Sonnhalter drew from its blogging experiences and developed a list of questions to help manufacturers decide if a blog is the right choice for their organization and gives them advice on how to get started in the world of blogging. John Sonnhalter and Rachel Kerstetter present the questions that need answered before starting a blog and give advice for integrating a blog into your marketing plan.

1. Should a Blog Be a Part of Your Marketing Plan?
The webinar will begin shortly
To call in, dial: 415-655-0057
Access code: 239-801-819

2. What Is a Blog?
“Blog” is an internet term that is short for “web log.”
• While websites provide information about your organization and
act as a “display window,” blogs draw in potential customers who
are looking for information that they care about
• Blogs are:
– A form of social media
– Websites that allow individuals, groups and companies to share opinions and
information in long form on a regular basis
– Considered “owned” media
• Blogs are content

3. Key Questions
1. Who is your audience?
2. Who is competing for your audience’s attention?
3. What do you want your blog’s focus to be?
4. What goals are you trying to achieve?
5. How are you going to measure those goals?

4. 5 Goals of Content Marketing
1. Catch attention
2. Grow engagement
3. Create conversations
4. Shorten buying cycles
5. Produce visible opportunities

5. Why Start a Blog?

6. Pros of Starting a Blog
• Establish your brand as a thought leader in the industry
• Share your professional knowledge with personality
• Creates a central hub for social media efforts
• Build relationships
• Can be used to support other marketing initiatives
• The size of your organization doesn’t affect the quality of your blog

7. Cons of Starting a Blog
• Blogs are time consuming
– research
– writing
– promoting
– responding to comments
• Blogs require a consistent presence and regular schedule

8. Is Blogging the Right Choice for You?
Ask the right questions

9. What to Ask?
• Who will be responsible for oversight of the blog?
• Do you have the time to blog?
• Can you repurpose existing content into blog posts?
• How many posts can you commit to writing per week?
• Do you have something interesting to write about?
• What resources do you have available?
• Will you be able to get involved in other social media (LinkedIn,
Facebook, Forums, etc.)?

10. What’s Involved?
Establish the number of consistent posts per week
How many posts per week can you commit to writing?
Even if you can only write one post a week,
it’s important to post the same number of times per week

11. What’s Involved?
Establish your credibility
Have a queue of 30-50 posts already written before launching

12. What’s Involved?
Select category silos and posting topic
• Select topic areas where you or your organization have expertise
• Use key words and links in posts
Tradesmen Insights Speaking of Precision

13. What’s Involved?
Establish an editorial calendar
• Create a loose schedule of what topics to write about and when to
post them
– Company events and milestones, industry events, holidays and seasons can help
guide content timing
– Calendars can be flexible

14. What’s Involved?
Write conversational posts
The goal of your blog should be to create “Holy Smokes!” type content
• Adopt a storytelling style for blog posts
• Avoid “salesy” language and overwhelming jargon
• Use internal and external links
• Make posts easy to read
• Make posts easy to share

15. What’s Involved?
Recruiting help
• Find people to write guest posts or to interview
– Other departments
– Specialists
– Industry experts outside the company
– Commenters who added value to previous posts
• Enlist a proofreader
• Gather sources of content and inspiration
• Use social tools to help manage and repurpose content

16. Audio
Source
Conversational
Tone
Easy
Sharing

17. Picture
Link
Video

18. What’s Involved?
Choose a blogging platform
Free options: Wordpress.com, Blogger, Tumblr
• Offer simple templates, themes and widgets
• Hosting sites can place advertisements on your blog
• Some free platforms allow you to use an owned domain
(domain ownership is inexpensive but not free)
Paid options: Wordpress.org, Blogger, TypePad
• Increased flexibility for design and plug-ins
• You gain advertisement control
• You find blog host

19. What’s Involved?
Select a blog name and URL
• Name your blog something easily recognizable and industry-
related
• Register a vanity domain, even with free hosting, if you do not want
your URL to be YourBlogName.wordpress.com
• Identify that your desired URL is available
– whois.com, checkdomain.com or another service can quickly identify available
URLs

20. What’s Involved?
Select a blog name and URL
pmpaspeakingofprecision.com
TradesmenInsights.com
Connector.com

21. What’s Involved?
Keep track of your metrics
• Metric information from your blog shows you:
How people get to your blog
(including search engine terms) Which posts and topics are most popular

22. What’s Involved?
Keep track of your metrics
• Metric information from your blog shows you:
Where your readers are located Which links your readers click

23. What’s Involved?
Promote your blog
• Promote your blog on other social media outlets
• LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter
• Social sharing tools: SocialOomph, Hootsuite

24. Recommended Reading
Managing Content Marketing Content Rules
by Robert Rose & Joe Pulizzi by Ann Handley & C.C. Chapman
www.managingcontentmarketing.com www.contentrulesbook.com

25. Questions?
Contact us:
John: jsonnhalter@sonnhalter.com
Rachel: rkerstetter@sonnhalter.com
Read our blog: www.TradesmenInsights.com