Digital marketing glossary
Creating a blog for your business can be really beneficial: it means your website is regularly updated, which can help with search engine optimisation (SEO); it can provide value for your customers or potential customers by answering their questions and reassuring them about your product or business; it can position you as an expert in your field and build credibility. But…
…all too often, businesses start a blog without a firm idea of how this activity fits into their wider organisational strategy. Without a plan to create content that matters you will struggle to ensure posts are relevant and underpin business objectives.
Once you are clear about the role blogging plays in your business’s content marketing strategy, you can start to develop an editorial plan. Coming up with ideas for what to write about in your blog, or film for your vlog, is not always easy. So, if you’re looking for blog/vlog inspiration, here are 52 ideas – enough for one every week (as long as they fit in with your blog’s purpose!).
News
- News about your business: write about your new office premises, your new logo, any new personnel, awards you’ve won etc.
- News digest – a round-up of the key news in your industry sector along with a couple of sentences about why you chose to include it and what it means to you. This would work well as a regular blog post.
- Showcase new machinery or technology your business has invested in and explain how it is benefitting your business and your customers.
- How do current affairs affect your business? Discuss a newsworthy topic and describe what impact it has on what you do? Try not to be too obvious – Brexit is getting a bit tired now so avoid that topic unless you have something new to add to the discussion.
Your Business
- Talk about why your business was started; mention key milestones and learning points along the way. You could also mention long-standing customers and suppliers.
- Describe how you develop new product or service ideas. Outline any processes you use and explain why they work and what, if anything, you would improve.
- How did your company get its name? What was the thought process? If you had the choice would you keep the name or change it? What other business names do you like and why?
- What is the biggest challenge your business has faced and how did you overcome it?
- What are the biggest threats to your business and how are you planning to deal with them?
- What are your company values? How did you come up with them and why are they important?
- What makes your business different? What is your unique selling point (USP)? And why is this important?
- Why are your costs higher/lower than your competitors? What are the considerations when you make pricing decisions?
- Supplier focus – interview one of your suppliers. What do they provide you with? How long have you worked with them? What makes them special?
- What is best practice in your industry and how does your company demonstrate this?
Industry sector
- Myth-busting –what are the biggest misconceptions people have about your business or industry? How can these be overcome?
- What legislation has the biggest impact on your business? Are there any imminent legislation changes that might affect your business or your customers? What are the key things your customers should be aware of?
- What are your biggest bugbears about your industry? Why? Ask readers of your blog or your social media followers for theirs and include them in a follow up post.
- Useful resources list: write a list of useful resources about your industry. Why are they useful?
- What changes would you like to see in your business sector and why?
- What are the safety concerns in your sector and how do you reassure customers?
- Explain acronyms and jargon that are specific to your business or sector. You could run a jargon amnesty with your staff or through your social media platforms to crowdsource ideas and then explain what the terms mean, when and where they are used and how they originated.
People
- Profile key personnel in your business: what is their role? How long have they worked with you? What is their background? What inspires them? What do they do outside work?
- Talk about what you and/or the business achieved last week/month. How does this differ to a typical week/month and what made it special?
- A day in the life: describe what you do during a typical day. What time do you arrive at work? How do you prepare for your day? Who do you meet? How do you measure your success? What do you do at lunchtime? What time do you leave for home? What’s the last thing you do before you leave work?
- Talk about how aspects of your home life positively impact on your business life, and vice-versa.
- Describe why you decided to do what you do. Did you fall into your profession or was it something you always dreamed of? What training did you do? Was yours a typical career path? What advice would you give to someone wanting to join your profession or business? If you had to start again, what would you do differently?
- What questions do children/your mother/your grandma ask about your work? And how do you answer them?
- What character defects did you have to overcome to become good at what you do? Is there a stereotype for someone who does your job or works in your industry? How well do you match or differ from this?
- What’s the toughest part of your work and what’s the easiest thing about your work? Why?
- What would you send to Room 101 and why?
- Continued Professional Development: what training courses have you been on recently? What have you learnt that your customers or peers might find useful? How do you plan on ensuring you continue to develop professionally?
Customers
- Client spotlight – do a Q&A with one of your clients. What do they do? Where are they based? How big are they? Who are their customers? How long have you worked with them? What do you provide? What problem does your product or service solve? This could be a regular blog feature.
- How do you turn an unhappy customer into a happy one? How do you deal with complaints? Can you include an example? What advice would you give to other businesses in dealing with dissatisfied customers?
- Ask your customers what keeps them awake at night and write up the answers.
- When and why would you refer a customer or potential customer to someone else?
- What’s the best suggestion you’ve ever had from a customer and how did you act on it?
Seasonal
- New year resolutions: talk about your plans for the year or three things you want improve
- Link to an awareness day/week/month that links to your business. You can find a list of days at: https://www.awarenessdays.co.uk/ For example, World Photo Day is on August 19th so you could use this to showcase some of the best photographs of your business or products. Or you could use Promotional Products Week in September to talk about what and how you use promotional products in your business.
- Review of the year: are you where you thought you’d be at the beginning of the year? What went well and why? What didn’t go well and how did you overcome problems? What were the highlights for you? You could also ask staff, customers or suppliers to suggest highlights for this post.
- Write a list of the year’s most popular blog posts. Include comments and feedback, if appropriate. Mention if anything has changed since the blog post was written.
Networking and Events
- What industry organisations are you a member of? How does membership benefit the business? How does it benefit customers? How long have you been a member and why did you decide to take up membership?
- List the top people/organisations you follow on Twitter and explain why you like them.
- What LinkedIn groups are you a member of? Write a post rounding up your favourite groups and summarising some of the hot topics.
- Write a list of key exhibitions/shows/seminars or events in your sector. Why are they important? Do you exhibit or attend as a delegate?
- Talk about events are you going to? What are your expectations? Write a review of your experience and summarise how you or your business benefitted from attending.
CSR
- What charitable work is your business involved in? Why do you support these charities and how does being charitable benefit your business?
- Talk about your involvement in the local community: if you sponsor a local sports team, write about them and explain why you sponsor them; if you have a stand at a local show, talk about how you benefit the local community and why it’s important to play an active role in your town/city/village.
- How is your business working to be more environmentally friendly? What are your top tips for other businesses to be greener?
Inspiration
- Who inspires you in business and why?
- What are your favourite quotes or words to live by? Why are they so important to you?
- Reading list: what are the best business books you’ve read this year? Include a short review of each book along with a few sentences about how the book has impacted you personally.
- What are the must-read blogs or publications for your industry? Why do you find them useful? Ask readers of the blog to suggest any you’ve missed.
Of course, it’s all very well to have lots of content ideas, but if you struggle to write engaging copy or don’t have the time to commit to writing regular blog posts, then why not outsource? We offer a blog writing service where we turn clients’ ideas into posts and articles. If you’re keen to find out more and to develop your business blog, or any aspect of your digital marketing, get in touch.
We also provide a range of digital marketing services, including a digital marketing health check, outsourced marketing support, help with planning and implementing digital marketing and bespoke training sessions.
How SharpEdge Marketing can help you:
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