This blog marks Butler Street’s 242nd weekly blog. That means for 242 consecutive weeks, a new article is written and shared with our audience through a weekly newsletter. That is 242 straight weeks!
It isn’t easy though. The team at Butler Street makes it a priority and we persevere – every single week. Our clients and prospects have reaped the benefits and it all starts with the following mantra:
If we solve our customers’ problems… we’ll solve our own.®
We have learned through experience how to overcome some of the common hurdles with sticking to a content marketing strategy. Even if blogs are part of your current plan, you’re not alone if you have ever thought, “What should I write about?”
At the recent Staffing Industry Analyst’s Executive Forum in Miami, I was speaking with a President/CEO of a company that explained, “I know we should have a blog, but not sure what to write about or where to start.” I shared with him the story of “That’s a blog” – a phrase that has generated weeks and weeks of blog ideas for Butler Street - which he said in reply, “And… That’s a blog!”
Why Blogs are Important
From a previous Butler Street blog, The Discipline of Content, “Good content can be shared across social media, creating value for your potential customer, differentiating your company, and expanding your brand presence. It can help your sales teams position themselves as experts, bringing valuable insights to the customer. And good content can help nurture relationships and shorten sales cycles.”
Blogs are the execution part of a marketing strategy.If you don’t have a marketing strategy, start there (Why are you creating content? In what format and frequency will you publish it?) Related: Stop Wasting Money on Marketing
How We Do It – “That’s a Blog!”
As the Butler Street team was in a strategic planning meeting discussing our customers’ challenges, someone yelled out, “That’s a blog!” It started there and is a phrase that has stuck ever since.
Whether we are leading a training workshop for sales effectiveness, answering a question about a Net Promoter Score survey best practice, hosting a virtual leadership development continuous improvement series session, implementing our ClientFit web application for key account management or simply answering a question at a speaking engagement – client and prospect interactions are a primary source of our blog ideas.
We’ll simply call out (sometimes in private, send a text, or jot down a note) “That’s a blog” – meaning, “Hey – that would make a great blog! If this CEO/sales leader/sales rep/recruiter has this question or challenge, it is likely others do too.” We keep a One Note notebook of ideas, have a defined author schedule and all contribute to the creation and sharing of content. And we do it every single week… no matter what.
To create a “That’s a blog!” process in your organization – first, share this article with your team, bookmark the link to be able to refer to the resources here, and then determine a centralized place to track ideas. It can be a simple as a topic or expand it to include the best author, target audience (or persona), and a potential date.
Sources of Blog Ideas
Current and potential customers – What are they thinking about? What are they working on? What challenges are they experiencing?
Share a story - Your personal experiences and expertise can be both interesting and valuable!
Your teams/colleagues have good ideas too – Ask them!
Share resources or research data with your own twist – Save your audience time by compiling a list of related resources or tips like this one.
Four more resources for blog ideas:
Wouldn’t you like to know what inspired Mike’s article, “Fire him now!” or maybe “The Worst and Best Sales Call”? It could have been you! Or maybe it wasn’t actually you, but because they are based upon true stories, you may be able to relate to those experiences. Our blog provides us with the opportunity to create value for you, build trust, and expand our relationship. We hope that you enjoy our articles, learn something from our experiences, and even share them with your teams and network too.
The topic is only part of having great content. Not every idea turns into a great blog. Then it’s crafting the best headline, leveraging keywords and SEO, making it engaging and measuring the results of your content strategy. Butler Street can help you define a marketing approach that resonates with your target buyer and develop and implement a content strategy that positions you as an expert. Contact us to learn more!