Once the internet plaything of angst-ridden teens with a prehistoric grasp of web-design and basic HTML (including yours truly), many major companies and corporations now have a blog in some form or other. And who can blame them?
Blogging is a very effective way to communicate with customers in an engaging and informative way – if done correctly. It enables companies to position their brand as a thought leader and/or expert on subjects that are important and relevant to their target audience. More importantly, a blog is a platform for actual two-way dialogue with customers without the corporate tongue. It can also help:
– Attract new and repeat visitors to website
– Keeping the company website fresh
– Pre-emptively address customer questions
– Make customers aware of a company’s products and services before they even need them
Despite these benefits, many UK businesses do not blog as part of their sales and marketing activities, even though 46% of people read blogs at least once a day and 79% of companies that blog have reported a positive ROI for in-bound marketing. So if you’re one of these companies that are not blogging, you may wish to reconsider this approach. And fast.
The digital communications landscape has completely transformed the way in which both consumers and businesses buy products and services. The wealth of online information is almost limitless, and the surge in popularity of third party review sites (such as Trip Advisor) reflects their influence within the customer purchasing journey. My mother, for one, is often already submitting a restaurant review on her phone as she finishes the last morsel of cheesecake before the aperitifs arrive.
Consequently, the traditional sales process is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Whether we’re a B2B or B2C customer, one-way broadcast messages are becoming increasingly ineffective as they fail to address or answer our concerns or questions. We’re spending more and more time within the discovery phase and if your business isn’t present in this point of the purchasing cycle, then you may miss out on potential customers.
For further reading on owned media and why you should blog, please download our free whitepaper on the subject here, or email our Content Development Director, Kerry Rice.