Mr. Gary Lee

Recently, I have had a lot of my clients ask me about blogging and how it can help their businesses. Of course, I could talk all day about blogging, but I control myself and tell them some few key points to let them decide from there.

Point # 1 - Blogging is the newest communication tool that helps businesses market their products and themselves faster and better by using the power of the internet to take advantage of the oldest marketing tool around - word of mouth! If that’s not a good enough reason for you, blogging is the new “cool” thing to do to for companies, young and old, to get some free publicity. So, if you want to be cool and let everyone know it, you better start blogging to gain that early-adopter advantage while it lasts.

Point # 2 - Since this is one of the newest ways of communicating with your customers, adopting this technology will create a buzz around your company and we all know that a “buzz” is always something we want when we’re running a business. The buzz will be about how you’re taking a risk by starting something so new and intimate with your customers. The buzz will be from your doubters and competitors who will predict your failure. The buzz will be from your customers who have no idea what to do with your blog, but still want to read it. Seize the moment and you will be able to take advantage of this buzz we also know as marketing.

Point # 3 - The viral marketing possibilities are endless. If you can write something insightful or provocative enough for other bloggers or internet surfers to pick up and pass along to their network, the exponential growth of your business exposure will be unbelievable. For businesses, I always recommend that they not only celebrate their successes in their blogs, but also explore their failures to show your customers that you can learn from your mistakes and that your company is willing to take risks. A great side effect of practicing “full disclosure” is that as more discussions are held, new solution, topics and ideas are being generated for free and being posted on YOUR site!

Point # 4 - Blogging as a communication tool has really opened up the flood gates of communication as companies are no longer hoping that customers get their messages, the are instead getting instant feedback as to what their customers want, thereby giving you quicker feedback to make adjustments to your business. Like the old saying goes - Time is Money - and Blogging saves you the time of having to wait for results and guess at what those numbers and lines are trying to say.

It doesn’t usually take long for my clients to ask me to set one up for them asap, but I always try to remind them that it’s a lot of work. I tell them about the community aspect and the amount of content they need to write. I’ll post up their blogs once they are up and running. If your clients have not asked you about blogging yet, I think using these 4 points would be a great way to offer another service for them and they will value your work for them even more.

Marketing