Top Company Blogs Require Content Strategy, Expertise, Good Writing

Fast, good, cheap is the classic triangle of constraints in project management. Say that you're expected to deliver on all three and you've got a problem. You'll surely fail unless you find a way to negotiate scope of work, or reframe expectations.

Maybe that triangle is not a really good premise for this post on creating content that is strategic, written well, and from expertise/experience, or is it?

For your business blog to raise about the noise and become a go-to customer destination, you need to have all three components working well -- a solid content strategy, expertise, and good writing.

Yet, you may not have people on board who can deliver on all three.

Good writing comes with practice

Many organizations are looking to communications groups to take on blogs for brands. Let's say you're looking to engage the developers, scientists, engineers, medical doctors in your customer base -- is picking marketers to do that a wise choice?

It's not enough to be able to articulate content in a way that is both informative and engaging. If you have little experience in the subject matter, your lack of expertise and lack of passion for the topic will not attract the right readership in your customer base -- and read like the rest of marketing materials.

No point having a blog to repurpose press releases, either.

Writing is a craft that is honed with practice and carries tremendous benefit for those who apply themselves to it in this age of digital media.

Expertise comes from experience

True, today you can do term papers and even dissertations by researching information on the Web. And unless you have experience in the subject matter, you will not be able to answer questions, or add anything significant to the topic.

Not to mention that you'll hardly be original. Differentiation is important for brands to escape the commodity trap. To engage a loyal readership, a blog needs to have original thought, and the voice of experience.

No point having a blog about your product, though.

Sharing information that helps your customers do their job better is the way to go. It's the famous what's in it for me, and you will earn the opportunity to talk about your product or service in the context of being helpful. We connect with helpful, not with the product itself.

Content builds context when part of a strategy

While you may have lots of different ideas about posts, you want to organize those ideas so they align you -- and your readers -- along a path to a destination. This is not just about having single calls to action.

Organizations are still learning about becoming media companies to utilize the power of pull vs. looking to move inventory with just ads and promotion. The way to make your blog a lead generation mechanism is to start it as a lead nurturing vehicle.

No point having a blog to post a bunch of content, if there's no thread or direction.

You'll end up confusing readers who may not know what to expect from you. Think of blogs as interactive sites where the interaction is driven by humans. Sure, you can be smart about keywords and search engine optimization (SEO). However, it's the people and a sense of direction that win the day.

***

You need all three to break through the pack and lead the way -- subject matter expertise rooted in experience, the ability to convey meaning through writing, and a content strategy. Together, these three elements help you move readers through connection to action.

What happens when you don't have internal resources that fit all three?

Do you train a copywriter or journalist for expertise? Do you help subject matter experts with writing skills? Do you delegate the content strategy to an agency or consultant?

What shall it be?

[image from FT CommMetrix Blog Index - see methodology here]

© 2010 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Ujwal Arkalgud]

Hi Valeria,

These are great points. I think marketers need to understand that ideally a blog must serve as a way for employees to be given a public voice. Especially in the technology sector, it becomes critical to actually have a team of bloggers who bring expertise from different domains.

One thing that I continue to struggle convincing people about though is that writers on a blog must be allowed their own voice. I do not agree with having a consistent voice/ (sometimes represented in writing style) across an organization's blog. At the end of the day, I think prospects and existing customers want to have simple and honest conversations with people within an organization. It's the only way to truly build trust and loyalty. Just my #.02 :)

[DW]

Ideally the blog would be written by several members of the company. Usually (hopefully) the CEO is the most visionary, passionate, articulate and expressive member of the company, but there are some excellent blogs that come from technical experts as well (Matt Cutts of Google, for exammple).
Marketing can offer support in proof-reading, SEO and strategy. But it's always best when a blog is coming from the heart of those who know the subject best.

[Gordon]

I've just stepped out after presenting an Adobe eSeminar on blogging, in which I was stressing the need for good content.

If the organisation is a technical one, they will likely have technical writers, these people specialise in producing good content, engage with them!

[Yann Ropars]

We run guest blogging program for our clients and I always speak of blogging being the 'mothership' of social media. It's clearly difficult or sometimes impossible for many brands to create constantly content that adds value to readers. They often fall in the trap of creating inward content.

We speak of the 'constituents voice' as the guiding principle when we augment their social media presence. Key is indeed as you say, to plan well the content by representing all constituents. We even use the personae as part of the content strategy.

If a company start to do it themselves, they clearly need to set up some kind of a 'blog club' across departments and event with customers/partners. Becoming a media business is a huge task...

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Ujwal - as long as you balance number of contributors per blog. Especially when you're starting out, you need to break through and find an audience. So, yes, having a distinct voice helps a lot, as longs as it's not a full Jazz band off the bat, or people won't know who to follow and when to come back. Introducing new people and elements gradually is a good way to build that initial readership. Hardest part is to start, convince a subject matter expert that it will be a good investment of their time. Second hardest is to help them sustain the blog over the 6-8 month hump. Everyone's still too used to campaign thinking -- beginning, middle, and end. The blog readership is just getting warmed when you're about ready to give up.

@DW - love the technical expert blogs. Some are sheer genius, explaining and teaching stuff they're passionate about. I'd like marketing to move away from secretary pool work whenever possible :)

@Gordon - speak to your customers in the language they use. No sense in using corporate jargon or marketing fluff. Yes.

@Yann - I'm partial to blogs myself. Especially useful for longer sales cycles that an use information and education. A good idea is to invite partners and customers to participate as guest bloggers, through interviews. Any company with a Web site is a media company, some get that refreshing the content often with useful information and being interactive is a better way to engage both search and people.

[Carolyn Ann]

I get the feeling this one of your more personal posts, Valeria. It has an urgent cadence to it. After this, and some of your other posts, no one should doubt your sincerity!

I'd like to say more, but I'm not sure I should.

You go girl! :-)

Carolyn Ann

[Curation Station]

Keep in mind that content strategy isn’t limited to original material and in-house writers. Curating existing content around your company or brand’s theme and working it into your blog can be just as (if not more!) useful.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Carolyn Ann - I talk to companies all the time and this article summarizes some of the critical questions the teams need to be able to answer to be successful. Launching a blog is hard work and takes a lot of time and energy. That's why it works when it comes out well.

@Jennifer - I'm all for repurposing content ideas where it makes sense. I've written extensively about it in many posts. With a big caveat -- get rid of the fluff and be genuine.

[Lise Janody]

Finding subject matter experts who have the time and the inclination to blog is already difficult enough, but when you add in language skills to the equation, it gets even more complicated. Experts are located all over the world, and most have worldwide responsibilities. Not all master English well enough to sustain a long-term commitment to a blog (I am making the assumption that if it were a company blog, destined to a global community of interest, it would likely be in English). It's one thing to write one piece; you then have to commit to engaging in conversation. That's the harder part.

[Galen De Young]

Hi, Valeria

Couldn't agree more with your post. Whether one writes her own content or engages a firm or freelancer to write it for her, the components mentioned in your post are required, not optional, for success.

As companies seek to outsource content creation, they have to be uncompromising in this regard. Unfortunately, it's getting all too common to see blogger-wanted postings on the web, like this one on Jobs.ProBlogger.net: "“…law firm with 4 blogs and 6 sites is looking for a blogger to write and self edit 30-40 entries per month…would like to pay per article $20 or less.” Clearly the emphasis is on fast and cheap, with little if any regard for the points you mention.

The lure of corporate blogging benefits is strong, but unless companies set proper standards and invest the time and money, those desired benefits will never materialize.