4 Reasons Why Blogging May be an Ineffective Marketing Tool

Recently here on Quick Register, Matthew Meyer pointed out some excellent reasons for establishing a blog as part of an effective marketing strategy. For only a handful of years, blogs have created an incredible new space in which we can effectively communicate and interact with our customer base. While this article is not meant to discredit Mr. Meyer’s contribution, I’ve seen far too many companies who use blogs so poorly as a marketing tool that their marketing strategy would be completely better off without.  If you are considering starting a company blog, do it for the right reasons. Don’t do it just because:

1. Everyone else is doing it.

Let’s face it. Every company and their moms have blogs these days. Most of them hardly every get read, simply because there are so many of them. Know from the very beginning that your blog must be incredibly unique and truly valuable if you hope to ever get any sort of traffic. In our consumer, review-driven age, most blog readers are wary of official company blogs, so know from the get-go that you are at a disadvantage.

2. You want to create a new channel for sales pitches.

Consumers receive enough spam in their inboxes and mailboxes. They don’t need another medium that only tries to convince them of the superiority of your products or services. Avoid at all costs the snake and oil. While this may seem counterintuitive, avoid praising your products at all. Once you get enough customers reading your blog, the way that your blog will help your marketing strategy overall is associative. Your readers will begin to associate your interesting, helpful content with your brand, which will indirectly lead them to buy into your products.

3. You don’t want to spend the time writing valuable, unbiased information about your industry.

So if you aren’t singing the praises of whatever it is that you sell on your blog, you may wonder what you would spend your time writing about. The best answer is to first consider this—when people surf the Internet to read, they do so primarily to be either informed or entertained. As such, focus about developments in your industry that would enlighten any consumer. Try as much as you can to make it interesting. Don’t just tow the company line.

4. You consider your blog as first and foremost a marketing tool.

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, a blog should serve to promote your business. But you should think of your blog as an honest communication channel between you and your client base, one that creates a platform for discussion that will further help improve your business and reputation.

As noted above, this article isn’t meant to dissuade you from starting a blog for your company. It is only meant to further underline its great potential if approached in the right way. Good luck!

This is a guest post by Eliza Morgan who is a full time blogger.  She specializes in writing about business credit cards. You can reach her at: elizamorgan856 at gmail dot com.