Feeling guilty about your neglected blog? Here’s why it might actually be a good thing for your brand. Going all-in on content? You may want to take your foot off the gas…
Words: Simeon de la Torre, owner of SIM7
Right now, there’s a landgrab going on in the internet. Companies are investing huge sums in churning out huge quantities of what’s known as content – blogs, infographics, video, etc. – essentially to secure better search engine rankings. It’s a tactic that works. But it only works for a select few (and your company almost definitely isn’t one of them).
Why? Let’s take things back to the basics for a second: what are we trying to achieve by say, publishing a blog? It’s likely to be a mix of:
1) Boosting your search engine ranking
2) Getting yourself in front of new customers
3) Reminding existing customers that you still exist
4) Telling people how good you (or your products) are so that they spend money with you one day
Yup, a blog can do all of these things for a business and I’d certainly advise it. In fact, here we are in the middle of one of them right now (the irony!). Better still, update your blog regularly and there’s a good chance that you’ll tick all those boxes again and again.
Here’s the flipside
However, while publishing content even more regularly will ring that search engine bell for you, get you in front of new customers and reach out to your existing customers, there’s a good chance that it’ll damage your brand. You’ll soon become noise – like the countless emails you once eagerly signed-up for, but now delete without even opening.
Eventually, you won’t be able to tell people how good you are because they’ll have mentally switched off. And if that happens, they won’t spend any money with you. Your only option then is to ‘go nuclear’ and start offering deals – but if you head down that road, you’re no longer a business of standing but a discount retailer.
Your brand values
It’s part of your brand and it says a lot about who you are and what you’re all about. Think about the brands you know and how often you notice their online content – brash sports retailers churn out much more than middle class department stores.
So, before you embark on a content marketing strategy, consider your brand values. Quality brands need quality content (ahem: wecreate@sim7creative.co.uk) and sometimes less is much, much more. And in case you’re wondering, publishing fresh content a couple of times a month is about right for the average SME (shout about it regularly on social media by all means). It’ll keep Google happy and it will make sure your brand stays on track.