Your grandfather and grandmother had a mercantile or maybe a rare bookstore. They would put their shop up near a busy street and hope for the best. Every morning they would flip the sign over and hear the bells chime above. They’d polish the windows and sweep the walk. They understood their community. They lived there and everyone around them would frequent their stores. Now with card swiping apps on cell phones, anybody with a hotdog cart can collect money. How do you compete? Blogging is part of the answer.
Attract Audience Loyalty
Loyalty- especially store or brand loyalty, used to be an issue of advertising some and then getting the person to enjoy the experience in your physical store. Once they were there you could count on them coming back. Not any more. Shopping has an ever pervasive on-line element now. Even when customers are in your stores, they are comparing your product line to any number of vendors. Blogging just helps you join the party. When you blog it helps people notice you in the on-line environment. Blogging can rebuild that customer loyalty.
Zero In On Your Target Market
Blogs have analytic packages attached, so as you get the ball rolling, you can do ongoing research on who is your target market. There’s a target market tucked into your business plan, but how much do you zero in on what that consumer wants? From the Edsel to Windows Vista even huge companies have guessed wrong. That’s why blogging is a powerful way to figure out who is shopping with you and exactly what types of products fit their lifestyle.
Search No More!
According to Forbes, in 2012 over 30% of consumers start their shopping experience before they leave the house. They search on Amazon and Google. They are looking for information. With that they click links and find articles on the products you sell. The thing is that dedicated customers want high end blog content and there’s not room for that on Amazon. That’s where you come in. Taking time to produce a top-notch blog about your product or service bumps you up on the search engines. People notice you.
Confidence Created
The nice thing about blogging is that people can ask questions or clarify some of the points you are making. By making comments back and forth, your blog starts to generate a conversation. Then you can inform about your products without sounding like your throwing a sales pitch. The conversations will help personalize your customer’s interaction with you in cyberspace. The buzz can attract more customers when they read a voice they can trust.
Collaborate with Site Links
A really strong way to help your blog is to embed respected links to sites that will help your customers. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. When you are passionate about a product or service, you know all the places to get the best deals, or sites on how to get educated on more advanced features. By using that genuine passion you have for helping people, you can link resources to your blog that you may think will advance your industry as a whole. The more you can show your genuine interest in your product outside the “sale”, the more customers will be attracted.
It’s your turn!
Do you have a blog for business? If so, how do you use it in your business? I would love to hear your feedback in the comments section.
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