Blogs continue to be a great communication tool for marketers of any size, in any industry. Blogs have some "big benefits":

• They help you stay engaged with your audience in, hopefully, valued ways-keeping you "top of mind" when members of the audience are in need of your goods or services.
• They aid in driving traffic to your website. Because blogs are (or, at least, should be) updated with new posts regularly, your content will be fresh, and will contain relevant key words and phrases that can boost SEO.
• They provide content that can be repurposed across various online channels.

We have a blog that we've been posting to since 2009. We also manage blogs for a number of clients. In our work we've discovered some important best practices:

• Don't go it alone. It's virtually impossible to write and edit your own work-errors will occur, and those errors may negatively impact your brand. Find an editor to review all posts before they go live.
• Repurpose blog content for use across a variety of channels.The blog is the starting point. This content can then, for instance, be used on LinkedIn (for LinkedIn long-form posts, as well as status updates with a link to the original blog), in other social media posts, for shorter items like e-letters and newsletters and sometimes as the basis for longer whitepapers.
• Review past content to determine if any posts should be updated with more current information and reposted. This content can also be considered for longer-form projects like eBooks or other book projects.
• Be timely. Keeping your eye open for content from others that may be of value to your audience is always a good idea. Summarizing and referring to that content (also called "curating") can help to position you as a go-to resource in your field, and doing so may also help you establish new connections (most authors/experts like it when their work is referenced on other sites).
• Consider guest blogging to get your name, and back links, included on other relevant sites. "Relevant" is the key word here; carefully consider the credibility of any site you agree to let use your content.
• Watch your analytics! Analytics can give you a sense of what readers might be most interested in, which can provide ideas for new blog posts on those topics.

From a personal standpoint, blogging can help you to stay on top of trends, news and events; it can also help you gather your own thoughts on a topic or an issue. It can't hurt - and it just might help. 

If you don't already have a blog, 2015 might be the year to start one!

Despite the surge in mobile phones, tablets and texting, email communication remains a common way to connect with various audiences-internal and external. Yet, because it remains so common, those communicating via email face several challenges: getting their email to their intended user, keeping their email out of the spam/junk folder and, ultimately, having their email opened and read.

One key way to boost the odds that these things will happen is often overlooked or not given the consideration it deserves.

A compelling email subject line.

Think about your own email inbox. When you look at it, what do you see? A long string of subject lines, one on top of the other. These subject lines are what will ultimately compel you to either open the message or ignore it.

Your subject line can, and should, be considered in the same manner as an advertising headline. The goal is to convey some meaningful benefit to your target audience, quickly and succinctly. The "meaningful" part is important; it requires that you understand your market well and know what is likely to move them to some action-in this case opening the email.

That's the starting point--the must-have in order to get your target to go any further. If an email is never opened, the design of the message within makes no difference. You may have the most visually appealing, most compelling message that could be created, but if your email subject doesn't compel a click, that message will never be seen. Your first hurdle in email communication is just getting the recipient to click on your subject line to see what else you have to say.

What's in your subject line?