Is my business ready for blog marketing?
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It’s an important question to ask, regardless of your size business - “Am I ready to add a blog to my website?” For large corporations it’s an easy decision based on whether they can dedicate a resource and add it to the marketing budget for the year. They can spend the money to hire a firm to integrate the right technology, sometimes they add technology for search engine optimization, but in the end they have a brand that already generates traffic to the website and numerous other marketing channels to generate leads and fill the sales pipeline. I’m over simplifying of course, and large corporations spend considerable time and energy around the decision to add a blog strategy to their marketing channels. For the small business, it doesn’t seem at first like it’s an easy decision.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself about your business to decide whether now is the right time to add a blog marketing strategy:
1. Is your website a lead generation tool for your business?
2. Do you feel market pressure from larger competitors?
3. Is search engine visibility important to your online marketing strategy?
4. Would engaging your customers or prospects online provide sales and marketing opportunities?
Since you probably answered yes to one or all of these, let’s connect the dots.
1. Is your website a lead generation tool for your business?
A few years ago this question would have likely generated some “no” answers, but not today. Today, a polished website presence is one of the most important lead generation tools for a business. I’ve worked with small, local organizations (like a deck builder in Wichita, Kansas) to large publicly traded companies (like a brand that produces top quality LCD products) and almost everything they do with their website is about generating more leads (or direct online conversions.) How can a blog help with this? Anytime you can engage customers in a more personal dialogue about your brand or products/services, your chances increase for capturing that lead. Your blog can give you an outlet to connect with customers, rather than market to them. This is an important differentiator for blog marketing.
2. Do you feel market pressure from larger competitors?
When you are competing with larger competitors, every lead counts. Feedback from every customer is important. You have to find a way to go beyond big glossy brand advertising and work to your strengths as a smaller business, and creating a community out of your customers helps potential customers see something more than just a website. It’s also a valuable opportunity for a small business to provide some thought leadership which helps build credibility with customers.
3. Is search engine visibility important to your online marketing strategy?
Unless your brand is a household name, search engine visibility is important. The playing field has been leveled, so as a small business you can impact your placement on search engines. Blogging (with the right technology platform) provides a number of benefits to your organic search engine listing. Done correctly, blogging can be one of the best ways to boost your organic search engine ranking. Generate new links, add fresh and focused content, and update regularly to help your search engine visibility.
…and of course…
4. Would engaging your customers or prospects online provide sales and marketing opportunities?
This is a rhetorical question, because the answer for every business is “Yes.” Forums, live chat, social media, and blogging all provide opportunities for engaging customers and all have proven to help generate sales or provide marketing opportunities (which typically help generate sales.)
There are not many things you can do to impact all of these areas at once, so properly adding a blog to your website can provide immediate impact in numerous ways.
