In 2014, 61% of US customers made a purchase based on a blog post and 70% of customers indicated that they enjoy reading relevant content from brands. Executed well, blogs on brand websites can build trust with consumers and ultimately influence buying habits.
While there is no one size fits all formula to guarantee a brand blog’s effectiveness, we observed three qualities that all successful brand blogs possess:
- They feature high-quality content (original and purposeful information that educates and entertains a target audience)
- They focus on their audience’s interests and needs rather than just on their own products
- They publish content regularly
We’ve selected 6 brand blogs in the healthy lifestyle space that possess these qualities and highlighted what they are doing effectively to create and deliver content to consumers in an engaging way.
Academy by Onnit
Onnit is a supplement and fitness equipment e-commerce site. Its blog, Academy, stays committed to the high-intensity strength-training community and features focused educational information about training and nutrition.
Posts like “How to Properly Rack a Kettlebell” and “Form at A Glance: Clapping Push Up Launch” show the type of specificity that is possible when a brand goes deep into one niche. The blog’s dedication to its core audience helps position the brand as an expert while making the content more relevant and valuable to its readers.
Whole Foods
The Whole Foods homepage acts as the company’s content hub. It includes inspiring and educational posts from its social media outlets (Instagram and YouTube) and mixes in recipes and educational posts about healthy and green living (from its blog). The filter structures the content without restricting exploration and is also mobile-friendly, allowing shoppers to access recipes or popular products while in the store.
Q by Equinox
Equinox, the luxury fitness company, shines when it comes to multimedia content. Animated GIFs bring workout moves to life, Spotify embeds make it easy to listen to workout playlists, and videos immerse you into celebrity and athlete interviews. Although such content, especially videos, can be more time intensive and costly to produce, they help elevate the overall quality of the blog and encourage increased sharing on social media.
The Aloha Way
Aloha is an e-commerce site that sells green juice powder and nutrition supplements. Its blog, The Aloha Way, spotlights posts written by influential guest bloggers in the healthy lifestyle space. Featured writers range from founders like Bobby Brown to professors of medicine at Harvard like Dr. Sanjiv Chopra.
Described as an expert-driven resource, Aloha’s magazine is a good example how brands can leverage industry influencers as a means to grow their own brand presence and cross-promote other brands.
The Chalkboard
Launched in 2012, Pressed Juicery’s blog, The Chalkboard, was originally created to educate consumers about healthy eating and facts about juicing. Since then, the blog has grown into an all-encompassing wellness lifestyle magazine featuring inspiration and facts about everything from eco-friendly clothing to celebrity workout playlists.
Unlike the other examples on this list, The Chalkboard has its own name and lives independently from the main Pressed Juicery site. Although the blog lives separately from the Pressed Juice e-commerce site, The Chalkboard still influences consumers by focusing on what a Pressed Juicery consumer might enjoy as a part of her healthy lifestyle rather than aggressively pushing products.
Bulletproof Exec
Bulletproof Exec is the blog of Dave Aspery, creator of Bulletproof Coffee and author of The New York Times best seller The Bulletproof Diet. The blog details articles and podcasts on how to optimize mental and physical performance, and includes a heavy amount of evergreen content that is referenced in his book.
Unlike time-sensitive and buzzworthy posts, evergreen content is created to be a long-term resource for readers. Because its timeless nature, this type of content plays a key role in accruing traffic over a longer period of time. Examples of evergreen posts include infographics such as “What to Drink: Bulletproof Alcohol Infographic and Hangover Cures” and articles such as “Going Bulletproof for Beginners.”
Takeaway
Consumers enjoy engaging with educational and entertaining content that speaks to their desires and interests. A brand blog that understands this and focuses on sharing high-quality content can play a valuable role in the company’s marketing efforts.
Illustrations by Andrea Horne
