Blogs … a low cost, high return marketing tool for small business
So says the New York Times and it’s no surprise that I agree with them!
The article gives a good overview of how a blog can help a small business to market itself and build its brand and has some very nice supporting case studies. But the NYT does suggest that not all companies will be suited to using blogs as a marketing tool for a bunch of reasons, including that they may not have “enough to say”.
I don’t think the latter’s really the issue. Rather blogging (just like podcasting or using video) is a very new marketing tool for small businesses and the rule book hasn’t yet been written. As I’ve seen at BT Tradespace, SMEs are already using blogs in a variety of ways from a direct sales pitch, to source of advice, to general discussion. The level of experimentation is very high.
What is likely to happen is that in the hands of many thousands of small businesses, (the majority of whom will be coming to the medium for the first time), blogging itself is going to change. In fact many of the discussions about what is an appropriate use of blogging for marketing purposes may soon seem quite quaint as SMEs claim the medium for themselves.
As William Gibson said “the future is already here. It’s just not very evenly distributed”. My prediction for 2008 is that the use of blogging and other forms of social media as marketing tools will go well beyond the current niches and become mass market and that as a result we will see a new type and style of online marketing emerge with SMEs in the driving seat.
Posted by Ivan Croxford on January 1, 2008
Tags: Blogging, New York Times, Small business
I’m a digital strategist and I like building new businesses. This blog is an opportunity for me to air some of the insights, issues and themes that I come across in the course of my work. I’d love for some/any of these to be picked up as part of the broader conversation on digital disruption.
Interesting, I’ve just had a conversation around what a company could blog about, together with frequency of postings!
I disagree with NYT, it’s not a case of whether a company has enough to say, it’s more about their willingness to become more open about their company and the products and services that they have.
Every company has a voice, it’s a case of whether they want to have an on-line one!
I agree about every company having a voice, but the choice is where you dedicate the resources. So many of the marketers I talk to do so many things and have so little time that the idea of taking on a blog (and you betcha, if the ceo writes one it will be the marketer pushing and prodding her to do it, or ghosting it) and the same goes for online communities and forums. There are a lot of marketers out there driving those vehichles when they are really meant to be driven by users or faithful customers. Blogs as you would know take time. I have been amazed by just how much time they eat up, esp. in the early stages as you try to hit the right tone, find the right material, make a connection with readers, and publicize. on that note, better get back to it. thanks for your interesting posts. julie
Blogging does take time and application and its a slow build to gain momentum (vis my efforts here!). But that pretty much goes for just about every marketing medium. The opportunity for a blog unlike a ‘campaign’ is to create that direct connection with the customer, ‘the conversation’, that can underpin a brand. I reckon that blogging done well will have much more longevity in terms of marketing ROI than a paid search campaign for example - Ivan