If you’re a CEO of a small business, your list of to-do’s is never ending.
Too often I see these same CEOs looking at marketing as a checklist of things to do. They attend seminars or pick up the latest marketing book off the shelf, and use whatever list the guru is currently promoting to market their own business.
Website – check
Facebook Page – check
Twitter Feed – check
Instagram Account – check
Little do they realize that creating the marketing tool is one thing; using it effectively is an entirely different entity. Yet that’s where the true test really lies.
Anyone can create something; its finding the value in it and giving the end user what they really want and expect that matters most.
No matter how small your company is – even if you’re a one-person show – the key to blog writing success is coming up with your strategy first. And avoiding the pitfalls that get in most CEOs’ way.
Pitfall #1: Time
CEOs have one big problem that almost always stands in their way: time. There is only 24 hours in the day, and with so many things vying for your attention, there are only so many things you can do. The important things rise to the top. The things that don’t seem to have immediate deadlines fall to the bottom. Unfortunately blog writing almost always is in the latter category. Blogs are conversational tools between you, your readers, your followers, your prospects and your clients. If you use them the right way, you connect in a big way. If you don’t, they feed into irrelevance very quickly.
Pitfall #2: Commitment
When you start up a business, some things can be considered to be long term commitments. You do them because they are a part of doing business. Blogging can be considered one of these long term commitments. Going into it, you should know what you hope to accomplish from it, why you’re doing it, and what time you’ll commit to it every single week. If you don’t have these in place from the start, it can quickly turn to drudgery, which very quickly leads to quitting altogether.
Pitfall #3: Abandonment
When you enter the blogging world without realizing its ultimate purpose for your company, it’s very easy to lose sense of the value as other things move into your vision. You stop writing. One week turns into one month. And eventually it turns into a year. Or two. Then your prospects do a search, come up with old data, discover a blog that was abandoned many months or years ago and decide to do business with a company that has more relevant content. You lose. Never a good thing for a small business CEO.
Pitfall #4: Sense of Purpose
CEOs usually have one goal in mind: to sell their product. And the more old-school you are, the more selling and marketing becomes a part of the way you promote. Try that in today’s social media tools and you’ll fail rapidly. Try that in a blog and your blog will soon become a source of frustration rather than a source to reach out to your customers. Every blog needs to have a sense of purpose – a reason behind what it was created in the first place. Is it to educate your readers? Is it to entertain them? When you discover the why, it’s easier to put the content together whenever you choose.
Pitfall #5: Boring
Blogs should never have a one-track-thought. Nothing is worse than a boring blog. It shouldn’t all be about the technical side of your business. Instead, it should be a place to have fun and build relationships too. While helping one client fill his blog with how-to and Q&A posts, we also occasionally put together posts meant to entertain. We found fun YouTube videos interrelated to his core business, and often included fun tips meant to engage and help his clientele understand what he did from a completely different vantage point. Think about things through the eyes of your clients. Would you want to read what you have to say?
Pitfall #6: Trends
Everything over time goes up and down in the way your consumer base views things. Things become popular because it’s talked about in the news. And this is where CEOs often get off track with their marketing. Trends come and go; business action stays true. While jumping a trend may benefit you overall, make sure you have your standard tools and practices in place, and never deviate before trying out “the latest, greatest thing”. If blog writing is in your toolbox, do it regularly no matter what.
Pitfall #7: Staying In A Bubble
Your blog isn’t the only blog out there. There are many businesses that compliment what you do. You might also have other business sources you regularly refer. What if they provided insight through a blog post on your blog? Guest posting can be a huge benefit when you cross-pollinate between two businesses that work well together and refer regularly anyway. Why not share this resource with your readers, and provided added benefit in the process?