Maximize Your Message With A Blog

Remember when life was simple? There were three major television networks, a handful of radio stations and a local newspaper. Companies had a limited number of choices when they wanted to reach the masses, and many times they had to hope that someone in their target audience was listening.

The way we communicate is constantly evolving. Now, a new media outlet emerges every day, allowing marketers to convey their messages better and reach more people. With sites like YouTube, Flickr and others, the Internet provides everyone a platform to reach potentially millions of people. The Internet has also segmented the market, so companies don’t have to spend as much money to reach the masses — and chances are, someone is listening. You can craft your message to pursue people within your target audience; even better, you can direct it toward people who are interested in your company.

Blogging for Success

Companies are talking, and people are listening. Here’s an example from our own experience: Envoy has always been active online. We’ve had a website for as long as I can remember. Years ago, we decided we needed to keep our content fresh. So, we started a blog.

Although we’ve maintained a blog for several years, we have really focused on it this year. Now, our blog is updated several times each week, and everyone on staff contributes, providing a great assortment of marketing wisdom and advice — and occasionally a great recipe for ribs. What we’ve learned is that by improving our blog content and — most importantly — by keeping the content fresh and updated, the blog has more than doubled our website traffic in just four months.

Blogs are incredibly popular, and they are commonplace today. In fact, they are becoming a standard feature on websites. A recent report from eMarketer revealed that one in three companies will have a public-facing blog this year, and 43 percent of U.S. companies will be blogging by 2012. These numbers are up from 16 percent in 2007.

Why are blogs so successful? A senior eMarketer analyst said that blogs are perceived by marketers to have the highest value of any social media in driving site traffic, brand awareness, lead generation and sales, as well as in improving customer service.

We agree. People are likely to come back to a website more than once if they find the information valuable and new. Envoy’s increase in website traffic is proof.

Tips to Keep ‘Em Reading

If you want a successful blog, you must continually ask yourself what will attract readers. First, it’s important to be upfront and honest with your readers, as well as to provide them with fresh content generated by your company. Second, don’t use your blog as a place to blatantly advertise or try to sell your products or services.

Your blog can establish your business as an industry expert, a company that prospects and customers can rely on when they need services and products like those you offer. Use your blog to demonstrate that you know what you’re doing and that’s why customers can trust you. Your website is a marketing tool that tells prospects and customers what your company, products and services do; your blog should provide the answers to why they should choose your company, products and services.

If you use your blog to constantly promote your products and services, then people might stop by once to check it out, but they won’t be back. They want to find useful information; they don’t want to feel like your blog is pressuring them to buy.

So, whether your company has its own blog or you utilize other blogs to relay your messages, the blogosphere is yet another vehicle to reach your target audience.