How To Blog For Fun & Profit!

Well, there are many ways depending on your business and customer base. Watch the video and see how one company chose to get their proposal directly into the hands of someone who has the potential to make a dramatic impact on their bottom line.

What's the connection?

What is the connection between this video and business blogging? Maybe much, maybe very little. One thing is apparent though. At a time when information clutter, overload, volume and competition are always at the ready to overwhelm your message and reduce it's effectiveness in reaching your audience, you must think about how to break above the noise and deliver a crisp, clear and direct message that will be heard and received.

The company in video used a low tech but effective medium to deliver their business plan to their target in a memorable way. As a result they were able to get immediate attention and some level of action towards their business objectives as outline in their business plan.

Why Create a Business Blog?

As a business considering a business bog, realize that business blogging allows you to use a hi-tech method to engage in an ages old process of talking with customers and prospects. While the method of delivering your conversation to your customers had changed, the mode has not. You are still simply talking. The important thing about blogging is that this talking isn't just a moment in time. It is digital dialog which is nearly immortalized in bits and bytes in the world of the Internet. This talking has the ability to reach your customers and boost your business quicker than traditional PR means and even email.

This digital dialog is persistent and endures as an organic mesh of links which carry permanent influence. This talking also bypasses the corporate boardroom and the media newsrooms. These means of communications and others not listed here are not obsolete but blogs have disrupted the command and control nature these mediums once had. Your business cannot drive the message alone any longer through these media channels. Customers are drivers of messages and drivers of change more so than ever before and blogging outpaces traditional media channels in getting much of the information that matters most out into the mainstream of your customers and prospects.

Is Traditional Media Communications Dead? No. It Just Isn't Trusted.

Traditional media channels are not trusted. Trusted communication is communication that involves business and consumers. The spirit of entrepreneurship is alive and well yet the image of corporate success has been tarnish greatly by greed and scandal. A business imperative for you is the establish trusted communications and relationships. Blogs are the most trusted form of accuracy right now. There is a lot of opinion disseminated within the social context of blogging and that opinion will eventually reach your business. The social matrix of blogs is very good at filtering fact from fiction although it isn't perfect but the power in blogging is that it is the power of the people.

People trust the opinions of the guy or gal consumer like them and will consider their opinion and expertise in making decisions about your business...UNLESS... you are blogging! Blogging is inherently an open medium of communication. You bring yourself to the level of identifying with your customer base when you open a business blog. You engage in an authentic process of communication which can boost your business and brand. You also position yourself for tremendous opportunities to exercise thought leadership in the marketplace, build an army of customer evangelists and influence (not control...remember the customer is in control now) opinion about your business.

The culture of the customer is one that has conditioned them to look for opportunities to talk to businesses, express their opinions about businesses, share their purchasing experiences with businesses as well as look for those companies (especially the ones they like) which are willing to talk back and share the inside story of how the company is being run and managed. The opportunity here is that any business can position themselves as leaders in their market, in their communities and most importantly in the minds of their customers by simply talking about how they are doing business and asking for input and feedback from customers.

The social marketing and social networking era ushered by blogs is a culture of collaboration. Each customers reaches another one through opinion, persuasion and choice. Simple word of mouth. Again, old mode but new medium.

Your Business Blog May Not Sing or Dance, But...

You may not be able to get your blog to sing or walk into someone's office and do a presentation but you can channel a stream of expertise into your marketplace and create an ongoing presentation of what you do best as a business and demonstration the value of your products and services on a continual bases and at the speed of change. A business blog is now in the critical communications path at some degree of internal or external communications. You simply have to have the means to get your information to your customers as fast as possible. You should also be willing to get information from your customers as quickly as possible.

To create a business blog is not to just jump on the bandwagon of "me too" blogging. To create a business blog is to position your business more effectively for the communications wars where information and perception conspire to help your business or hurt your business. You have an awesome opportunity to drive your brand value deeper into minds of your customers and strengthen your customer relationships at dramatically reduced costs.

A business blog doesn't guarantee an overnight increase in profits, new customers or fame. It takes some time to build an effective business blog but with the right strategy for your business and right guidance on how to deploy social communication tools in your business, you could be well on your way to improving customer relationships, building brand equity and keeping your competitors in check.

Tags: blog, blogging, blog marketing, business blog, business blogging, rss