This is the second instalment of a three-part series where we break down the best way to create a promotional blog (or series of blogs) for your event. Long established as an engaging and effective form of content marketing, blogs allow for information sharing and story-telling. Make sure that you are equipped with the best blog strategy before you start the journey towards hitting PUBLISH!

Part 2: Defining Your Voice

You don’t need to be a copywriting pro to create content your followers will want to read. We look at creating a style guide, seeking out contributors and the different kinds of content pieces you can harness to get your message across.

Whether your blog posts aim to educate or entertain, one of the most important things is to convey your enthusiasm for an event and the industry in which you operate. And while we looked at what you might say in part one, it’s equally important to think about how you are going to say it. That’s where tone of voice comes in.

This refers to the words you choose, the kind of sentences you craft, and the personality you communicate to your readers. And, in order to create a consistent reading experience, it’s important to think about these all elements before you sit down to write your first blog post.

What is a style guide and a ToV document?

Establishing an instantly recognisable and authentic voice for your event’s brand can build trust with your audience, so pay as much attention to your style guide and tone of voice (ToV) document as you would your visual brand guidelines.

Referring to a nationally recognised style guide, like The Guardian or the BBC, is a good place to start when it comes to getting frequently used grammar and punctuation rules right. Then think about words and phrases that are specific to your industry or unique to your event. Your style guide should include the correct spelling and capitalisation of these as well as a list of words or phrases that you want to avoid using.

As for tone of voice, think about your brand’s personality – is it:

– Playful and fun or serious and professional?
– Quirky or authoritative?
– Spontaneous or considered?

Select a few key adjectives and include in your ToV a few sentences you might typically use to demonstrate each personality trait. Refer back to these documents regularly to keep your writing on track, and share them if you decide to call on contributors.

Who is going to write the posts?

Regularly refreshing your blog’s homepage can feel daunting when you have hundreds of important tasks competing for your attention. That’s why establishing a library of content can help avoid gaps in your publishing schedule during busy times of the year. Have a few evergreen posts up your sleeve for these peak periods and think about splitting longer posts into parts to get more mileage out of them.

Regularly assigning blog posts to team members, if possible, can help take the pressure off, as can asking contributors – such as attendees, speakers or performers – to submit thought leadership and guest posts. Just remember to share your style guide and ToV documents, and allow time for the posts to be edited internally so that they adhere to your event’s brand voice.

In addition, you could raise awareness of your blog by submitting posts to third-party sites that post content consumed by your target audience. Not only does this increase your exposure and establish you as an expert in your industry, hyperlinks can lead potential attendees to your site.

Aside from written blog posts, what else can I publish?

So far we have taken blogging to mean relatively short written posts, but there are plenty of content pieces you can utilise. If you are organising a conference or B2B event you might want to release an industry report, white paper or ebook that combines insights and data shared by the speakers.

Festivals and concerts are a great source of visual content, and you could embed an image gallery or behind-the-scenes video in your written blog post. Remember that you don’t need to generate all of this content yourself – simply ask attendees to share what they snapped via social media. Just be sure to ask permission and credit them before pressing publish.

Check out our ebook for more advice on getting your copywriting skills on-point and refer to part one for advice on finding blogging inspiration.