Marketing a brand can seem a little daunting at times, but would you have it any other way?

While there are myriad of ways to go about marketing your company‘s brand, some stand out more than others. That said it is important that you do not fall into a rut, one where you close yourself off from trying different initiatives.

As 2016 winds down, now would be a good time to not only review what you have done to date this year, but look at plans for 2017. Also, look at and try to answer the following:

• 2017 budget – What kind of 2017 marketing budget have you set up? Will it be more or less than this year’s amount?
• New campaigns – Do you have any major new campaigns planned for the New Year? If so, will they involve spending more money?
• Social media – Have you put enough time and effort into your social networking activities this year? If not, how will you increase them in 2017?

Get a Brand’s Story Heard

In order for your brand (whether you run the company or are in charge of marketing it) to get the attention it needs, it all begins with a story.

Consumers need to know as much as possible about your brand before deciding whether to spend money or not with you. While you can send out press releases and attend networking events (both of which you should already be doing), your website is the heart and soul of your operation. In the event you haven’t been putting it to work as much as possible, change that heading into 2017.

One of the main focal points to market on a website is of course the blog.

If you’ve been rather hands-off with promoting your blog or those of companies you are doing marketing work with, that needs to change. First and foremost, bring that blog out of hiding if for no other reason; it is essentially free to market. Yes, time and effort are of course necessary, but the blog can do so much good and very little harm.

With each blog post, you can tell a story not only about the brand you represent, but the industry you work in. In doing so, you become a go-to source for consumers and other businesses, both of which could ultimately end up spending money with you.

So, are you ready to turn a new leaf with marketing your company’s blog or those you do marketing for?

Focus on Blog Strengths

In order to get the most out of a brand via one’s blog, zero-in on the following:

1. Your blog – Make sure the blog/s you represent are not only informative and authoritative, but are updated regularly. Nothing does a blog more harm than just letting it sit there on the inactive roster. Even if you need to have others write content for it (meaning going outside the company), do it. If you want to soar up to the top of the Google rankings, a regularly update (and worthwhile) blog will help increase the odds of reaching such goals;
2. Guest blogging – If you haven’t already, give guest blogging a try. With the right efforts directed to guest blogging, you can promote your brand on countless other websites. This allows your brand (through a simple anchor text link back to your website) to be seen by numerous viewers. Keep in mind that some (hopefully many) of those viewers are potential customers. Most importantly, make sure any blog posts you write for other sites is informative, not an infomercial for your brand;
3. Socialize the blog – Finally, as great as blogs can be, promoting them via social media is of major importance in order to get the full impact you need. Use social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.) to tell your brand’s story via blog posts. Along with promoting the brand/s you represent as a marketer, be sure to cross-promote. For example, take a look at your Twitter followers (and those you follow). If some of them have interesting blog posts on their Twitter feeds, by all means retweet and share with others. Doing so leads to a much better chance that they will return the favor, giving you free promotions in the process.

As a marketer, are you doing all possible to market the brands you’re responsible for?

If you are, what advice do you have for other marketers in terms of leveraging not only your blogs, but guest posting on others?