What is a Corporate Blog and Why Do You Need One?
Let's talk about one of the key tools in content marketing that helps differentiate you from competitors and attract leads
Utagawa Hiroshige — Crowd Visiting Benzaiten Shrine at Enoshima in Sagami Province, 1842–1857, The Art Institute of Chicago
The more you engage with your target audience, the easier it becomes to build a community of loyal customers around your brand or product, which eventually translates into increased sales. The most accessible way to connect with people and make your business public is to start a corporate blog.
What is a Corporate Blog?
To make sure we're on the same page, let’s clarify the terminology. A personal (or author) blog is usually understood to be a web page where one or more authors regularly share personal and/or useful information with the widest possible audience. The topic of the blog can be anything, and it may not have any commercial interest, at least in the early stages—it often pursues more altruistic goals (though not exclusively and not always).
A corporate blog (or corporate media) is, at first glance, similar, but the blogger as the source of information is the brand itself or its representatives (company employees, mascots)
Here are the key differences:
- You can’t write about just anything—only topics that are directly (or indirectly) related to the brand. If a company deals with investments, it’s okay to talk about personal finance, but sharing pie recipes would be off-topic.
- Writing for everyone is ineffective—a brand should focus on its target audience. For example, a blog for a fishing gear store should primarily engage anglers or those interested in fishing, rather than providing content for other audiences.
- A corporate blog is inherently commercial. As one of the key tools of content marketing, it revolves around the product: it helps to promote and sell it.
What Problems Does Content Marketing Solve?
As the art of storytelling to achieve specific goals, content marketing has been around for nearly three hundred years.
Content Marketing University cites the annual "Poor Richard’s Almanack" as one of the earliest examples. Published in the United States from 1732 to 1758, its sole purpose was to promote Benjamin Franklin’s printing business. Its pages included calendars, quotes, astrological notes, and puzzles—formats that brands still frequently use in their content strategies today.
Nowadays, content marketing (and corporate blogs in particular) can help make a company more popular.
Content Marketing University cites the annual "Poor Richard’s Almanack" as one of the earliest examples. Published in the United States from 1732 to 1758, its sole purpose was to promote Benjamin Franklin’s printing business. Its pages included calendars, quotes, astrological notes, and puzzles—formats that brands still frequently use in their content strategies today.
Nowadays, content marketing (and corporate blogs in particular) can help make a company more popular.
Additionally:
- Increase audience loyalty through transparency.
- Stand out from competitors with unique design, voice, and expertise.
- Share achievements, news, and values, strengthening the emotional connection with customers. According to Google Cloud research, 82% of online shoppers are willing to "vote with their wallets" for brands that align with their values.
- Improve understanding of services and products by explaining how to use them correctly and to maximum benefit.
- Generate traffic. Publishing high-quality, SEO-optimized content will drive people to your site from search engines. As a result, they will interact with the company's products more frequently.
- Better understand your audience. Collect and segment blog reader data by age, social status, devices, interests, etc. This information can refine your target audience profile or launch personalized ad campaigns.
What Are the Types of Corporate Media?
There are various ways to engage with your audience:
Formats can be combined, or you can create something entirely new. There are no limitations.
- News Blog: The simplest option where the brand shares key events. This is primarily needed by companies with a press office that actively works with journalists, as regular customers are less likely to read the news (unless you’re SpaceX).
- Internal News Blog: A private blog that tells the story of different departments within the company, accessible only to employees. This is suitable for corporations with a complex structure.
- Founder or CEO’s Personal Blog: A more specific option that provides insights into the internal processes of the company through the eyes of its founder or CEO.
- Expert Blog: A universal solution dedicated to a narrow topic. This emphasizes the brand’s professionalism and can benefit the industry, provided the company is truly an expert in its niche.
- Product Blog: A surefire option where the focus is entirely on specific products. An electronics online store can publish tech reviews, an agency can share successful case studies, and software developers can offer guides and FAQs for users. A company can have multiple product blogs—one for each product (for example, Google has about a hundred).
- Event Blog: A rarer but useful format launched for a one-time event such as an exhibition, festival, concert, etc.
Formats can be combined, or you can create something entirely new. There are no limitations.
A corporate blog is entirely dedicated to the brand’s products, and all articles focus solely on what the company sells. Other variations exist, but those fall into the category of brand media
What is Brand Media?
In recent years, there has been a boom in brand media, but it’s important to distinguish it from a corporate blog. Brand media is akin to a magazine or media outlet with its own editorial team and platform, covering either a narrow or very broad range of topics.
Essentially, brand media is a separate brand. This type of project requires significant investment and is suitable for large, established companies that are already present across all communication channels, with media launched as an additional channel.
Brand media can be detached from the company’s main product that initiated it, although it can still indirectly boost sales through shared interests of the target audience or by creating that very target audience.
Essentially, brand media is a separate brand. This type of project requires significant investment and is suitable for large, established companies that are already present across all communication channels, with media launched as an additional channel.
Brand media can be detached from the company’s main product that initiated it, although it can still indirectly boost sales through shared interests of the target audience or by creating that very target audience.
For example, imagine a Python programming school. They could:
- Consider what interests their target audience, who are into programming, and produce content on those topics.
- Create an interest in development among people who previously knew nothing about programming
Brand media is most often a long-term and image-building endeavor
Where to Launch Your Blog?
Primarily on Your Own Website: This allows you to publish content without restrictions, experiment with formats, and gather audience data (in compliance with data protection laws). The biggest advantage is that the content will reside on your platform as long as you want and will belong to you.
Disadvantage of a Blog on Your Own Website: Significant costs for web development. You can save on technical staff by using blog platforms like Tilda or Squarespace, where sites can be built like a constructor. The final product will be indistinguishable from expensive projects, while being adaptive and well-optimized.
Disadvantage of a Blog on Your Own Website: Significant costs for web development. You can save on technical staff by using blog platforms like Tilda or Squarespace, where sites can be built like a constructor. The final product will be indistinguishable from expensive projects, while being adaptive and well-optimized.
Faster Launch Options: You can quickly start a blog on specialized portals like Medium, LinkedIn, or Substack. You just need to create a company page. Bonus: these platforms already have an audience.
Alternative Options: Email newsletters (though you need to build a mailing list) and blogging on social media and messaging apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Telegram. This model is known as Social First, and it's justified. According to recent studies, social media usage is widespread, with a significant portion of the population actively publishing content.
Alternative Options: Email newsletters (though you need to build a mailing list) and blogging on social media and messaging apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Telegram. This model is known as Social First, and it's justified. According to recent studies, social media usage is widespread, with a significant portion of the population actively publishing content.
The optimal strategy (and the main trend in recent years) is omnichannel presence and diversification, meaning the brand should be present everywhere simultaneously
Does Every Business Need a Corporate Blog?
Absolutely, yes. A corporate blog is a necessity.
Each year, people spend more and more time online, and they talk about brands regardless of a business's online presence. However, with content marketing, you can guide and shape these discussions.
At a basic level, we recommend all businesses focus on product-centric content marketing: hairdressers can post photos of hairstyles and client reviews, florists can share collections of bouquets for various occasions, lawyers can showcase successful cases, and so on. In other words, dedicating each blog post and social media update to a case, product, or service of the company is the optimal strategy.
Each year, people spend more and more time online, and they talk about brands regardless of a business's online presence. However, with content marketing, you can guide and shape these discussions.
At a basic level, we recommend all businesses focus on product-centric content marketing: hairdressers can post photos of hairstyles and client reviews, florists can share collections of bouquets for various occasions, lawyers can showcase successful cases, and so on. In other words, dedicating each blog post and social media update to a case, product, or service of the company is the optimal strategy.
Not everyone needs to write useful content. Companies should stop giving unsolicited advice where it’s not asked for (but if it is asked for, feel free to provide as much as needed.
This largely depends on the communication channel, willingness to invest resources, and your expertise. For example, in social media, where users seek entertainment, useful advice might be out of place. However, on a dedicated web page where people arrive via specific search queries, useful content becomes relevant. Another example: if you're simply buying texts from a copywriting marketplace, their value might be zero and could even irritate the reader. On the other hand, if content creation involves thorough research with brand participation, it truly highlights your expertise, solves the reader's problem, and leaves them with a positive impression.
This largely depends on the communication channel, willingness to invest resources, and your expertise. For example, in social media, where users seek entertainment, useful advice might be out of place. However, on a dedicated web page where people arrive via specific search queries, useful content becomes relevant. Another example: if you're simply buying texts from a copywriting marketplace, their value might be zero and could even irritate the reader. On the other hand, if content creation involves thorough research with brand participation, it truly highlights your expertise, solves the reader's problem, and leaves them with a positive impression.
The content, format, publication frequency, and other aspects of a blog are individual. They should be based on the brand's objectives and the nature of the product. Research and strategy can help clarify these details—read more about this in our other articles.
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