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Your business is in trouble.
I mean it. You don’t have a blog and your competition is passing you up. Or you have a blog but it hasn’t been updated in months and it is starting to look like an abandoned old house on the edge of a bad neighborhood. Your problem? The foolish notion that you can create a 30 second TV spot or newspaper ad and gain a flood of new customers is dead. Yeah it still works. But that’s like telling everyone at the turn of the last century that the horse and buggy still works. Only fools stuck with making horse and buggies in the face of the automobile and its rise to prominence. Blogging, podcasting, internet, online marketing? Same thing. So should you abandon all forms of traditional advertising? No way. |
I’m just suggesting that you think beyond the 30 second ad.
Of course TV isn’t going anywhere and newspapers will always be around in spite of those who would argue this point.
Treating the web as a distribution or broadcast platform is one of the biggest mistakes people make online with blogs, podcasts, and other tools. We are all used to television, radio, and the newspaper as a one-way broadcast medium.
Communications online work more like a telephone than a TV receiver. The web is a conversation medium not a broadcast medium.
As you plan your business blog think about using it to start conversations.
So let me give you a tip on content and what to write about.
What is it about my product or service that people want to talk about?
This is the big question. Ask yourself this and center your blog content around the answer.
Your product or service should have some really great benefits and features. What are the benefits that people would share with their neighbors? Begin to write and talk about these to stir the conversation. The guys over at Will It Blend do this on video in a very funny way.
I would recommend that you put at least 80% of your time into talking about the features that people find amazing about your product or service.
Blogging about your best product and service benefits and inviting discussion can really pull in your business readers and help you create compelling content.
So thinking past the 30 sec ad mentality means thinking as a conservationist not a broadcaster. Does it require hard work?
You bet.
But it is worth it because of the leverage your business will gain from customer feedback, insight, and participation.
Stay tuned for future articles as we help break down ways to use online media to market your business.
Joel Mark Witt is a producer, speaker, and new media leader who writes about social media and its impact in the business world. He is also the Founding Director of Folk Media. Send him an email: joelmarkwitt (at) folkmedia.org or follow him on Twitter.
*Photo by -Mandie-
