• This content marketing strategy leverages the power of blogs to achieve specific marketing objectives. 
• Blogs have the potential to educate and engage the audience to convert leads into paying customers. 

The core concept of “Strategically Use the Blogs” is to capitalize on content marketing using well-written blogs on websites or other platforms. It revolves around using blogs as a central hub to attract, engage, and convert the target audience into paying customers through informative and valuable content.

Before implementing this strategy, marketers must clearly define their goals and audience. They must also have guidelines on what they want to achieve: brand awareness, lead generation, sales, and the target audience. Later, they must focus on creating high-quality content, which is the heart of the strategy. 

Moreover, they should not publish and pray that the blog will do wonders; instead, they should promote the blog on social media, guest blog on other sites, and build an email list. Later, they can focus on actively tracking the progress and understanding what resonates with the target audience, using this knowledge to refine the content strategy. 

How did Unilever incorporate the “Strategically Use the Blogs” Marketing Strategy? 

Unilever is a multinational consumer goods company famous for its diverse portfolio of household products. These include personal care, food, and home care products, and brands like Dove, Lipton, Knorr, and Hellmann’s mayonnaise are included. Plus, Unilever is a leading example of strategically leveraging blogs to achieve multiple marketing objectives.

Extensive Focus on Content

Unilever does not have a single blog but a huge network of blogs under the umbrella of the “Unilever Sustainable Living Plan” (USLP). This scenario allows them to target wider audience segments with relevant content that provides knowledge about different product categories, such as personal care, food, home care products, etc. 

Their primary blog, “All Things Good”, focuses on topics related to USLP’s goals like sustainability, social responsibility, social good initiatives, and ethical sourcing. This allows them to resonate with today’s consumers who prioritize such aspects. The content goes beyond providing product information; it offers informative articles, tips, and insights related to the chosen themes. It allows them to establish themselves as a thought leader and build trust. 

Engaging the Audience

Unilever skillfully uses storytelling to connect with readers on an emotional level. They share success stories of their multiple initiatives and showcase the impact they are making while intelligently highlighting the human element behind their sustainability efforts. Blogs incorporate interactive features like polls, quizzes and comment sections as interactive features. 

This interactivity facilitates reader participation, fosters a sense of community, and provides valuable audience insights. Sometimes, Unilever collaborates with sustainability or social good influencers on guest posts or interviews. This allows them to leverage the influencer’s reach and credibility to amplify their message. 

Building Brand Loyalty

Discussing its sustainability efforts and challenges openly allows Unilever to build trust and transparency with consumers. Plus, it will enable them to connect with a more purpose-driven audience. These blogs act as a platform to showcase positive customer experiences and testimonials related to sustainability efforts, encouraging brand loyalty and advocacy. 

Through this interactive content, blogs help build a community around the brand and its shared values. Eventually, Unilever strengthened customer relationships and increased brand awareness and loyalty. Using this strategy allowed them to reach business objectives intuitively. 

Measuring the Success

This strategy’s success can be measured by monitoring the key performance indicators. For example, tracking website traffic and related engagement metrics on blog posts allows Unilever to understand what type of content resonates with its audience and adjust its strategy accordingly. 

Sharing well-curated content on social media platforms and monitoring their likes, shares, and comments helps marketers gauge audience reception, engagement, and brand sentiments. However, Unilever might conduct certain surveys to measure how these blogs are influencing brand perception and customer behavior toward their products and sustainability initiatives. 

In conclusion, incorporating the “Strategically Use the Blogs” Marketing Strategy has benefited Unilever. Through this strategy, they went beyond just selling the products; they focused on building brand affinity through shared values and a commitment to a greater purpose. Eventually, the approach fostered trust, increased brand loyalty, and positioned themselves as leaders. 

What is the “Strategically Use the Blogs” Marketing Strategy? 

The “Strategically Use the Blogs” marketing strategy skillfully leverages blogs’ prowess, making them a central hub for attracting, engaging, and converting the target audience into paying customers. It is more than just throwing content on the web; it creates a plan with specific goals in mind.

Define The Goals, Target Audience  Creating High-Quality & Engaging Content

Marketers must have the exact answer to what they want to achieve with the blog. It boosts brand awareness, enhances lead generation possibilities, increases sales, etc. Understanding the goals acts as a guide for your content strategy. Then comes understanding the ideal audience’s demographics, interests, and pain points, which are crucial in crafting relevant content. 

Marketers must focus on delivering value to the audience. Blogs could be informative articles, how-to guides, industry insights, or entertaining stories related to the niche. Proper keyword research helps optimize the blog for search engines, ensuring content’s discoverability. 

Furthermore, they can use visuals like images, infographics, and videos to break up text and enhance engagement. The focus must be on maintaining a consistent voice and style that resonates with the target audience. Creating high-quality and engaging content is the key to the success of this strategy. 

Content Promotion & Distribution

When incorporating this strategy, marketers must not only focus on people finding the blog organically but also on promoting the content on social media platforms frequented by the target audience. They can consider options such as guest blogging on relevant websites for wider reach and eventually establishing themselves as experts. 

Furthermore, they can focus on building an email list and then send regular newsletters to the audience highlighting the latest blog posts. Marketers can engage readers by responding to comments and fostering discussion on blogs. Tracking the blog’s performance using analytic tools is equally important. 

This allows them to understand what type of content resonates with their audience and the traffic it generates. This data can be further used to refine the content strategy and tailor the content to better meet the audience’s needs and achieve the marketing goals. The success of the content marketing strategy hinges on monitoring and adapting accordingly. 

Pros and Cons of “Strategically Use the Blog” Marketing Strategy

Like every other marketing strategy, the “Strategically Use the Blog” strategy comes with its pros and cons, as discussed below. 

Pros

A blog with valuable content can attract visitors searching for information related to the niche. It can potentially increase website traffic and brand awareness. Regularly publishing high-quality content with relevant keywords can improve a website’s ranking in search results and make it easier for potential customers to find the blog and business organically.

Sharing valuable insights and industry knowledge through blogs positions the brand as a thought leader. It also helps build brand awareness, trust and credibility among the audience. Strategic blog content can nurture leads by providing valuable information and educating potential customers about the products and services. 

Integrating Call to Action (CTA) into blog posts might help convert readers into leads and then into paying customers. Compared to traditional advertising, creating and maintaining blogs is relatively inexpensive and comes with long-term benefits. Blogs foster two-way communication, and responding to comments and encouraging discussions facilitates better connections with customers and builds stronger relationships. 

Cons

Creating high-quality and engaging content consistently requires time and effort. Researching relevant topics, writing engaging articles, and promoting blogs can be a significant investment. In the blogosphere, which is already crowded, standing out requires a unique voice, valuable content, and strategic promotions.

Building a loyal readership and seeing significant results from the blog takes time and patience. Maintaining readers’ interest requires consistent innovation in the content strategy, and continuously producing fresh and engaging content can be challenging. Remember, building brand awareness takes time, and the initial reach of the blog might be limited, requiring consistent promotion to attract a wider audience.In conclusion, the “Strategically Use the Blogs” or content marketing strategy can be powerful and offers significant long-term benefits for businesses willing to invest time and effort. It increases website traffic, enhances brand awareness, establishes authority, etc. The strategy leverages the power of blogs to achieve specific marketing objectives.