Why blogs are such great PR tools


Blogs are becoming an increasingly part of any PR and digital campaign. Here we look at some of the reasons why well written blogs can have some an important impact.

1. Journalists pick up on info from blogs
Increasingly news editors and feature writers read blogs on a daily basis to find new story ideas. Blogs tend to be more up to date, relevant and lend themselves well to feature article material. So, if we blog for you, it’s more likely to get picked up by journalists! The blogs we write could be reviewing your products or giving company news and comment on various industry or business issues. Our aim is to make the blogs as upbeat and informative as possible, whilst positioning our clients as the industry experts.

2. Allow you to project the human face of the organisation
Blogs, unlike press releases, allow you to get your own personality across in a friendly conversational way to a prospective customer. The best thing about blogs is the ability to personalise – the blogger is a real person, not a faceless organisation! By working closely with our clients and getting to know them as individuals, we can write blogs in an upbeat, informative chatty way that gets across that there are real people behind the businesses we represent – with great results!

3. Blogs help you to build trust
Having a blog on a company website helps to build credibility and achieve trust. Personalisation of a blog and a conversational tone will help to develop trust with your followers and customers. Often press releases can be misrepresented as ‘spin’ and sometimes journalists are sceptical about the sales message they contain. Blogs are known for their openness and ability to get to the crux of the matter. There’s no need for a tightly controlled message with a blog – it’s someone’s thoughts, recollections or opinions (and of course we can write it so that it puts your organisation over in a positive, friendly and approachable manner). Blogs can soon gain a good following – as shown by some of the best bloggers who have thousands of people who subscribe to their content. It’s a well known fact that people buy from those who they trust.

4. Become an expert through your blog
Often blogs attract the interest of an industry association, leader or a key magazine journalist, who then goes on to ask our client for a press or TV interview. This could be because the blog regularly features topical information on your industry, so you became an authoritative voice on the subject. This can lead to no-cost PR opportunities that could be seen or heard by hundreds of thousands of people. Blogs work well when the subject is decided in conjunction with the sales and marketing team, however it’s important to make sure that it retains its authenticity and doesn’t become strangled with too many corporate or sales messages.

5. Blogs are a great way to cultivate public opinion
Blogs can help to cultivate public opinion. For example, a company could survey its customers and the blog could discuss the different elements of the survey and the options that the company could use to respond – and in doing so, ask for feedback and people’s own opinions. This can lead to open discussion with customers or others within the industry, helping to build relationships and generate more engagement.

6. Blogs help to prevent a crisis escalating further
Should a crisis happen, a company blog can provide an immediate and personalised vehicle to discuss and outline the issue to the public. This is when Chief Exec’s blogs work really well and can serve as an open, honest, direct communication to anyone affected. Blogs also enable the company to give straight forward answers. Building up this kind of trust can be great for enhancing a business’ reputation. With blogs, there’s obviously no limit to the number of posts per day – which means you can update what is happening in real time. A company that is shown to respond to a crisis in this way and outlines plans about how it intends to resolve a problem can lead to favourable media coverage. By keeping people informed, the public are also more likely to feel that their needs are being taken into account and that they are being listened to. In turn this can help enhance a company’s image and raise its profile in the industry.

7. Blog for SEO benefit
The obvious reason why most companies blog is to gain search engine value. Building links into blogs is really important for your SEO. If you can secure high search placements, this can lead to better visibility with key journalists for whom it could become their regular reading. The addition of keywords within a blog post is important, whilst not ‘keyword stuffing’ this can provide a powerful boost to your business in search engine rankings.

So, I’ve looked at why blogging is good and the more casual and conversational the voice of the blogger, the more it appeals to people that real people like you are working there. No longer do organisations, large or small, need to be nameless and faceless – blogs enable real people to come alive in their posts, adding value to a business.

If you would like to find out more about our blogging, PR or SEO services, call our team on 01709 300130 or email hello@dragonflypr.co.uk.
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