Step Five: the blog is essential
Well, due to my rush last week to finish the post I really didn’t delve into what the blog can really offer a company and while this is a very very long topic, we’ll just discuss the main points since now we’re just considering it as an addition to the web presence. So let’s start.
The blog is more than a salesman though, think of it as a website which always presents the newest information, offers excellent customer support, and makes people interested in your company more than just a purchase.
Firstly, the blog is the premier news source you can offer to your clients, because it’s always up to date, always accurate, and offers suggestions as well as other things. You control distribution and timing, it’s like having your own private newspaper. However, from this point of view you must understand that news does not only concern you. Should this be a place for news, you need to be open to other news like industry advancements, and expressing your excitement regarding non-threatening competitors, perhaps even convincing them to post stuff in your newspaper. They get free advertising sure, but you get control of their voice, and you can cut them off if need be. And news is powerful, especially in fields where impulse buys occur. Think of the field of home computers for example; a geek seeing the newest video card in its most attractive photos for the first time, and finding out they can pre-order it will give you a tool for convincing like nothing in a physical store.
Secondly, if done properly, you can actually create a believable source of news/reviews/information and create through it word of mouth, which as we all know is considered the future of 90% of sale-triggering marketing. If you can create a hub of data and believable reviews etc and make it a general point of reference for your market you can easily use it as leverage to become the market leader or maintain that position. Thus you can actually influence the market into a certain mindset and trigger certain reactions, but all has to be done with customer trust in mind, and preserving that must be very important, or else the blog will not have power.
Thirdly, the blog is a simple way to tell a story. For those of you who aren’t following, this means branding, and it means offering your clients more than just a product or a service, but something that sticks in their minds as pleasant and different. You can impart your own style onto the news, express your emotions or feign them, but basically you end up putting your own spin on things and if you do it properly you can make a difference and people will miss reading that every day/week.
I consider these are enough advantages for you to understand its importance, and for those who ask what they could write in their blog, it’s really easy. You can tell a story about your company, explain to outsiders what good things are happening and what makes you happy about it. You can tell them what new products are showing up and why they’re so important. You can use case studies and examples to show people why they should do what you want them to. Or, and most importantly I think, you could teach people something, and maybe they’ll remember they learned that from you and come back for more.
So keep coming back for more people, and thank you for reading the blog, although I’d like a bit more participation
We’ll speak more tomorrow, about some other features you should plan for.