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By now you’ve probably heard that a branded blog is good for business. You’ve heard the advice from marketing experts. You’ve seen other brands launch their blogs. And, you may even read other branded blogs. But, you may still be wondering, is it right for your business?

If you still aren’t sure if a branded blog is right for your particular business, let’s find out.

The Benefits of a Branded Blog

Before we talk about whether or not a blog is right for your business, let’s start by looking at the benefits it can bring to your band.

1. Supports search engine optimization

One of the top benefits of having a branded blog is that is support search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. SEO is the process of optimizing your brand’s online presence so you show up in search. The more organic SEO you build, the more people will find you through online searches.

Blogging supports SEO in a few ways.

  • Search engines use keywords to understand and rank content.
  • Search engines prefer sites with fresh, new content.
  • Sites with more content are more likely to rank.
  • Sites with more content attract more backlinks which improve rankings.

Recommended Reading: Local SEO Tips to Promote Your Brick-And-Mortar Business 

2. Controls your brand messaging and media

The next benefit of having a blog is that it turns your brand into a media company. It allows you to publish your content on your terms. Being your own publisher allows you to control the messaging surrounding your brand. You don’t have to rely on other digital platforms to share information about your business. You can do it yourself by posting blog posts that:

  • Share news stories about your business
  • Promote new products releases
  • Highlight upcoming events, contests, and promotions
  • Feature user-generated content
  • Tell your brand story using copy, photos, and video

3. Supports each stage of the purchase funnel

When you have your own media platform, you can create content that reaches customers at each phase of their buyer’s journey. You can create content that helps customers and guides them closer toward doing business with you when they are in the:

  • Awareness phase and looking for solutions to their problems.
  • Consideration phase and know what they want, but need to compare their options.
  • Purchase phase and are ready to buy but need to know where to go to buy.

4. Generates leads

As blog content guides customers through the buyer’s journey, it can collect leads at it drives audiences through the funnel. You can use your blog content to guide readers to submit their email address or phone number. By creating valuable opt-ins and then teasing and promoting them through your blog posts, you can generate more leads from your website than if you don’t have an active blog.

5. Provides content for social sharing

If your brand has a social media marketing plan, you are probably always looking for content to share. When you have a branded blog, you create content that can be shared through your social accounts. Keep in mind that you don’t just get one social share from a blog post. If the content is evergreen (meaning it is not time-sensitive and will have value over time), you can continue to share the content weeks or months from the time you publish it. Simply change up the social post (but link to the same content) to have more owned media to share.

6. Provides content for email marketing

Blog posts also provide content support for your email marketing efforts. If you have a regular newsletter, you need content to include it in. Blog posts provide that content. Create an email with a blurb about your blog post and a call-to-action to view or read it, and you’ve created all the email content you need for a new newsletter.

Recommended Reading: 6 Steps to Launch an Email Marketing Plan for Your Business

So, Does Your Business Need a Branded Blog?

To find out if your business needs a branded blog, ask yourself the following questions.

Is your website a primary asset for your brand?

A strong blog supports a strong website. If you don’t already have a strong website, you might want to hold off on putting together a comprehensive blog plan. There is no reason to drive traffic to a website that will provide a poor user experience. Focus on getting your website updated before blogging.

Do you have the resources to regularly write content?

While blogging can be done on a budget, it does require resources. Whether the resources are monetary (and you pay someone to write the blog for you) or time-oriented (you need to take time to write and manage the blog), they are still something you need to consider before you launch. Create a blog strategy and only launch it if you know you have the resources to maintain your plan.

Do your overall brand goals align with blogging?

All brands have different marketing goals, and your goals will dictate what marketing strategies you should use. Consider the goals that are unique to your brand. If they don’t align with the benefits and results you will drive from building a branded blog, then it might be time to consider other marketing strategies that will work better for your goals. You may need a blog if your goals are to:

  • Improve your organic SEO
  • Control your brand messaging and media
  • Create content to support your sales funnel
  • Generate leads
  • Provide content for social sharing
  • Provide content for email marketing

Recommended Reading: How to Design Marketing Goals That Set You Up for Success 

How to Start a Branded Blog

While we can’t give you a 100% answer to if you should start a blog for your business, hopefully this post gave you some ideas to consider as you decide what is right for your brand. It’s likely that you came away seeing that you do need a branded blog to attract new audiences, engage customers, and drive leads and sales. And if you did, we have the perfect tool to help you get started.

Download our free Editorial Calendar Template to create a plan and keep you on track as you launch your new branded blog.