Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

I recently wrote about how great business blog content helped one of my clients land not one but two clients over the course of a few weeks.  That’s why most business owners begin blogging – they want to connect with consumers.

Connecting with consumers is the holy grail of online marketing.  Each day – thousands of people head online to search for information.  Many times – those searches are very, very specific.  That’s where business blogs really shine – because often those really super specific search queries are made by people who are actively seeking solutions to problems – problems for which your business offers a solution.

Connecting with consumers did not begin when Facebook opened its doors to the general public.  The goal of connecting with consumers was the goal of advertising agencies LONG before the first Twitter fail whale appeared on the scene.

Back in those days – it was a real challenge to make a connection with consumers.  Information flowed down predictable paths which were almost literally etched in stone.  You had to have pockets filled with gold to even consider charting a course down the well worn path of traditional media.

Back in those days – just as today – connecting with consumers began with an idea.

“Hey – I’ll bet THIS will really connect with our target audience!”

In those days – that “aha” moment was followed by creating a campaign which delivered that message.   Sometimes it was television – sometimes it was print – other times it was direct mail – but in every case the journey to making a connection began by opening up your business checkbook and writing more than a few checks. Production of your marketing message was only the beginning – because once the marketing message was produced it then had to be DELIVERED via your chosen media.

With all of this upfront expense – you had to be pretty confident that your “aha” moment – or the “aha” moment provided by your agency – would TRULY connect with consumers.

Even today – companies are still stumbling across such “aha” moments and connecting with consumers via traditional media.  From the All State’s Mayhem guy – to the Old Spice guy – traditional media campaigns are successfully making the initial connection with consumers. Social media is just an afterthought in those cases-  serving to fan the flames of an already roaring fire.

It’s “easier” for big companies to make that kind of connection via traditional media simply because they have the budget for it.  When a large corporation runs an ad campaign that falls flat – there isn’t the slightest possibility that it will destroy the company’s financial future.  When a big company runs a campaign that flops – they simply fire their agency and hire a new one.

But if you’re an SMB – an advertising campaign that flops can mean the difference between red ink and black ink on your balance sheet.  That makes it much harder to take that leap of faith and start writing checks to produce a marketing message that may or may not connect with consumers.

Which is exactly why a business blog can save the day for an SMB.

Your business blog allows you to “test” the waters economically with your marketing message.  Take your message – and post it.  Now take that post – and tweak it – and then post it again.  I’m not saying to “re-run” the same content over and over – that would be redundant and silly.  Take your message and “massage” it – shape it – try to view it from different angles.

Which is why business blogs can literally save the day for small and medium sized business owners.  Business blogs give you the ability to “tweak” your marketing message before you spend a DIME on production costs.   Your business blog can give you the confidence to invest in producing a television spot.

Not only can your business blog give you a heads up on which message really “connects” with consumers – it also gives you a place to “air” that spot on demand 24/7.  So once your television ad has done it’s job airing on television – it can still continue to “work” by providing information on your business blog.

It’s not just television ads which can be “re-purposed” for life on the web – but virtually any ad in any media can find new life – quickly and easily – on your business blog.

Business blogs really can save the day for SMB – effectively and efficiently providing a marketing beacon for your business.

If you didn’t know by now, a business blog is a great way for your business to reach out and capture the attention of prospective customers or clients.   Business blogs grab the attention of machines (the search engines) and people alike and business owners are sitting up and taking notice.

Recently, I began sharing about the mechanics of creating a great business blog post and the fact that a great business blog post begins with the title.  The title delivers the promise of what’s to come – but that brings us to the next step which is actually creating the business blog content.

This is where the way gets murky.  This is the point where the questions a professional is going to ask you will get tough.  This is where you have to KNOW your product or service inside and out.  You have to KNOW the who, what, when, where and why.

Who? – Who is your target audience?

What? – What need or desire is the product or service satisfying.

When? –  When does your target audience plan to make a purchase?  Are they researching before they buy?

Where? – Where will they complete their purchase?  Some products simply can’t be purchased online while others can.  Sometimes – prospective clients are simply trying to find information and will make their buying decision in the “real world” vs online.

Why? –  Why are they online?  Did they log on with the intention of buying or did they log on searching for the answer to a problem they’re having?

A ready answer to these questions is essential to creating great business blog content.

I recently got an email from a client – very excitedly telling me that her business blog just helped her to land 2 new clients.   When I look back at our initial conversation – I realize that she had the answers to all of these questions at the ready when she began blogging for her business.

If you were to ask her about business blogging – she would tell you how EASY it is – because she simply began composing blog posts with her target audience and their problems in mind.   To be honest, she created this content regularly for a few months and then quit blogging.  She ignored her blog for more than a year – and then – one day she checked her log file analysis  and saw that she was getting hundreds of views a day on a particular blog post.  She began writing blog posts again and VIOLA – she started to get potential clients leaving comments asking for her to contact them about her service.  Two of those initial conversations have resulted in long term client commitments.

So if you’re wanting to create great business blog content – begin by examining your target audience.  Answer the questions above – especially the “why”.  In my client’s case – she KNEW that her prospective client wasn’t logging on with the intent of hiring her.   She KNEW they were looking for a solution to a problem – but they didn’t know exactly what that solution was.  Because they weren’t searching for a solution – she simply wrote blog posts about those problems and then artfully wove how her service helped to solve those problems.

That’s where the power of business blogging lies.  Sure, you can optimize a blog post for specific keywords that YOU think are important – but if your customers aren’t using those words to find what you do then your efforts are wasted.  When you create a business blog post addressing the specific problems consumers are facing – problems your product or service “solves” – you may find as my client did that the web is FULL of people who need your products or service but don’t know it yet.

When you start blogging for your business – those people can not only find you – they can also get to know more by reading your other blog posts.