Camp WorldWIT presentation: On blogs

WARNING: LONG POST J

As I started to prepare my materials for the Making Your Name Hit and Stick session at Camp WorldWIT, I realized that the natural form for my presentation on using a weblog in your business was to blog it J

Attendees at the session will have a permanent record of the material, including links to helpful resources. And hopefully, my blog shows, not just tells, how you can use a blog to enhance your reputation in your field.

What is a blog?

There are a lot of opinions about what a blog is, and is not. For some people, it must be a web-based reverse chronological journal written by a real, living person. To others, the blog form is a lightweight content management system that can be used to publish a variety of websites – from first person accounts to character blogs to community sites. For some people, it is not a “real” blog if there is no way for the audience to comment on the posts. Ads. No ads. Paid bloggers. Just for the love if it. The things we can find to debate about are endless J

In my opinion, some of this defining is just a bit pointless, and smacks of inside baseball (for my definition of inside baseball go here). It’s a fun to have the debates if you’re into it, but if you are just trying to figure out how to use this new online form in your business, you probably don’t care so much.

So in my presentation at Camp WorldWIT (and in this post) I am going to focus on the practical, and give you some guidance on how you might use a blog to build a sense of community among your customers, and your peers, and enhance your "expert" reputation in your field. I’ll try to keep the pontificating to a minimum.

So when should you do a blog, and when shouldn’t you?

First things first, you can do a blog whenever you want for whatever purpose you want. And say whatever you want, as long as you don’t forget that what you say today persists long after the post button is pressed. The more germane question is, when does a blog make sense for your business?

The answer is simple: A blog is a good tactic for your business if the blog can deliver results for your business/marketing plan. It has to fit with the plan, and deliver a business objective. Do not do a business blog just because everyone else is doing one. Do it because it helps you achieve your goals.

So what is a blog really good at?

1. Building a sense of community between and among the company, its customers, its industry. Companies in markets where communities already exist, or tend to spring up naturally, are prime candidates for blogging. Companies with products that have a fandom might find a blog a nice extension of that fandom, to continue to build relationships with existing customers and find new ones. The best blogs of this type are ones organized around common interests – I often refer to it as “topics that are at the intersection of the company and the customers’ mutual interests.” Even better are ones the really let the customer speak  Vespa is planning some customer blogs and I have been working with an education market client to develop a blog written by customers (Multiple Choice)  Do not do a product billboard or a fake blog  (for more on fake blogs, check out the Fake Blog category on Marketing Roadmaps).

   You may even find that your fans are blogging before you are; take advantage of it and participate on their blogs. They’ll be thrilled.

   Marketing plan vectors: customer loyalty and retention; brand awareness.
   

2. Establishing expertise. Blogs have changed the whole dynamic of how to establish your reputation as an expert in your field. In the “old days,” it took years of plugging away at PR, submitting topics for speaking opportunities, attending trade shows and trade association meetings to just start to be recognized as an expert. In my field, sales and marketing consulting, you almost had to publish a book. Blogs have leveled the playing field to almost flat. It still helps somewhat if you do publish, either articles or a book, but it just isn’t as necessary. Your blog is your window to the entire world.

   As an example, let me share with you my experience since I started my blog, and my business late last year.

   I started blogging in mid November. I have done some promotion of the blog, but relatively little. For example, I haven’t done any search engine optimization, although I have submitted Marketing Roadmaps to the major blog search engines.

   What I do is try to write an interesting marketing blog, with a mix of original articles highlighting my expertise and/or opinions, and a regular round-up of articles from around the blogosphere.

   I read numerous marketing blogs every day, and actively participate in those conversations, either by leaving a comment on the blog or writing about the topic on my own blog, and sending a trackback ping to the original blog.

   Slowly, people started reading my blog, leaving comments and referencing my posts on their blogs. By December, my traffic had picked up and I had a nice, small group of regular readers from all over the world. And readers isn’t really the right term – we are participants together in an ongoing conversation that is held on my blog and their blogs, among the bloggers and our visitors.

   As far as tangible results? I can’t point to any business from the blog… yet… but I believe I have established a positive reputation in my field. I have been selected to speak on panels at a couple of conferences (including this one), and recently was invited to participate in a group blog called The Revenue Roundtable about which I am very excited.

   Marketing plan vectors: building topic expertise and authority; brand awareness; some lead generation.

Can you do the same? Yes.

The blog form really lends itself well to a professional service businesses like marketing, PR and law. But almost every company has an owner, or an employee(s), or an executive who can be established as an expert, extending authority and credibility to the firm as a provider of the product. This has been a well accepted PR tactic for forever. Now, with the blog, you have one more tool to reach out to your audience.

How do you do it?   In my opinion, there is no one right way to blog. The only thing you MUST do is develop your blog in the context of your marketing plan. If it doesn’t fit the plan, it is a lot of work for naught.

Here’s my other advice:

Engage in the online conversation. A blog is not just your bully pulpit. You need to become part of the relevant online community, actively participating with your audience, both on your own blog, and on other sites. Before you write one word on your own blog, read other blogs. Lots of other blogs.

Authentic. Honest. Transparent. You will hear these words a lot. That your blog must be authentic, you must be honest and your business as transparent as is reasonable. What does it really mean? IMO it means you have to be open and upfront with your readers … your customers … about your intentions – why you did the blog, what you hope to get out of it. You have to be honest and fair with your customers, and take the lumps with the kudos. You don’t lie. It is okay to not divulge company information; no one wants to harm your competitive advantage. But you can’t be dishonest, and try to use the blog to manipulate your readers. It’s plain bad business. And if that doesn’t convince you, keep in mind that they’ll find out anyway and you will lose a tremendous amount of trust.

When shouldn’t you do a blog?

If short term lead generation is your number one goal, and your time and budget are limited, a blog is not the best, first thing to do. There is no reason NOT to do one, but there are probably other marketing tools like direct mail and telemarketing that can deliver leads faster than the blog. Do them first and then start a blog once you are underway.

Don’t do a blog if you are not comfortable engaging publicly with your customers and other members of your industry. Even if you turn off comments (which I don’t recommend), your words will be fair game for anybody and everybody to link to. If you are willing to engage, you will reap great benefits. If you aren’t, just don’t do it.

If you decide to start blogging, I would love to hear about your blog – please drop me a note at sgetgood@getgood.com, or leave a comment here!

See you in the blogosphere.