As an entrepreneur, I’ve learned how to prospect and sell. Selling has and will always involve building relationships but technology has radically changed prospecting. Print and newspaper advertising has given way to online advertising, company websites, and search engine optimization. With the advent of the digital video recorder, people are skipping through TV ads. Satellite radio is displacing commercial radio just as cable displaced network TV. Households receive dozens of pieces of direct mail each day which go directly from the mailbox to the trash can. Robo-calls bombard households only to be intercepted by answering machines and voice mail systems. The old technique of “push selling”, using advertising, is less effective as consumers are numb from over stimulation. Today’s savvy consumer wants entertainment and news not slogans and hype. The explosion of social networking sites like Facebook, Linked-In, and Twitter evidences the transformation of consumer behaviors in a cyber-world. People are getting connected to other people across the planet based on common interests. They are collaborating across timezones and getting advice instantaneously from trusted sources.

Effective prospecting requires “pull selling” where people opt in to receive information. The savvy consumer will research a company on the web and make a buying decision without ever contacting a person at the company. But having a static, informative website is not enough to effectively compete. Seasoned sales professionals will confirm that it takes, on average, seven sales calls to close a sale. Each call is designed to move the prospect closer to a decision while building a relationship of trust. In the new Internet economy many of those first contact calls are made indirectly through web site browsing, online testimonials, product reviews, and email communications. The problem with this scenario is that the salesperson does not have a clue who the prospect is and he/she has no way of developing a relationship before many decisions are made. This is where blogging has a huge impact.

Blogging is a way to communicate with lurking prospects and lure them into the social fabric so contact can be made and a relationship can be built. A blog is a dynamic communication vehicle that speaks to who you are as a company and what you do. It needs to be entertaining and informative not a new place to post advertising content. Blogs must offer visual-verbal content. The reader must be entertained with visual media and captivated by a friendly voice. A blog must be written in a style that speaks in a consistent tone. When people visit a blog it tends to be more informal then traditional business communications but it must not be unprofessional. I think of a blog as a conversation around the coffee pot on casual Fridays where a senior technician or manager shares some tips and techniques with the team. It can be spirited and lively but still cognizant of the business environment. A good blog draws people into the conversation; it encourages dialog and begets an environment open to asking questions. True success can be attributed to the blog when people start sending in emails with questions about the topics discussed on the blog – it is at that time that the prospect is discovered and an online relationship with trust has been indirectly developed.

The problem with blogs is people start them because they know they need one but they fail to update them regularly. This failure is worse than not having a blog. When a web visitor looks at a blog that has not been updated in six weeks, or even worse six months, it conveys a feeling that the company is dead or going out of business — “there must be nothing to say because nothing is happening”. Starting a blog requires a strategy. Someone must be dedicated to keeping it going. It doesn’t need to be a full time job though for a large company it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have several bloggers dedicated full time. For the small business, it can be a major task for a CEO to regularly drop everything he/she is doing and start blogging; but blogging may be the best marketing investment for the small business owner.

Today marketing firms are managing blogs for large companies at a substantial price. The small and medium size businessperson may feel the blogosphere is out of reach, while in fact it really isn’t. Freelance writers can be effective bloggers. Photojournalists who write, make photographs and even create multi-media content can be retained to keep a blog lively. A blog can replace the customer newsletter and reduce mailing costs for a dentist office while attracting new prospects with informative articles on dental hygiene or cosmetic dentistry. A blog can feature artists and their work at a local gallery. Investment advisers can inform clients and engage prospects with a synopsis of markets and recommended strategies. A local boutique can feature new fashions, discuss the trends for the coming season, and even announce web-only promotions. The options are endless.

If you are interested in starting a blog here are a few things to do:

1. Register a domain or subdomain that is easy for people to remember
2. Select an appropriate blogging software package
3. Customize the look for your particular business
4. Implement optional features based on the desired content
5. Seed the blog with pertinent news stories
6. Promote the blog to current customers and prospects
7. Publicize the blog posts on social network sites
8. Keep new, fresh content flowing

I work with clients to install, update and create verbal-visual content for blogs and business websites. Contact me if you would like to discuss ways that a blog can help you establish credibility and trust with your customers.