In my earlier post, I introduced the concept of business blogging. Today I want to talk about blog marketing and how you can market your products and services using your company blog.
Blog marketing refers specifically to using a blog to manage your company online reputation and in the process sell more of your products and services.
User-friendly and frequent post updates means that the company can talk more about the latest developments in their products and services which is a form of selling. Blogs enhance the company’s official website because they offer the unique feature of frequent and regular posts and more importantly, opens up dialogue with customers.
It's a Jungle out there
There is such a bewildering array of advertisement opportunities nowadays – newspapers, magazines, billboards, television and radio ads, SBS bus panels, even ‘ad movies’ in pitch-dark MRT tunnels!
Many corporations have jumped on the ‘world wide wagon’ by venturing into online marketing and email marketing.
So, is it necessary to add business blogging to our already overtaxed advertising budget?
To answer this question, let’s examine your advertising instruments. You will recall that there is an overarching guiding philosophy for marketing strategies and that is…
Go Where The People Go
Currently, there are more than 1.1 billion users logged onto the Net(this is only a conservative estimate; nobody really knows how many people use the Internet). This is where your customers and future customers are spending their time. Shouldn’t you be there too?
What are your current and future customers like? Your industry partners? Your competitors? Most likely, they share one characteristic, i.e. they surf the web as part of research and development.
Integrated Selling
Years ago, major ad companies anticipated the Internet’s potential and started including online marketing strategies as part of their advertising portfolio.
For example, Dow Jones Integrated Solutions practises "integrated selling". Their advice is to put your name in print to brand yourself; but build a Net presence if you want real-time connection with your customers and your industry.