In the midst of a fascinating, long distance Skype conversation, Robin Dickinson and I got on the subject of Blogging Focus – in other words, how do we find the right blogging formula? How do we strike the right chords in the branding, writing, and marketing of our business blogs? How can we balance the need to be authentic with the need to advance certain business goals?

Robin and I have similar business philosophies and attitudes about life in general. Since I’ve been blogging quite a bit longer, Robin thought I might be able to help him answer some of these questions, questions he is struggling with mightily right now. There was some advice I could offer, but as we talked it became obvious that Blogging Focus is a vast and complex issue. Every one of Robin’s questions raised three new ones, including many that have perplexed me for years.

We decided to continue our exploration of Blogging Focus as a series of blog post dialogs. We’re going to bounce some of our questions back and forth and see where it takes us. Our hope is, this little exercise will bring some clarity to our blogging approach, and perhaps help you to do the same.

How Do I Decide What Audience to Write For?

Brad: Robin, of the questions you emailed me, the one in my mind that needs to be answered first is, How do I decide what audience to write for? This can be a fairly complicated issue in and of itself, and if it goes unresolved, your branding, writing, and marketing have no hope of gaining focus. You’ve probably seen blogs and business websites that seem to be speaking to everyone or no one in particular. How do you react? For me, the content and overall feel is generic, uninspiring, flat. On the other hand, when I see a blog or site that speaks to ME, I get excited. I can’t wait to read more. I want to get to know the person behind the words and if possible find some way to to business.

In our situations, we can write for peers, existing clients, potential clients, or some combination. I started off writing primarily for potential clients, until it occurred to me that they – midsized b2b firms – probably aren’t reading blogs in large number. Even though my subscribers were mainly peers, I ignored the data and pushed forward aiming at prospective clients. Why? Because I wanted to justify my commitment to blogging by pointing to new clients that came in directly as a result of my blogging. For me this was a mistake on several counts.

First of all, ignoring data is always stupid marketing. Second, I failed to appreciate the business generating power of networking, collaboration, and referrals – powers that can be truly unleashed through social media engagement. As I’ve shifted to writing for peers, my networking relationships continue to blossom and new collaborative opportunities present themselves on a regular basis, and referrals have gotten me some of what I wanted in the first place – new clients.

So my questions back to you: Have you thought about what your business acquisition model should look like? Paradoxically, in social media, an indirect path to new business can be faster and better than a direct path. Is this the case with you, and if so, are your blog posts resonating with the people you want to read them?

Robin: Brad, they are excellent questions and I’ve thought through my responses carefully before formulating this response. As a business development consultant, writing with a business acquisition model in-mind totally resonates with me. Business acquisition is something I spend a lot of time talking through with clients. Here, my focus would be to write to existing and potential clients to attract further off-line consulting work. Topics would include business development tactics, strategies, trends and tools. This would be relatively straightforward, but two issues arise.

Firstly, the primary decision maker for business development consulting isn’t necessarily an avid blog reader. Typically, senior executives such as Managing Directors, Sales and Marketing Directors and New Business Managers of mid to large sized companies tend to be flat out in the off-line world, let alone have time to peruse blogs on-line. Ironically, one of the greatest services you can do for these people is NOT take up their precious time by giving them yet another thing to read.

Secondly, consulting by nature is selling hours and I’m intrigued by the possibility of generating ‘passive’ income on-line with a global audience. (Aren’t we all!) This would be a non-consulting model – marketing expertise in the form of videos, e-books, white papers etc for an on-line audience – one that is slowly growing. In reality, I have been writing to this audience, albeit in a random, haphazard kind of way. My articles are either on ‘building development’ e.g. increasing profit, sales development etc, or on ‘personal development’ e.g. productivity, motivation etc. .

Has what I’ve written so far resonated with this audience? It’s hard to tell. This is more than likely two distinct audiences, but I’ve yet to tell. Modest numbers of views and comments tell me it’s early days.
____________________

About Robin Dickinson
Robin’s mission is to help the strong succeed. Working as a business
consultant for nearly twenty years, he helps leaders and leading companies
get focused to deliver superior results. Robin combines strong skills in
planning, facilitating and negotiating with a ‘cut-to-the-chase’ style to
find and fix the issues that will unleash top performance. His unique and
proprietary methods work – as proven by 100’s of testimonials and the fact
that ALL of his business has come from the referral of delighted customers.