begin by defining the personality of your corporate brand. This, in turn, will help you define the style, tone, and language you want to use. Does the company consider itself altruistic? Or is it proud of being a no-frills, no-nonsense, profit-oriented operation? Does it have a strong entrepreneurial bend? Or are its corporate values deeply rooted in certain cultural traditions? These factors will determine what your blog will cover, how your articles will be formatted, if humor, personal anecdotes, and quotations are used and more.
A blog can help customers get to know individuals within your company.
Whatever your blog covers – news of your company, the industry or the world at large – using quotes, information and observations from senior-level managers is a good way to demonstrate the intelligence, expertise, and concern for the community of your corporate leaders. Alternatively, you could use quotes from front line people, indicating that the company values and respects the work and opinion of all its employees. Quotes in blogs create a sense of transparency, timeliness, and credibility. They also can create a personal connection with the reader that builds a sense of trust in the blogger and the company they write for.
Blogs should follow set guidelines to ensure consistent quality.
If different people within your company contribute to your blog, consider developing a template that everyone can follow whatever the subject matter. This will help ensure that whoever actually produces a particular piece, the tone, style, and message are always consistent and supportive of your brand. Another option to consider is to have Crux create weekly or bi-monthly blogs for you as part of a strategic digital marketing program.
Whatever route you take, we hope these suggestions will help you develop an effective blog for your company and your customers.
