A to Z Challenge: B is for… Blogging
We often talk about thought leadership as a strategy for improving your visibility and raising your profile. This is why we have made Thought Leadership the overarching theme for our first A to Z Challenge.
Thought Leadership ties together the different strategies that we talk about including writing, speaking, networking, PR and Marketing. Thought-Leadership is about utilising your expertise and deep specialism and knowledge to answer questions, covering trends in your business/sector and being part of the conversation.
Simply put: it is being an Authority.
During the challenge, we will be looking at different ways that you can demonstrate thought-leadership and raise your profile.
Write your own blog to demonstrate thought-leadership and expertise.
A blog can be a great way to demonstrate thought-leadership. One of the best things about having your own blog is that you are in control of your own content and have a home for it. Having your own blog and making it successful can really make you stand out as a thought-leader in your industry and really cement your reputation.
However, it can be a lot of work. Therefore the disadvantage is maintaining your blog and keeping it up to date. Additionally, in order to make it “
Your blogs and articles (whether you are writing them for your own blog or a third party) you should be making sure that they are content marketing and not just content.
Each of your blog posts, while that shouldn’t be
If you are already writing a blog review your blog posts and consider:
- Do your blog posts inspire engagement?
- Do your blog posts keep visitors coming back to read or purchase?
- Do your blog posts build community?
If not, you might want to re-think you blogging strategy.
Further Reading:
0 Comments
JazzFeathers
I think blogging really creates a form of expertice. It had done that for me. But I find it hard to take the step from building authority to salling, maybe becasue while i feel authority is more like sharing what I love, selling is… well, kind of taking advantage.
Any suggestion?
printedportal
I get exactly the same thing.
I write and blog what I love (across a variety of blogs). I like to keep the selling element discreet.
In my professional /work life it really is about just letting people know what I do and what I talk about and how to solve their problems. When they need me they come to find me. I can sometimes take a while (as they don’t need my services all the time) but that is why it is important to be visible so that they remember that you are there when they need you.
In relation to my blogging and my products, these are aimed at giving people that little bit extra – most customers will have read my content or tried my freebies and then want to try one of my other products, but again – most of my products are very specific so I try not to sell at people, rather I nudge them to let them know the products are there as and when they need them.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t – try different things and see what works for you.