How to Use a Blog to Build a Stronger Brand
Originally published on Iris.
When was the last time you went to a company’s website and didn’t see BLOG in the drop down menu? Blogs used to be strictly for news companies, recipe sharing, or writers trying to get published. Nowadays, companies in every industry are incorporating blogs onto their websites—and for good reason.
Blogs are not only a useful tool in boosting your SEO to reach that coveted spot at the top of the Google search page, but a blog can also help you tell a stronger brand story when used correctly.
A brief tutorial on SEO basics and blogs
Google’s SEO, or search engine optimization, is a fancy algorithm that is changing constantly to help Google keep the most accredited, valid pages appearing at the top of your Google searches. Most companies work with an outside vendor that specializes in figuring out Google’s algorithm and helping you play by the unsaid rules.
There’s A LOT that goes into your SEO ranking, but for higher level understanding, your SEO rank is basically how credible Google deems you to be on a subject. That’s why companies target keywords. You can’t be an expert on everything, so choosing keywords for Google to associate with your brand will boost help Google identify you as an expert in that field.
Most companies are now using blogs as a place to demonstrate their “expertise” by focusing on their keywords and peppering their blog pages with them. We may not fully understand the ins and outs of SEO, but we do know you want to use your keywords across your website at the top and bottom of your pages. A blog is a great place to keyword stuff your content. The trick is making it sound natural (which Google and your consumer will pick up on).
With Google acknowledging your expertise and elevating you in their searches your consumers will begin to view your brand as an expert in the field as well.
Brand storytelling through a blog
Brand storytelling doesn’t mean your “About Us” section on your website. While your company’s mission and founding story is part of the brand story it is not the entire brand story. Branding Expert Matthew Luhn explains the art of storytelling from his time creating animated films as a lead animator and storyteller at Pixar Studios.
The biggest trick to getting your audience invested in your story (or brand) is to make sure they see themselves as the hero. We fall in love and connect ourselves to characters in the film and in this way we see ourselves as their support system. The hero of Pixar’s most famous films is not the protagonist, it’s the viewer.
When you are telling your brand’s story, you need to put the consumer at the heart of the product and show them how they can be the hero when they are enabled by your product or service. A blog is an easy way to put your consumer in a narrative alongside your brand and explicitly demonstrate how your product or service can be a tool for success.
Cooking appliances and food products do this well by creating a blog of recipes that show the user how to best use their product. Holistic doctors and chiropractors may use their blog to give their consumers at-home exercises to better themselves. And marketing companies can provide further marketing knowledge outside of the service they provide to help their consumers create a larger marketing strategy.
If you haven’t jumped on the blog bandwagon yet, it’s about time you join the club. Find your niche and use the blog to demonstrate your expertise and usefulness to build a strong brand story.
Written in partnership with BigSpeak.