Ten-hut! March past mediocrity with Blogging Boot Camp [EBOOK]

Your company blog probably isn’t where you want it to be.

Maybe you have an unclear strategy, or maybe it’s tough to get people to contribute. Perhaps your boss isn’t convinced that you should invest much time or energy in blogging. Or maybe you struggle to maintain your momentum.

Regardless of your challenges, you’re not alone. Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs produce an annual survey of thousands of B2B marketers that sheds light on a multitude of marketing challenges. In the 2016 survey, just 8% of 1,521 North American marketers described their content marketing efforts as “sophisticated.”

Many marketers are struggling to create a cohesive content strategy that includes tactics like blogging. Others find it tough to measure results or integrate systems. Part of the problem is that we’re confronted by an astounding number of choices for how to reach our audience.

So where does blogging fit in an increasingly complex marketing ecosystem? Is it worth your time when everybody else has a blog competing for people’s attention? If so, how do you break through the noise? And how do you reach your audience with the right message at the right time?

In our new eBook “Blogging Boot Camp: Your Marching Orders for a Kick-Butt Blog,” I explain why you should invest in blogging and how to win over the skeptics. I walk you through step by step how to build an engaging blog, get people excited about it, and increase your company’s overall online visibility.

Here’s a high-level overview of the 10 drills you’ll find in the eBook.

Drill 1: Research your competitors

Your blog basic training begins with an assessment of where you are. You’ll learn how to perform a competitive blog audit that gives you:

• Valuable insights about what your competitors are doing, and
• A thorough understanding of how your blog compares.

Drill 2: Create your blogging strategy

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to create your blogging strategy by considering some specific questions on output, resources, use of media, and blog promotion. We walk through some examples of two companies that do a great job with video content – Moz and Wistia – and also look at the results that Element Three has had with our Tactical Thursday video series.

You also learn how to analyze your existing blog categories based on your competitive research. Finally, you’ll write down some specific, measurable goals.

Drill 3: Spark employee excitement

Even the most prolific writers can’t handle a business blog alone; it’s a shared responsibility. After doing the research and creating the strategy, it’s time to voice your rallying cry and get your colleagues fired up. I describe how to build a blogging buzz among all the different personalities in your organization – introverts and extroverts, analyticals and creatives, writers and non-writers.

Then we look at the four ways that someone can contribute to a blog: writing posts, contributing ideas, serving as a “blog champion,” and sharing posts on social networks like Twitter.

Drill 4: Manage your blog

In the fourth drill, I share some tips from the trenches for how to deal with day-to-day blog management. You’ll learn how to manage an editorial calendar and have contingency plans when someone doesn’t get their post done on time.

Drill 5: Gamify

For the best results, you have to make blogging fun for everyone from experienced bloggers to newbies. I describe how to reward hard work and get people’s competitive juices flowing, as well as how to make it easier for your budding bloggers.

Drill 6: Reach out to guest bloggers

Guest bloggers can really spice up your blog because they bring an external perspective and can write about specific areas of expertise that you might not have internally. I describe how to identify influencers in your industry using tools like Buzzsumo, and then how to track your outreach to potential guest bloggers.

Drill 7: Find your production sweet spot

This drill shows you how to test your production levels over time with tools like HubSpot and Google Analytics so that you can find your sweet spot.

Drill 8: Promote your blog

In this drill, I share some effective blog promotion tactics, how to coordinate sharing across your company, and how to build the personal brands of your bloggers on Twitter. I also describe some best practices for using Twitter hashtags like #digitalmarketing, and even how to take advantage of hot topics in real time.

Here at Element Three, we incorporate blog promotion into a converged media approach that includes owned, paid and earned media. You might want to check out how we used that holistic approach to grow our conversion rate by 241%.

Drill 9: Maintain momentum

Blog managers at even the largest enterprise will encounter frustrations. I share from my personal experience how you can keep your eye on the big picture and not get discouraged. And I share some data about the impact blogging has had here at Element Three. Things didn’t happen overnight, but we’ve had some awesome results because we stuck with it.

Drill 10: Take a load off

By the end of boot camp, you’ll definitely be ready for a breather. I provide some final encouragement and a list of additional resources like Copyblogger and this great Whiteboard Friday video explaining why “good” isn’t good enough.

So, how about it? Ready to break your blog down so you can build it up? Download our Blogging Bootcamp ebook to march your way to blogging success.