Whenever a company starts thinking about launching a business blog, the question inevitably comes up about time commitment. All this writing takes time, they will say. We don’t have time to do it. Well, there’s no question writing takes time. And, if all you’re going to do is publish posts and let them sit there, you may or may not see much benefit, at least in the first several months.
Don’t Just Sit There, Do Something!
What people sometimes fail to see is that your blog posts are an arsenal of persuasive sales and marketing materials you can deploy at a moment’s notice to hit very specific targets. For instance –
If I want to introduce the concept of business blogs to a client or demonstrate I’ve been in the field for a while, I might send her this business blog post.
If a client wants to dig into conversational marketing, I might shoot him a link to this book review post.
If I need to give a client a sense of my philosophy of sales coaching, I might point her to this sales training post.
If a client is struggling with voice mail communication, I might offer this voice mail post to start a discussion.
You get the idea. Once you have a library of material on your blog, you can use it to save time, rather than reinvent the wheel writing something new every time a customer needs something. And incidentally, some of the posts I used as examples are links on my Word Sell Web site, another easy way to re-use blog material. Presenting blog posts as part of a Web page puts the information in context for the reader.
What about You?
How do you get multiple use out of your blog posts? How are you putting your blog to work?
– Brad Shorr, Word Sell
Hi Brad,
The range of examples which you list above provide vivid illustrations of the value of blogs as a marketing tool.
In most areas of business, I believe that the best approach is to adopt an investment mindset or mentality toward any new project. The majority of worthwhile new projects involve an initial outlay of resources (e.g. money, staff time) with the expectation of reaping benefits from the initial outlay over time.
The development of a business blog is no exception. The process of developing a business blog takes a considerable amount of owner or staff time, as well as a small financial outlay. But businesses who are not prepared to make this initial sacrifice will not reap the long term benefits which you describe above.
Cheers
Andrew
Hi Andrew, you are right on target. Just because a technology is new doesn’t mean old rules don’t apply. Actually, this is one very important way I feel I can help clients, saving them time in developing a blog strategy without going down the numerous dead ends.
Brad, your blogging skills are top notch and I’d recommend you any time for the work you to to help clients create top notch business blogs. Thanks for a thoughtful post.
Hi Robyn – thank you! BTW, working on a post now about writer’s brains I look forward to getting your take on.
For us, getting business owners to commit to producing ongoing content is always a challenge – no matter the channel. The companies that stand out are the ones who publish a variety of communications, including newsletters, articles, press releases and blog posts. That’s why we use positioning strategies that package stories for delivery in more than one place. The blog is often the priority content generator [or the jackhammer!].
Great point, Barbara. My clients also find multiple channels the best way to generate activity. Why do you think that is? Because people gravitate to so many different channels to get news? I seldom look at press releases or newsletters … maybe the newsletter faithful seldom visit blogs.
People get their news from so many places. The more ways you deliver, the better your chance of contact. With a blog, companies can downsize their newsletter [or any printed piece] and save production costs by continuing the story online in a vibrant creative archive.
You are right Brad, business blogs are pointless if they don’t “work” for the business. It’s hard to make customers understand this, as they mostly see blogs as news ezines. This is partially true if we look at Techcrunch, ReadWriteWeb and the like, but for other companies blogs should act like an interface between the business and the community. And it is hard to make this work – a skilled communicator is needed.
Mihaela, There’s definitely a learning curve. When companies blog, they have to be patient and give themselves time to develop the communication skills they need to stimulate conversation and build community.