By Fodhla O'Connell-Grennell

If you want to attract new customers, grow your website traffic, become a leader in your industry and build loyalty with current customers, then blogging might just be for you. Blogging can add public value to your company by creating informative, well-written posts with customer engagement and strategy being a key focus of the articles.

Communication is important for heightening brand awareness and encouraging new consumers to choose your company. Without communication, your business would rely on ‘luck’ that somebody will come across your product and/or service and share your ideas by word of mouth. However, in a tech savvy society, we no longer need to rely on old methods of communication. You have the power to communicate as much information as you wish to an audience about the product and/or service you are selling.

In both public relations and marketing communications, written content is a key component to promotion. Blogging is a personal style of written content, where you can promote your company from your own platform and attract new and current customers through shares on social media. It offers an exceptional boost to your search engine optimisation (SEO) as click through rates from social media onto your website will increase.

As blogging is rather personal, yet informative, it provides an opportunity for you to tell the story of your business and to convey your key messages, objectives and strategies in each post. You can also blog about your business’ news whether it is your company’s anniversary, if you have an upcoming campaign or anything else which you think will be important to inform your audience about.

You don’t have to strictly stick to information about your company, but you can educate your audience about important information in the industry. For example, in public relations, you may see blog posts about opinion leaders and their importance, gaining media exposure or even crisis communications; as you can see posted on our blog. This kind of information will make your customers assume, you know the best and is a great way of positioning your company as a leader in your industry.

A blog will ensure you are active on social media, as well as, on your own website. It will keep your internet presence fresh and relevant for people who are looking online for your product and/or service. The long-term results you will notice from posting on your blog once a week, once every two weeks or even once a month will be a strength for your business. One major achievement you will notice is brand loyalty, and therefore, in the future, you may find yourself acquiring more customers and doing better business.