One of the things we hear on a regular basis is that a firm/individual has created a shiny new blog and then there is mild shock when nothing happens: why aren't the leads, business accolades and new recruits just pouring in? 

There are a few reasons:

Firstly, because quite frankly blogging is not the end goal, it's rather the start of your long-term differentiation but it takes hard work, consistency and, of course, relevance.

Secondly, what's the point of your blog? Content for content's sake becomes white noise. It needs to have a business aim - is it to educate people, to respond to clients' questions on an ongoing basis? Giving it a clear business aim makes it much easier. 

Third, you need to be proactive with your content and sharing your content in a very targeted fashion is crucial to making sure it gets in front of the people who count: Share to the social networks; send it one-to-one with key individuals; send out a monthly newsletter etc. 

Finally, don't aim to influence the whole world, because there is no way on earth that they will all be interested. Moreover, concentrate on those who really matter! "Don't count the people that you reach, reach the people who count." (David Ogilvy)

Marketing has to be enacted, crafted, refined and constantly improved so that it stays ahead of the competiton and, of course, so does a blog.