Yes, business blogging will get you more customers. No, it's not as if you write a few posts for a month or two and magically you've doubled your customer base. It doesn't happen that quickly, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen at all. Here's exactly how business blogging gets you more customers, eventually.
Business Blogging Speaks to Those Who Aren't Yet Ready to Buy
Those other marketing techniques are great: word of mouth, networking, trade shows, you name it. If they've been successful for you, then don't stop. However, what makes business blogging different from those marketing techniques is that it only speaks to those who are ready to buy. It's great that you're able to get them right when they are ready, but not everyone is ready to buy. Some are still searching for a solution. Some may not know they have a problem. Some may not have yet decided on a provider. This is where business blogging comes in. It reaches all those people who aren't yet ready to buy, but may find value in your product or service. Keep those people engaged, interested, and informed, and they will turn into your customers.
Business Blogging Builds Brand Awareness
Facebook dropped a bomb this week saying that clicks on Facebook ads don't really matter. The reason is that recent research from Nielsen found that there is a less than one percent correlation between high click through rates and sales. Additional data from Datalogix found that 99% of sales generated from online branding ad campaigns came from people who saw ads, but did not click on them. What does this mean for business blogging?
It means the brand awareness is incredibly important towards sales and customer acquisition, and business blogging is a great way to build brand awareness. Through blogging, you become easier to find online, you get in front of more people by providing quality content, you demonstrate that you know what you are doing and what you are talking about. It's all part of building your brand, and in doing what it takes to let people know that your brand exists and what it's all about. Only people who know about you will become customers, so getting more people to know about you will translate into more customers in the long run.
Business Blogging is a Way to Generate Leads
You need leads to get customers, and you need a way to generate quality leads, not just any old leads. Business blogging is great at doing this, especially if your niche is targeted and need to qualify your leads in some way before following up with them. For example,we have a client that is specifically targeting hospitals and universities of a certain size. How do you reach out to those who fit that demographic? Business blogging is a good way to reach your demographic and to get better quality, better qualified leads because then you can create that specifically addresses the pain points of that demographic. By adding a call to action at the end of your blog posts your blog posts, you can capture those leads and then do what it takes to turn them into customers.
Business Blogging Actually Works!
This isn't all theory and perception here; business blogging actually does get you customers, and the frequency of your blogging matters. For B2C companies, over 60 percent of them have acquired a customer through their blog! When it comes to frequency, according to HubSpot, 92% of of blog users who posted multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog, a figure that decreased to 66% for those who blogged monthly and 43% for those who posted less than monthly. Not only does business blogging work, but the more you do it, the more likely you are to get a customer!
Need help getting started with business blogging, or in learning how to blog? It covers everything from choosing a niche, tagging, adding photos, and the importance of putting together a quality business blog!
