Blogging- The Essential Marketing Tool

February 15, 2010 7:28 pm Catriona Pollard Business Strategies, Communication, Free Business Tools, Marketing, Online Business

You are reading a business style blog right now -  but have you thought about creating one for your business? Blogs create marketing opportunities that allow businesses to interact with customers like never before. As the blog has evolved - and because it is an interactive medium where readers can comment on the articles, or ‘posts’  - businesses have embraced the blogs ability to build rapport with customers and humanise the business.

No matter the size of the blog or the size of the business which ‘owns’ the blog, they naturally attract search engine traffic and have optimised site architecture. They have the added advantage to be well-linked to other blogs and websites.

Creating a blog is free and it’s easy to post your information. However, it can take up time as blogs should be updated once or twice a week, which can be time consuming.

The benefits of blogging
I have incorporated blogging into my marketing mix to gain profile in my industry and to increase my Sydney based PR agency -  CP Communications -  marketing reach.

By cross-linking the website and blog I can maximise marketing opportunities by creating a wider audience than the website alone. Hits on the blog are on average 60 percent more than hits on my website.

Also readers will on-market blogposts which is free marketing for us. Sometimes they post these to discussion forums that have thousands of members. We’d never be able to reach these potential clients through our usual marketing activities.

Let’s not forget the power of tweeting when you post, which not only reaches your followers, but if it is retweeted it can reach a massive number of people.

Selling through blogs
Online marketing tools such as blogs provide real PR value to a business. It isn’t the same as cold calling to get new customers, but they certainly increase industry profile and visibility online. If you want to convert visitors into clients you need to have fresh content on your site to build credibility. There is no point having a 2005 press release on your home page. Blogging is easy and cheaper than paying a web developer to post new content on your site.

I see spikes in the hits on the blog when I address certain topics. This gives me insight into how the market is thinking and reacting at any given point. With this invaluable marketing intelligence I can offer new products or services to match that interest.

Not investing time to incorporate online marketing tools such as blogs into an overall marketing strategy may be the real cost. They have become an essential element to creating new sales leads within a comprehensive marketing and PR strategy.

For a business, blogs:
• Build your profile as blogging demonstrates expertise
• Allow you to shares information with customers
• Inform people about other things your business is doing
• Generate powerful referral networks
• Create an opportunity to network and share information with people from around the world
• Permit the kind of conversations that are necessary to truly connect with modern customers
• Create an opportunity to build relationships with your customers
• Search engines are attuned to finding blogs

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Catriona Pollard
Contributed by Catriona Pollard.   Catriona Pollard is founder and director of CP Communications, which provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that achieve positive media coverage, increased brand awareness and improved sales results. Phone: (02) 9922 1063 Email: cp@cpcommunications.com.au Website: www.cpcommunications.com.au Blog: www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au Twitter: http://twitter.com/catrionapollard Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/catrionapollard

Catriona Pollard has written 8 article(s) for us.

Visit http://www.cpcommunications.com.au

  • DawnBillings
    Catriona is so right. Blogging is imperative if you want to keep others informed, educated and inspired. You also have to know where your strengths lie, are you a writer, a show off personality or do you have a great voice, because blogs are being delivered in video, podcasts and written. Find the one that suits you best.

    [Edited: Off-topic content removed]
  • Great post Catriona,
    We started a blog about 8 months ago which is a combination of blogs and vlogs. The vlog is a video that we record all over Melbourne and release once per week. It has gained momentum and now brings a steady stream of traffic to our site.
    Things take a while with blogging but the answer is to be consistent in posting so that readers get used to the flow of infomration.
  • michaelphipps
    I agree that things do take a while with blogging, and consistency is important, but it is very possible to be regularly blogging for a long time and still only have an audience of 1.

    It must be said that in order to make the blog worthwhile, you also need to be putting effort into driving traffic to each blog post you write.
  • Hey Michael,
    Driving traffic is absolutely critical unless you really love the sound of your own voice! High quality content makes it easier for the traffic to be attracted in the first place and remain connected after that. The whole question of driving traffic is interesting because you can drive traffic generally to your blog or try and specifically drive it to each individual blog post.
    So far it has been easier for us to drive traffic generally to our blog but having said that, we've cateorized the blog so that the search engines can pick up the overall categories as well.
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