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Blogs as a marketing tool – and why they are worth your money

Author Kurt Schauer

When you hear the word blogger, do you think of someone who sits comfortably in front of their laptop with a cup of coffee and easily turns their hobby into money? You should correct that idea right away. We'll show you why blogging for a living isn't easy - and why you should definitely set aside part of your budget for these authors.

A blog is a blog?

If you want to use a blog as a marketing tool, that's usually a good idea. At the same time, however, you should keep in mind that the differences to supposedly similar channels can sometimes be striking.

For example, no two blogs are the same: fairly common, quality-questionable blogs, for example, focus on countless product tests. You often find these blogs in connection with affiliate marketing. Also popular for "making a quick buck" are blogs that basically rehash other authors' content, reproduce it in a different form and hope for lots of views and thus a few clicks on advertising banners. This is also usually not the variant you want to win for your company.

Instead, you want to attract long-term, well-known, established bloggers. These people have a quality that other portals do not offer: trust among their readers.

The Value of “Real” Bloggers

Over the years, bloggers have built up a fan base that is willing to read the author's posts in their tens of thousands. The reader knows immediately what to expect: The person knows the author and feels connected to him or her in a way that cannot be achieved via traditional websites or even social media channels that are very close to the target group. A clear touch of personality blows through a blog that has become well-known over the years and whose author the readers almost seem to know personally.

These are always carefully maintained blogs that have been supplied with new content since their creation. The design is geared towards the target group - and at the same time towards the author - and every letter and every comma is in the right place. Because: Here, the blogger writes himself and perfection is the top priority. You as an entrepreneur can also capitalize on this incomparably fertile ground. But to do this, you have to treat the blog correctly as a marketing tool - and the kaos advertising agency shows you how to do that.

Blogs and Brand Building

Check out the following points to understand why successful bloggers are worth your money:

Blogs of the type described rarely serve as a direct sales channel. For example, if you contact a blogger and ask whether the person would test a particular product sold by your company, you can only very rarely expect this to directly increase sales of that product. It is less a tool for achieving short-term increases in sales and profits than sustainable marketing.
Think of a blog as a way to increase awareness of your brand. As a rule, a blogger will only discuss your company (or its products or services) if there is a certain thematic connection to the regular content of the blog. This means you get advertising that reaches almost exclusively your target group and is therefore as effective as possible. No other marketing tool offers you this certainty.
As mentioned above, blogs are a highly individual matter. There is probably no other place where your brand will be addressed in such a personal (and open) way as with a successful blog. You can capitalize on this by turning a rather distant image of your company into a positive light that is closer to your target group. Blogs are an excellent tool not only for advertising, but also for polishing your image.
Also, keep in mind that the post about your company will probably also contain negative comments, as blogs are a personal medium. It is best to accept this approach, because the readership is not stupid and knows that perfect products or brands cannot exist. Therefore, view negative opinions as a means of giving your brands room to make mistakes - and thus breathing humanity and authenticity into them.

Be patient

No blogger will risk the trust that has been built up over many years for a one-off post for your company. Think of successful bloggers as excellent brand ambassadors - but only if you can convince them to work with you. Even for a higher amount of money, you won't be able to get a blogger to sing the praises of one of your products if the person isn't really impressed by it. Finding a good blogger is therefore also a question of patience. Ultimately, however, the wait is worth it, as you only want to attract the really convincing, excellent bloggers for your company.

By gaining a person who is well-established within the community as a blogging partner, you can also expect a certain domino effect: the post will very likely be read by other bloggers and rated as recommended, which you can practically count as free advertising. This also gains you readers of other blogs, who then spread your brand. If you rely on a relatively unknown person without the necessary connections to other bloggers, this effect will not occur.

Budget planning for your personal blogger

If you manage to work with a blogger on native advertising posts, you should set aside a budget accordingly. A person who generates a six-figure number of visitors per month will probably not be convinced by an amount of 100 euros. Plan for ten times that amount and you will get into areas where the blogger could cooperate with you.

Don't underestimate the work of bloggers: In addition to the pure writing effort, bloggers also publish their posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media services, and maybe even YouTube in the form of videos or various photography platforms like Instagram. The effort behind a good blog post, which could dramatically increase the awareness of your brand practically overnight, should not be underestimated. So don't argue with points like "So much money for so little text?" The overall structure is what counts - and if you take a closer look, you will find that marketing via blogs is a fairly cost-effective affair.