“Simple but not easy,” has been repeated with increasing frequency around the WordWrite office as we continue to brainstorm ways to provide the best possible strategic communications solutions for our clients. 
Blogging, for example, is simple in theory, but not easy to execute if you want to provide value to your target audiences in the form of quality content that will keep them engaged and move them through the sales process.
(It might strike some of you out there as a little bit “meta” to write a blog about why blogging is so important, but stick with me for a minute.)
HubSpot conducts an annual survey on inbound marketing, its primary area of expertise. (Full disclosure: WordWrite is a HubSpot agency partner.) Here are some key findings related to business blogging from the 2013 report:
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82% of business marketers who blog daily acquired a customer using their blog
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Blogs produced a new customer for 43% of marketers last year
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Blogging requires roughly 9% of a full-time marketing team’s hours and just 7% of their total budget
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Just 9% of companies employ a full-time staff member dedicated to blogging
Given the significance of those numbers, it’s hard to believe such a small fraction of companies employ a full-time staff member dedicated to blogging, especially when factoring in the relatively small amount of time required to acquire a customer per hours spent creating blogs.
An important caveat to consider in your content creation: All blogs can contain interesting information, but a business blog is designed to mirror and align with your business goals.
Depending on your industry, it might or might not be realistic to blog every day. We don’t believe writing two or three sentences and linking to an article someone else wrote qualifies as a blog, specifically because that does little to demonstrate your value as a thought leader to potential clients or customers.
If a business wants more visitors, “qualified” leads and more clients or customers, then you do need to blog frequently. Yes, all your blogs are indexed pages on your website, so the more pages you have, the more likely search engines will find you. But website traffic in and of itself means little if you aren’t attracting the right type of visitor, so quality content creation is the key. Blog content provides a platform for you to showcase your professional experience and educate industry leaders on what makes you a trusted authority to help find solutions.
You need to focus on creating content consistently focused on the most valuable prospects in your industry. They want solutions, not an explanation of what you do. Why should they hire you? What makes you the best choice for the challenges they face?
Finally, make sure you hire or enlist the help of a professional writer to assist in the blogging process. I’m not talking about someone who knows how to use the electronic or social media tools you have at your disposal to post the content. I’m talking about people like my colleagues at WordWrite – strategic thinkers and problem solvers who have honed their skills through years of professional experience.
No matter how well you distribute content, it won’t move the needle if you’re not speaking the language of your customers and clients. Deliver the right content to the right audiences and they’ll come back for more.
We’d be happy to have a deeper conversation on the best ways to create, promote and adjust content that delivers new business, not just new visitors. Want a headstart on our thinking? Click the link below for a free guide to best blogging practices!
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Jeremy Church is an account supervisor for WordWrite Communications. He can be reached at jeremy.church@wordwritepr.com and on Twitter @churchjeremy. 
