Below is a guest post from Steff Moore, content editor for WorkflowMax, a cloud-based workflow management system that is ideal for small-to-medium size agencies. WorkflowMax integrates with Xero accounting and offers job management, reports, invoicing, timesheets and time tracking.
Your agency has a blog. Congratulations! You’ve finally followed every textbook piece of advice from the Internet marketing world!
But, do you understand what the purpose of your blog is? Who the audience is? And most importantly, how you can get a good ROI on your efforts?
There are literally hundreds of agency blogs out there (we highlighted some in our recent article, 25 Top Blogs Agencies Should Be Reading), but the majority fall into one of two unfortunate categories:
- “Look at us! Aren’t we awesome? Aren’t we trendy? Love us!”
- “Management said we need a blog, but we don’t know what we’re doing.”
You want your blog to fall into category three: “We are just the agency you need. Let us show you.”
An agency blog can be many things: an extension of your portfolio, a chance for you to discuss noteworthy news and views in the industry, or a place to post silly pictures of cute cats. But there’s one other use of an agency blog that many agencies overlook: its role as a lead-generation tool.
How do you use your agency blog to find and convert leads?
1. Figure Out Your Target Audience
If you plan to use your blog as a lead-generation tool, you must write for the client. Think about what the client might want to read, and then write about that in a compelling and unique way.
Your blog’s focus will depend on the types of clients your agency wants to attract, and the reasons they approach you. For example, if you’re an agency that specializes in branding, you may want to find start-up businesses, entrepreneurs and product developers. In turn, your blog could focus on demystifying the branding process and addressing problems affecting those types of businesses.
2. Write Quality Content
I know, I know … this instruction appears at the top of every single article about writing a blog. That’s because it’s true. Google places more weight behind high quality, unique and often longer content. The more engaging a piece of content, the more likes, shares and comments it gets on social media, and the higher it ranks in the search engines.
Re-read your articles, source good images, and perfect formatting and syntax. If your agency doesn’t have someone in-house who can manage the blog, hire a content manager to take care of it for you. You don’t need to blog every day, or even every week, but you need to be certain that everything you publish is of the same quality as your client work.
3. Demonstrate Your Expertise
I’ve talked about how many agencies use their blogs as an extension of their portfolios. This can be a very powerful lead-generation tool, but you need to keep in mind who you want to read about you past projects. A future client wants to see how you fulfilled a brief, what they can expect from the process of working with you and the results your campaign gained.
Place yourself in the shoes of a potential client. You need to hire an agency. The success of your business hinges on you being able to get the results you need within your budget. You might not have worked with an agency before. What would you want to know about a company that could put your mind at ease?
Use examples, quotes, testimonials and visual references to show (instead of just tell) what your agency does, and why you’re the best in the business.
4. Add a Call to Action
If you’re using your blog to convert leads into clients, then placing an effective call to action at the bottom of every post is the simplest step to convert more leads.
A call to action directs the reader to the action you want them to take next. Examples include: send an email, call the office, fill in a form, sign up to an email list or share the post on social media. You can use a different call to action on each post, depending on what you want to achieve, but you should ensure you always include one.
Creating a lead-generating agency blog is as simple as figuring out what your clients—as opposed to your staff or others in the industry—want to read. If you produce interesting, informative content on a regular basis, your blog will become more popular in social media and the search engines. This means only good things for your agency, and your bottom line.
Share your blogging best practices in the comments below.
