Business blog writing is something that companies in all kinds of fields are embracing. With a successful approach to blogging, companies can improve their exposure to prospective customers, reinforce relationships with existing customers, and establish an expert presence in their industry. A skilled blog writer needs to add value in order to provide the most benefit to the company running the blog. That being said, there is some confusion over the best way to do this.
What Does Adding Value Mean?
Internet marketers have a tendency to use buzzwords about digital marketing techniques that are not fully understood by mainstream business professionals. Adding value is a term that simply means providing marketing content that potential customers will choose to engage.
In an article on Entrepreneur, marketing executive Bob Gilbreath does an excellent job of explaining the idea of adding value. Gilbreath says that the old “interruptive” model of advertising is dead, because people have learned to ignore the thousands of advertising messages they see on a daily basis. Instead of using these antiquated techniques, Gilbreath recommends that marketers deliver information and services that will help customers make smart decisions about the things they are thinking about purchasing.
How Today's Blog Writers Are Adding Value
Simply understanding what value means to the modern customer is not enough for businesses today. Those responsible for coming up with blog posts have to know some of the common ways that companies add value with business blog writing so that they can think about how to create value in their own work. A few common techniques used for adding value to a blog post are:
Guides and other helpful information:
Many companies are coming out with buying guides that help advise consumers about things they want to purchase. Providing information is especially important for businesses that operate in complex fields: the Zillow Blog is a good example of a blog that helps consumers in the real estate world, which is constantly changing and can be difficult to navigate
Leveraging their customer base:
Testimonials are a very powerful tool for winning business. People are interested in hearing what other people like them have to say. What are customers of your client saying about trends in their industry? Providing a platform for people to talk on a blog will be very helpful to your efforts to provide value for clients
Stay current:
Providing the latest breaking news for people to read can be especially important in an industry where things happen quickly and news developments have a huge impact on the way industry professionals operate. Even if you cannot be the first one to report a new story, adding a comment or new tidbit can still provide value for your readers
Don’t Be Afraid Of Being Creative
Remember that you do not have to model your value adding techniques after existing templates. Marcus Sheridan at The Sales Lion raises a good point about adding value: it is a fluid term that is defined only by the people that use it. Sheridan goes on to point out that the art of communication is in itself a valuable endeavor, and that you should never be dissuaded from creating content just because you are concerned about whether or not it adds enough value. With some careful thought and a willingness to try new things, you can use value adding techniques as a secret weapon to take your business blog writing to the next level and thoroughly impress your clients.
