Blogging is a communication tool that provides small business marketers with the unique opportunity to achieve a range of marketing strategies and tactics that were once left up to professionals, or only those with deep pockets. The internet and social media have leveled the marketing playing field and small businesses should take advantage of this opportunity.
Here are 11 marketing strategies you can use blogs for:
- Announce product or company news.
- Answering questions that may be barriers to prospects converting.
- Building authority with your target audience.
- Brand or company awareness.
- Regular touch points that are of value to the prospect, keeping your company top of mind.
- Education – about your company, service or products.
- Product knowledge.
- Distribution processes.
- Promoting specials.
- Establishing your company as an industry thought leader.
- Building referrals.
Building referrals – this is an important point for small business marketers, enabling your ‘fans’(network, prospects, leads and customers) to share and talk about your company is a cost effective, scalable way you can build a team of influencers. There are many tactics to doing this well, blogs are just one.
Use your blog platform as a tool to communicate points 1 – 10, with a focus to provide valuable content to your audience, valuable content they can share with their network. Now you have expanded your reach beyond your own network. The added value is that now someone else is sharing and talking about your company, not you. I read recently that people are more likely to be influenced by a friend of a friend on Facebook (someone they don’t know personally) than an advertisement.
So I challenge you to think about the time and money you might spend on writing copy for an advertisement, press release, printed brochure, sign, banner etc and put those resources into publishing valuable content that you own and your fans can share.
Oh so here’s the big one – the lifespan of a blog is forever. Once it’s posted on the internet it’s there forever. Unlike traditional advertising that has a limited life and readership.
Next week’s article is called 10 Ways Small Business Marketers Should Use Videos In Blogs. Make sure you subscribe, links above, to receive these small business marketing articles direct to your inbox or RSS feed.
What are you waiting for? Below is a list of additional resources that will help you get started with blogging. If you have any questions or comments please post them in the comment section below – I’d love to hear from you.
Blogging Resources
Blogging Made Simple: How To Write About What You Know
Download Inbound Marketing Calendar for Blogging
Inbound Marketing + Blogging For Lead Generation: Why, How, What To Do
