In my previous post on Consistency in Blogging, I discussed how good planning gets you points ahead in the business blogging game. But there is an important aspect of flexibility within your blogging strategy that must be present in order to include an essential ingredient: creativity. As broad as that word often is, in regards to business blogging I define creativity as “the ability to mix things up”; that is, you as a business blogger do not stick to a formula for all of your posts, making them look like identical twins. There does seem to be a struggle for balance when it comes to planning and creativity. Some writers plan too much and create too little, while others create a lot of content that has no direction or consistency because they did not stop to think about why or for whom they are writing. Both activities are necessary to create a business blog that attracts and keeps readers, and continues to produce vibrant content.
Planning is your roadmap to help you get where you are going. Your blogging strategy includes your audience, SEO and social media interaction goals, as well as how often you plan to write posts. However, just because you are a thorough planner does not mean you are going to squash your creativity. In fact, you can plan for creativity to happen. By making sure one of your priorities in your blogging strategy is creativity, or “mixing things up”, you are giving yourself permission to be more creative. You can even set creative goals for yourself within your blogging plan in order to inspire yourself and inject new energy into your writing.
Creativity comes with lots of hard work and lots of outside input—experiencing new activities or places, interacting with new ideas, learning a new skill or subject, or even just having a long, thoughtful conversation with a friend. You do not have to be a genius, or powerhouse of innovative ideas, to be creative with your business blog. However, I find creativity and inspiration are not exactly punctual guests—you can invite them over, but when they will arrive at your tea party is anybody’s guess. But the invitation is half the battle, and that is where planning really helps you out in your quest for your next creative spark. Scheduling deadlines for your posts pushes you to be creative on a regular basis—just by trying, you are already more creative than when you first started. Practice makes perfect, as they say, with good reason. You can also schedule time to read other blogs or do research as a way of feeding your idea factory. If a blogger is doing something you like, try it out. Create an infographic, or make a how-to video. The sphere of internet blogging is a great place for trial and error; there is plenty of digital room to try again.
Planning and creativity can work wonderfully together to create a business blogging campaign that is truly robust: consistent, interesting and attractive to readers. If you find your blogging strategy a bit directionless, and in need of more tea parties, the Fresh Figs Marketing team would love to help. Send us an email, or give us a call at 317-910-6252.
