When the Prime team set out to create a weekly blog at the start of 2015, there were as many questions as there were answers. Can we find enough content? Who is going to write it? Can we maintain a regular schedule? Where will we get photos and videos? 
Who is going to post the blog on the website and social media channels?
These were just a few of the questions that came up as the team assembled to develop and execute the plan. But thinking back to our initial meeting, having a team and having a plan were two of the major keys to our successful 2015 blog campaign.
What else has helped us develop a blog that has generated a number of business opportunities and created a nice audience? I’d be lying if I said it didn’t require a bit of coaxing, plotting and pleading from time to time. However, there are several things we did from the very start that helped us stay the course and consistently create high-quality blog posts throughout the year.
First, we started with a plan. We established a frequency (in our case once a week) that we were able to maintain. Our plan also included an editorial calendar, which we developed during a brainstorming session. From there we invited staff to participate by selecting one of the ideas we came up with or by using one of the topics as inspiration for their own idea.
Next, we communicated the goals and objectives of the blog, as well as the ‘voice’ in which we wanted to communicate. We decided our blogs should be informational, educational, insightful and entertaining. We have a talented staff who are subject matter experts in various areas of marketing, design, web and publishing. We wanted to leave our readers with at least one powerful soundbite that they could apply to their day.
We wrote some timely and entertaining blogs to help our readers get to know us a bit better, such as how we spent the summer with family and friends. We gave some well-deserved space to our office dog, Tank, and had our staff photographer do such a great job capturing photos of our company BBQ that you could almost smell the jerk chicken on the grill.
Some of our evergreen content included tips and best practices in the areas of local search, building a great website and making an advertising decision/media buy. We also made it a priority to send along best wishes on national holidays as well as recognizing the amazing philanthropy of our clients.
As we look back on the past 12 months, it’s been a fun year of sharing stories and information relevant to our clients and how they conduct their business. We have developed a nice audience that has engaged with the blog content and followed up with us to continue the conversation.
So what are you waiting for? With the right strategy, tactics and team, you too can create and maintain a successful company blog!
