There’s been a lot of buzz around the topic of blogging lately. Every corner you turn, you’ll hear that even small businesses can benefit from a blog and content marketing strategy.
If you’re thinking about starting a blog–or getting yours up and going again–you’re probably also wondering if you should hire a blogger to promote your business. But do you need one? Read on to find out.
How Can a Blogger Help You, Market?
Blogging is often seen as a source of revenue. But that’s not the case at all. So if you think starting a blog will offer a direct revenue stream, you need to get out of that mindset right now.
A blog isn’t about earning money directly from it. Instead, it serves as a marketing tool –particularly by using the basics of content marketing.
The idea is pretty simple: A blog delivers useful or entertaining ideas to an audience via online content (usually articles, videos, infographics, and videos). People seek out your content or find it on social media and are drawn to your blog/website. Then, because they found your blog useful or entertaining, they’re going to stick around.
For most businesses, the main point of a blog is to create a following and a sense of community. The idea is that content reaches a wider audience on a deeper level than regular ads do. So as you attract people to your site through your blog content, you’re also increasing exposure to your brand. You can then convert your blog readers into loyal customers.
But how can a blogger help?
A blogger helps you by delivering all the benefits mentioned above. But when you hire a blogger to promote your business, you get tons of extra benefits.
- You get someone experienced in writing enticing, useful, and entertaining copy.
- Your blogger can tend to the community full-time, saving you time that you don’t have to maintain the blog, its content, and its comments.
- You get someone who can craft a compelling call-to-action without throwing sales copy in your readers’ faces.
- You get someone with a background in SEO, social media, and other tactics that can help boost your blog’s effectiveness.
Bottom line: If you have no idea what you’re doing, a professional blogger can turn your blog into a more effective marketing tool.
When Should You Hire a Blogger?
Hiring a blogger makes sense in most cases.
Consider hiring a blogger when:
- You don’t have the skills or knowledge to run your business blog on your own.
- Your budget allows you to hire a new employee or outsource to a freelancer. (Don’t know where the money is coming from? It should be part of your marketing budget.)
- You want to build a brand voice, a sense of community, an online presence, or all of the above.
- Your blog is failing to meet your goals.
- It would help if you had someone who can dedicate more time to your blog than you can.
- You don’t have the voice you want your company’s blog to have.
When Shouldn’t You Hire a Blogger?
Here’s the easy answer : Don’t hire a blogger when you don’t need a blog.
It’s a no-brainer, but with all the buzz about small business blogging, it’s tough to know if you need a blog or not and if you should hire a blogger to promote your business.
Here are a few times when hiring a blogger doesn’t make sense:
- When your business is highly localized and there are better marketing options to reach a local audience. Think about it: How many people in your current target market would read your blog? If the answer is not much, then a blog perhaps isn’t going to benefit you much.
- When you’re offering a one-off gig to a single freelance blogger. Any successful blogger will tell you that an effective blogging strategy involves a blogging schedule. If you’re looking to publish a small number of posts and work on marketing them rigorously, your strategy doesn’t make much sense when you look at the concept of business blogging. Only hire a blogger when you’re looking to stick with it for the long haul and work on building a community out of your blog.
- When you don’t have a clear marketing strategy. If you don’t know what you’re doing with your marketing strategy, now is not the time to hire a blogger to promote your business. You have first to know where blogging fits in your strategy and your budget.
- When you already have someone to cover the task. Often you can combine a social media manager and blogger under a “community manager” title. You might also delegate the task of blogging to a talented professional in your marketing department. Remember: Just because an employee has time to blog doesn’t mean they can do it effectively. Ensure that if you’re delegating the task to an employee or a team, they have the background and skills to manage your blog effectively.
So…Should You Hire a Blogger to Promote Your Business?
Like any open-ended question like this, the answer can get pretty complex.
The most simple answer: It depends.
In most cases, small business owners will want to hire a blogger or community manager simply because they don’t have the time to do it themselves.
Does hiring a blogger make sense for your business?
