To truly appreciate the significance of consistent blogging, let's first delve into the core problem it aims to address. Picture the last few websites you visited. Chances are, their blogs were stagnant ponds of infrequent updates, sparse comments, and lackluster content. Despite this, many businesses still view blogging as a superficial trend rather than a potent marketing tool.

The prevailing issue lies in a lack of commitment. Companies hastily set up blogs and social media accounts, churn out a handful of articles, and expect immediate results. When nothing materializes, they dismiss inbound marketing as ineffective. However, success in content marketing requires perseverance. It's akin to planting seeds; you may not see sprouts after a week, but with consistent nurturing, growth is inevitable.

Blogging plays a crucial role in a comprehensive GTM strategy by:

• Building Brand Awareness: Regular, high-quality blog posts can establish your brand as an authority in your industry. This is particularly important during the product introduction phase, where creating awareness and educating potential customers about your product's value is critical.

• Generating Leads: Blogs that offer valuable content attract visitors who are likely to be interested in your product. By incorporating calls-to-action (CTAs) and lead magnets, you can convert these visitors into leads.

• Nurturing Relationships: Consistent blogging helps maintain engagement with potential customers. Through informative and relevant content, you can nurture relationships and keep your audience informed about updates and new features, moving them through the sales funnel.

• Supporting SEO Efforts: Blogs improve your website’s SEO by providing fresh content and incorporating keywords that potential customers are searching for. This boosts your site’s visibility on search engines, driving organic traffic.

• Demonstrating Thought Leadership: Regularly publishing insightful content positions your company as a thought leader. This builds trust and credibility, which are essential for influencing purchasing decisions.

Consider established brands like Unbounce and Moz. Their blogs served as primary customer acquisition channels during periods of exponential growth. This success wasn't accidental; it stemmed from a strategic alignment of blogging with overall marketing objectives. A robust blog content strategy, integrated with search engine optimization (SEO), is crucial for long-term success. Committing to frequent content updates—ideally three to four times a week if you can—ensures sustained visibility and relevance in search engine rankings. The graph below is from Unbounce.

A graph from Moz over time for consistent blogging

In the realm of marketing, two words reign supreme: "content" and "contact". Effective lead generation hinges on the delivery of compelling content, while lead conversion thrives on meaningful interactions. Combining these elements cultivates customer loyalty and generates valuable referrals, positioning your brand as a trusted authority.

Marketing organizations are now realizing that they can create content whose quality is equal to or better than what many media companies are producing. Moreover, they are seeing that they can deliver tangible benefits to prospects and customers by offering relevant content that helps produce solutions to some of the toughest problems their prospective buyers are facing. According to Google’s Zero Moment of Truth research, in 2010 the average consumer engaged with 5 pieces of content before making a buying decision.

For a media company, content is created to make money directly from the creation of content through paid content sales (direct purchase of content, like a subscription) or advertising sales (someone sponsors the content that is created, or similar to what we see in newspapers and magazines). For a non-media company, content is created, not to profit from the content, but to attract and retain customers (to sell more or create more opportunities to sell more). Content supports the business, but it is not the business model (meaning that non-media companies are not required to make revenues directly off the content itself). Every smart company has a regularly updated blog; brands can speak for themselves very powerfully.

Rick, the founder of Unbounce, attests to the transformative power of blogging. He emphasizes that investing in content creation yields enduring benefits. Unlike traditional advertising, which incurs immediate costs, content marketing has a compounding effect. Content gets picked up by search engines, shared by users, and referred to customers almost indefinitely. Unbounce's blog, which attracted 20,000 unique visitors per month before their official launch, remains their primary source of customer acquisition. Rick's experience underscores the long-term value of content marketing and the pivotal role of a strong company blog.

Even though content marketing is not new by any stretch, it’s a fairly young discipline. That means there are a number of marketers and business owners who need to be persuaded into trying content marketing for the first time. In November 2012, Coca-Cola unveiled Coca-Cola Journey. Instead of having a typical website, Coke transformed its home page into an online publishing machine. The new publication features company-specific content across nine categories, including all beverage brands owned by the Coca-Cola Company.

Now, let's pivot to digital product development. Building websites or applications necessitates the integration of custom blogs tailored to your brand's identity and audience preferences. A bespoke blog enhances user engagement and retention, serving as a dynamic platform to showcase expertise, share insights, and foster community interaction.

In essence, "Content is King, Connection is Queen" epitomizes the essence of modern marketing. By investing in valuable content creation and fostering genuine connections, businesses can unlock the transformative potential of content marketing and propel their growth to unprecedented heights.

Successful organizations make habits of things others don’t like to do or don’t find time to do. By committing to consistent blogging as part of your GTM strategy, you can establish a sustainable competitive advantage that drives long-term success.