Blogging for Business: No More Excuses!

Do you own or run a small business?  Do you blog?  If not, it’s more than likely because you don’t have the time or you don’t see the value. Using that logic, think of all of the efforts you put into promoting or marketing your business then look at the return on your investment (time AND money).  

Blogging on a frequent basis is a relatively easy, inexpensive way to enhance your inbound marketing efforts, drive traffic to your site, and attract more prospective customers.

Don’t like to write?  Don’t know what to write?  Get help! If you’re not blogging, you’re opening the door for your competitors to come in and grab your potential customers.

According to Hubspot, 57% of companies who have a blog reported that they actually acquire business from their blog.  Still don’t have the time or resources?  Find it!

The Case for Small Business Blogs

Here are some of the most important benefits of having a blog for your business:

1. Boost Search Engine Optimization: Search engines love fresh content. What better way to provide frequent content than with blog posts? By blogging consistently, you give Google and other search engines new content to index and you create opportunities to plug in those all-important keywords to increase your visibility on search engine results pages.
   
   
2. Develop Relationships with Potential and Existing Customers: Blogging allows you to connect with your site visitors. This can be accomplished by asking your visitors questions at the end of your posts to get the conversation going or by simply allowing comments and feedback. By reviewing and responding to readers’ comments, you can create a rapport with your audience, build trust, and gain valuable insight into what your customers are looking for.
   
   
3. Establish Your Business as an Industry Leader: No matter how small your business is, you can build trust and clout within your industry by providing valuable, expert information in your blog posts. Over time, you become a “go to” resource for helpful, informative content, which can ultimately lead to higher customer conversion rates. This is especially important for small businesses looking to gain credibility to compete with larger companies.
   
   
4. Connect People to Your Brand: Blog posting allows you to show a personal side of your business that potential and current customers may not see through traditional marketing techniques. Blogging gives consumers a sense of the standards, vision, and personality of your company.
   
   
5. Create Opportunities for Sharing: Every time you blog, you create an opportunity for your audience to share your blog with others. Whether they link to your blog post, tweet it, or email it to others, it’s free marketing and it further validates you as a credible business.
   
   

From a practical standpoint, blogging just makes sense. With minimal effort and expense, you can build credibility, boost search engine rankings, increase website traffic, and foster relationships with potential and current customers. This is an opportunity no small business should pass up.

If you have questions regarding the benefits of blogging, or need help getting started, we can help!  What are you doing to promote your brand?  If you’re not blogging, you’re missing out! Contact us if you need help with your blogging and branding plan!  www.stonekingconsulting.com  

Recruiting and Retaining Customers Through Your Brand

A large amount of sales and marketing’s attention is focused on getting the customer. But what about your current customers? Why should they come back?

Customer retention is a branding challenge. What separates your business from the competition? And do your customers care enough to come back again and again?

You don’t have to be brilliant at everything. Pick a focal point. What is your business known for?

Focus On Customer Service

Delivering exceptional customer service is more than a corporate value, it’s a process. Companies that deliver exceptional customer service invest in it. They hire more people, provide them better training and tools, and give them the freedom and room to delight their customers.

It’s not easy to deliver outstanding customer service, and that’s what makes it a powerful differentiator.

Take a look at your customer service process.  Are there things you are doing great?  Are there things in which you can improve?

Focus On Choice

Being able to buy everything you’re looking for in one place is appealing.

Offering breadth of service is a differentiator, provided your customers take advantage of your broad abilities and you excel at each of them. However, offering too many options may dilute your brand. Build your portfolio of products and services around your customer and their needs.

Focus On Your People

Happy employees create happy customers.

In some industries it’s very hard, if not impossible, to differentiate the products or services. And while these industries may not have a lot of external options to differentiate the brand they can still differentiate internally.

Organizations that build dynamic cultures stand out. Customers notice happy, engaged, and productive employees.

Your culture creates an energy that radiates out into your marketplace, and sets your brand apart from everyone else.  Why do people love working at Google? Because they have built an internal program that engages the employees, values the employees…and even lets them bring their children and pets to work.

Focus On The Experience

What’s it like to work with your company? Do you deliver a unique customer experience that sets your business apart?

Do you provide one-on-one service?  Are you accessible?  Do you take the stress out of your customers’ lives by delivering on the promise you have made? Some customers may come to you because they tried something else and had a bad experience.  Don’t make them regret they came to you.  A twice-burned customer is even harder to get back.

An experience goes beyond the products and services. It focuses on how your customers interact with the brand, and how you can aid them.

Focus On Convenience

Can you create a hassle-free experience?

This could be achieved by where you’re located, and getting really close to your customers (or being mobile). It could focus on the buying experience, and streamlining the process. It could focus on the product, and making it easier to use and maintain.

Saving your customers time, energy and money are excellent ways to differentiate your brand.

Pick a Focal Point

A brand can’t be all things to all people, and it’s unlikely you can be excellent at all five focal points. Just pick one.

A brand can stand out by doing one or two things better than everyone else.

But always keep your customer in mind:

1. Do they value the focal point?
2. Does it bring them back again and again?

The goal is to create an experience that your customers recognize, value, and seek out. What do you have to do to give your customers a reason to come back?

When developing your brand and choosing your focal point, ask the questions that all reporters ask:  Who, What, When, Where, How and Why.

WHO are you and WHO is your target audience?

WHAT services do you provide and WHAT sets you apart?

WHEN do you need to achieve your goals?

WHERE have you been and WHERE do you need to be?

HOW are you going to get there?

WHY do you do what you do?

If you need help answering any of these questions, contact SK Consulting.  We can help you develop a strategic brand and plan that will help you acquire customers and get them coming back again and again.  www.stonekingconsulting.com.