Blogging comes chock full of benefits. It increases your authority in your market, it ensures there is always content to promote, and it can give you a boost in the search engines. But those aren’t the only ways blogging can help your business.
Did you know that by adding a blog to your existing Web site, it can actually help make you a better, savvier business owner? I believe it can. Below are just a few ways that I believe blogging not only helps you attract customers, but actually strengthens your business:
1. It Brings Out Your Human Voice
Remember back to the last time you wrote content for your Web site. Not for your blog, but for your home page or your list of services. Wasn’t it awful? It probably felt kind of awkward and you weren’t sure how to explain what you do without sounding like someone you’d never want to do business with in the first place. Blogging corrects this. It reminds you to talk to your customers in your human voice, not your corporate voice. In your blog, it’s easier (and necessary) to talk to your customers as if they were standing right in front of you. In the long-term, it becomes easier to keep this voice when creating all of your other marketing materials which, in the end, will make them more effective and relatable. No one likes reading marketing copy. They like talking to people they know and have a relationship with.
2. Puts The Focus Back On Your Customer
Any blogger worth their salt knows the conversation is not about you – it’s about your customer. Your blog is a space for you to provide value to them by answering their problems, talking about their issues, and helping them to understand the value in your company. By forcing you to put the focus back on your customer and not your company’s agenda, you become more aware of their needs. The more you’re able to think like your customers and address their problems, the more successful your business will become.
3. Blogging Emphasizes Story Telling
Blogging brings us back to the days of educating our customers through stories. We use blogs to share anecdotes to help customers relate to us, understand our values, and to make them part of our businesses. We share stories to help them understand important industry issues and how it impacts their life. By going back to the days of storytelling, we naturally become better marketers and are more successful in our attempt to attract, engage and convert a potential customer.
4. It Forces You To Listen To The Conversation Around You
One of my favorite aspects of blogging is that it connects you to a larger ecosystem and opens you up to different issues, topics, opinions, and news pieces you may not have seen otherwise. The result is that you become a more well-rounded business person who is involved in the community around them, caring about more than just their own bottom line. As customers see you as part of this larger ecosphere, they value your brand more and they trust you. It also makes you a better consultant because you’re aware of issues outside of just your own.
5. Get To Know Your Customers Better . . And By Name
As a consumer, one of the neat things I love about reading corporate blogs is that it introduces me that business on a more personal level. I get to learn about their values, I meet their staff, I get a backstage look at what they’re working on, etc. And that works both ways. As a blogging business owner, it also gives you direct access to your customers. You learn who is interested in what aspects of your business (which you can use to target offers in the future…), you can assign names and faces to orders, and you get a more intimate look at the people you’re targeting offers to. You’re then able to take this information back inside your business and use it to for more informed decisions. You can’t top that kind of market research.
Above are just a few ways that blogging can help your business from the inside out. What benefits has your blog brought to your business? How has it helped you to open doors?
Building Online Photo via Shutterstock
I couldn’t agree more with your 5 points. I think for me the best is point #2. It is very easy to convince yourself you know your customer. Blogging helps keep your assumptions about what you know to a minimum. Thanks for the post.
The act of organizing your thoughts and writing them down has a galvanizing effect. It helps solidify and verify what you think/know. Totally agree that businesses should be blogging.
Rodolfo
@Lisa @Tomas, #2 is the most important point. I would also add that if you don’t make a Return on the Investment you should stop blogging and focus on something else! Small businesses can use the blog to sell their products – not directly obviously or nobody will read your articles – and should plan and organise its contents for that only purpose.
Unique content will always help drive traffic (and hopefully sales), especially after these recent Google changes.
Thanks, Lisa…
You’re right; blogging consistently forces our writing to be more about the reader than us.
It’s tough to balance at times-but it can be done.
For true success in business, things need to be about, “them.”
The Franchise King®
For sure blogs help in making a business successful, they allow you to communicate with your already existing and potential clients, you not only share your thoughts and vision but also come to know about yourself,the distance between the institution and masses is broken when you blog good enough.
Excellent post, Lisa. I totally agree with #1, despite the fact that I’m able to write web copy for my clients. I HATE writing in third person and coming up with angles about why my company is so special. I like to think I let that shine better through our blog.
Susan
Jim McCarthy
Strong insights Lisa. Number #3 strikes me as the most relevant to us: as a recruiter, nearly everything I say is considered a sales pitch, where the major focus of my job is providing small business consultation to candidates to see if this venture is right for them (I’m not a business broker, but a Corporate Recruiter for Allstate Insurance). Your telling a story of how a venture works for them, and having an online hub as a central place for your recruiting efforts helps the most.
Recently, your website was included in my colleague’s “most influential blogs for those interested in small business” Might be relevant to you – (we do things not just about insurance but general small business advice – ex: Things to consider before buying a business:
http://www.allstatebizblog.com/?p=259
Thanks again for reminding me why we blog. Keep up the great work.
Jim
Craig Desmarais
I believe that blogging helps you understand your passion and business more. Trying to write about why your business is important or express a company value will cause you to put greater thought into what you do. You may find answers or areas you need to address in your own company culture. I believe it helps you become even more effective at what you do.
I have recently added a .com blog to my existing .co.nz website, because my market is international, and I felt that a dotcom site would suit us better. My site is my online shop, so I am able to use my blog for talking about some of the individual products that we include in our gifts. Also I like to share some community things that are happening. I definitely don’t want to be pushing sales on my blog, but it gives me the opportunity to talk about the reasons for gifting which are many. Thank you for sharing your ideas with us.
WE all THINK we know our customer! Love the 5 tips, reminds us how much we can do if we are more humble!
Patrick Sesko
Relating to the first tip: bringing out your Human voice. I think clients and prospects will see through it if you are overly self-promotional. You need to be genuine in your desire to help people and people will see that, and pay a premium for it when they are ready to engage with you.
We are a custom home builder, and we’ve just added a blog to our website recently. (I think we’re only three or four posts in.) We’re really looking forward to seeing the benefits of it, but I’m wondering how we’ll continue to think of blog topics. Any suggestions?
Blogging benefits businesses in the following ways:
1) More (relevant) website Traffic
2) More Inbound Leads
3) You’ll become a knowledge authority
4) You’ll make New Friends
5) More Social Presence
6) Quality Back-links
Hope this helps! 🙂
Blogging also helps build authority in your niche. It shows potential customers that you know your field and helps instill a sense of trust in your product or service.