When it comes to developing a substantial content marketing strategy, new entrepreneurs and even seasoned business owners are often at a loss. Should they blog? Should they send out newsletters? Do they have to do both?

If you too are wondering whether to add a blog or newsletter to your content marketing mix, running over the below information may help you decide which one is going to work the best for your marketing needs.

Why send newsletters?

One of the most invaluable assets to your business is the people listed in your database. These people are deemed a part of your “target market” as they have indicated an interest in your product or service. Therefore, it is important that you get your message across to these people and one of the most effective and easiest ways to do so is through an online newsletter offering, often referred to as email newsletter.

Sending out newsletters can be a daunting proposition – not only with what to write but making the commitment to write something on a regular basis. However, the benefits of sending a regular newsletter far outweigh these fears.

Consistently sending out a newsletter will

• Constantly remind your followers of your existence and the products or services you offer.
• Enhance your business brand recognition when forwarded through an email template that complements your brand and website’s look and feel.
• Position you as an authority in your field, giving you credibility and trust amongst your followers.
• Enable the ability to be forwarded to friends and associates of your followers, spreading the word about you and providing an opportunity for those to subscribe as well.

Why blog?

Blogging, considered an extension of social media marketing, also has its strong points. It gives you an opportunity to write about news and information related to you, your business and your industry on a regular basis. By doing this, you can be discovered by a much bigger audience, largely through Social Media and Search Engines.

Some advantages to blogging are

• Search engines pick up blog postings quickly and easily, giving you great exposure in search results.
• Blogs can be built within your existing website, thus driving traffic to your whole site when someone wants to read one of your features.
• People have an opportunity to distribute your blogs to their various social media channels, giving an opportunity for your article to “go viral.” Other bloggers could also pick up your post and re-post it to their blog (with your permission of course) or reference to it from a post, creating a “trackback” that gives positive SEO juice to your site.

So which is better- blog or newsletter?

Blogs are often the more valuable component of a content marketing strategy than newsletters, but if you have the capability you really should consider using both to get optimal results. Here are a few reasons why

• Newsletters give you the opportunity to maintain an active database of your target market. Blogs do not.
• Blogs are a more efficient way of frequently reaching out to your target market – whether it is a brief message or an in-depth write-up.
• Newsletters allow you to personalize and direct your message to each person on your list where blogs need to speak to a generic audience.
• Blogs are picked up by search engines easier and can pull in a more global audience where newsletters are targeted to a limited audience within your database.

As you can see, each approach has its own distinctive marketing qualities and should be used collectively to attract more clients.

Best of both worlds

A newsletter does not always have to require a lot of extra writing. You can simply be strategic about the content that you write and ensure it reaches the largest number of people. One trick that you can do to avoid redundant work is to add the blog post in your newsletter. Every time when you send out your newsletter, you can reference the blog post and ask your followers to read the whole post on your website.

Always provide value Cautionary note

In order to build a faithful following, you must always think in terms of what your readers (and more importantly your ideal target market) want and need from you. You need to give them valuable information (or entertainment) that will make them feel it is worth their while to either receive your newsletters or read your blog postings. As soon as it is not worth their while, you have lost them.

If you want further information on how to get started on either, we, here at Contentrecyclers, help many busy businesses (both large and small) with writing, posting and sending blog articles and newsletters. We can help you too!