How Important is
Blogging for Local Business?
The landscape for business is becoming increasingly technological. Every business, no matter the size, now needs an online strategy in 2020. This is particularly important because the customers you are looking for are spending most of their time on the internet and if you’re not there to be found, your competitor is. You certainly cannot afford to be ‘missing-in-action’ and a good place for your business to start is with a blog. Yes, you should consider starting your own blog if you don’t have one yet (and updating yours if you already do).
What is a Blog?
A blog is an online space where you can share your ideas, thoughts and experiences so that others can learn from them and connect with you and your brand. It lends itself to a variety of uses depending on who is running it. Some of these uses include telling your story, sharing your opinion and experiences, coaching others, building a brand identity and selling products to mention a few. Blogging entails everything you do to keep a blog running including writing and photography.
Why Is Blogging Important for Your Business
Blogging is important for your business. Here are four reasons why that is so:
To increase brand awareness
Having your own blog is a fantastic way to increase the visibility of your brand in the online space. The more people are familiar with your brand and the services you have to offer, the more likely you can convert them into customers. Blogging connects you with people even beyond the reach of your geographical location. Who says you can’t go global while staying local? Absolutely no one and blogging might just be your ticket to doing just that.
To gain credibility and trust
Running a blog, if done well, gives people one more reason to trust your brand. The idea here is not to just create content but one that adds value to your readers and helps them solve their problems. Doing this consistently even as a small business can help establish you as an industry leader, and give you credibility against even larger business outfits. You’ll agree that I am more likely to do business with a brand I trust than one I don’t.
To maintain and strengthen existing customer relationships
A business relationship is like a flower. All other things being equal, you still have to keep watering it for it to grow. Blogging provides you with a channel to engage with new and old customers even when they are physically away from your business thus helping to develop and strengthen customer relations.
To gain feedback
Chances are that you will not do everything right. Blogging can help you get feedback on what you’re doing right so you can improve on it, and what you’re not doing well so you can refine it. A responsive business is one which knows what its customers want per time. Blogging can help increase the responsiveness of your business.
How to Get Your Blog Started
There is a ton of information out there on what small businesses need to know about blogging. The sheer amount of information can quickly become overwhelming so that you do not even know where to start. A good way to scale this hurdle is to begin by looking for a digital marketing blog. You can easily learn the basics of blogging, how to choose a blog platform, get content ideas and how to implement a blog strategy for your local business.
On the list of essential digital business commodities for local businesses in 2020; blogging tops the list! If you don’t own a blog yet, now is a good time as ever to start. It just might be all you need to scale up your business.
