Blogging: The Low Cost, High Return Business Marketing Tool, Part 5: How Blogs Can Impact a Business

With the chance to widen Internet marketing programs, increase value to existing company websites, and to reach new heights in search engine hits, blogging is the best investment in time to achieve all three at once! A business blog can deliver all of the following and more.

IDEAS – Smart companies blog to gain new product ideas. They assume their customers know what they want better than they do.

PRODUCTS – Blogging can replace the narrow development achieved by traditional focus groups and reach a world full of customers with information about what they really want.

VISIBILITY – Blogging can replace the single-event marketing approach and create an on-going experience for customers and let those customers decide when and how often to interact with the company and create online communities.


t 2 b: Yellow Chairs by The Bucks County Frame & Moulding Co., Blue & Gold fine art photo by Photoamato

TEAMWORK – Blogs provide living information for companies and their customers to use in the present, refer to in the future, and can encourage employees to exchange ideas with other bloggers who share similar interests via both internal and external blog sites.

COMMUNITY – Internal blogs, accessed through a company Intranet system, can become a Weblog that all employees can read and contribute to. Offering direct communication between various layers of an organization builds a sense of community and strengthens collective intelligence. Entries that spotlight a client, new hire or awards to employees only increase the positive advantages of a blog.

EASE OF USE – Anyone that can type an email message can post content to a blog. All employees within a company can benefit from participation in posting to the company blog—especially if the company blog is intended for internal use only.

RELEVANCE - Blogs are simple to manage, simple to publish and have user-friendly interface programs that make blogs easier to update than traditional websites. Frequency of updates can generate more hits, more readers, and more repeat business.


t 2 b: Eat Your Greens by The Pairabirds, Gloss Yellow Sculptural Teapot by Judi Tavill Ceramics

LOYALTY – Blogs help customers feel a sense of loyalty by providing an environment where their opinions—positive and negative—are valued.

BUZZ – Living information on a blog provides inside information on developments and news about products.

l 2 r: Grow fine art photo print - Jen's Everyday Moments, Blue Flapper Dress - Punk Vouge Vintage

REACTIONS – Blogs introduce a public forum for airing and communicating about negative events, which can lead to public support and minimize the damage caused by rumors.

In April of 2008, primary research findings co-sponsored by BlogHer and Compass Partners gathered some interesting information about women who blog and women who read blogs:

36.2 million women write and read blogs every week.
47% polled believe blogs to be a “highly reliable” source of information and advice about everything from products to political issues.
24% of women surveyed admit they watch less TV due to blogging.
55% claim they would stop drinking alcohol.
50% reported they would relinquish their PDAs.
42% say they would surrender their iPods.
43% would give up reading newspapers and magazines.
20% said they would stop eating chocolate![1]

This post is part FIVE of a marketing series. Please visit my archives to read parts 1-8.

The photos displayed in this post represent items sold by our fellow small business owners, in their online Etsy stores. Please click on the links under the photos to visit the artist shops for quality handmade and vintage items.


[1] Bloomberg, Toby. "Girlfriends Just Wanna Have Fun...Social Media Style." [Weblog Diva Marketing Blog] 15, April 2008. Bloomberg Marketing. 27 May 2008 .

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