Five Ways of Promoting Your Business Through Blogs

chillibreeze writer — Suyash Trivedi

A major bike lock company was shocked when news surfaced that one of its world famous locks could be opened using a pen. The blogger simply wrote 'This $50 lock is supposed to be one of the best for "toughest bicycle security in moderate to high crime areas"—unless the thief happens to have a Bic pen.' News spread rapidly and the company faced huge financial loses. The company was not prepared for blogs, a tool which could be used by customers to inform more than twenty million people their experiences in less than an hour!

Welcome to the world of blogs, by far the most powerful tool both the customer and a company possess today.

Thankfully, blogs have done more good for companies than bad. They are not only considered important, but are also a mandatory ingredient of any marketing professional's recipe.

So who is blogging today? From large companies such as Boeing, Microsoft and Disney to small companies such as Thomas Mahon’s tailoring business and Elisa Camahort's Marketing and Public Relations firm, businesses of all stripes are using this revolutionary tool to create positive experiences and increase influence.

How can your company use blogs effectively?

Search Engine Marketing
Blogs are full of links, contain a number of keywords and are search engine friendly. Having a blog for your business helps your Search Engine Marketing and is a key tool to getting you a better ranking in Search Engine results. Companies spend thousands of dollars on Search Engine Optimization. However it cannot get cheaper and is effective as a marketing and PR tool.

Position yourself as an expert
You can use your blog to speak about your products, solve customer queries and receive feedback from them. Nobody can know your products better than you do. Use your blog to establish yourself as a leader, a knowledge source.

Build a brand image
Having your own blog would in most cases allow you to know your customers' negative experiences with your products. In case your company does not have a blog, bloggers would post their comments in external blogs, which would not only be difficult to track, but also create a negative influence since you will not be reacting to the complaint. On the other hand, allowing customers to post their comments so openly and regularly replying to them will instill faith in them and show your concern towards them.

Improve Customer Loyalty
Blogs go a long way in increasing customer loyalty. A blog makes a customer feel like a part of the company itself. He can comment, give suggestions and view other experiences. Once a customer posts a comment on a blog, he is hooked and is surely going to come back.

Communicate
The ways in which you can use blogs for your business is endless. The most important though is to communicate. Say you have a new product launch. Simply post the news on your blog a few days before it goes live. Are you are planning on a new feature but don’t know if the customers actually need it? Ask for their opinions. Blogs are so powerful you do not need market research to take decisions. Directly ask your customers what they want and what they don’t. It really can’t get simpler than this.

Blogs have arrived and are here to stay. If you aren’t inviting this change, if you aren’t jumping on the bandwagon, your competitors are. They are vital to your very survival as a business today. Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of General Motors is doing it and so is Dallas Mavericks basketball team owner Marc Cuban. It’s high time you star blogging, or you won’t realize when your customers very quickly join forces with companies that blog and leave you biting the dust.

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.

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Suyash says, "I have been foolish and made my share of mistakes, but always believed 'When you lose, don't lose the lesson'. That probably keeps me going."

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