“Blogging, that’s soooo dead. I mean who wants to write that much content anymore. Facebook and Twitter is where it’s at, so why would I want a blog for my business today?”
Imagine a scenario where you as a business owner only relied on marketing by running around to various coffee shops, and putting up flyers on bulletin boards. It works as long as you have a flyer up on the bulletin board, someone takes the time to look at the bulletin board, and the coffee shop ultimately doesn’t shut down or decide to take the bulletin board away.
Sounds crazy, right?
But is Facebook or Twitter any different?
Most business owners start up their business with a plan. They contemplate all of the marketing strategies out there, and then settle on something that will work for them. It may look like this:
- Business cards
- Brochures
- Join a chamber
- Attend 3 networking groups a month
- Website
- Advertise with trade publication
As the business grows, the owner adds a few things here and a few things there. They have a variety of things in place for them to work with as they talk with people and try to convert from prospect to client.
Take a look at the above list one more time. Out of all of the different tools, which one would be the most important – the base of your entire marketing strategy?
It’s your website.
Traditional media – like business cards, brochures, and advertisements in trade publications – are all simple tools for you to connect with a prospect and lead them to something with more sustenance. Your website.
Online media – Facebook, Twitter, Google ads and more – are all simple ways of building relationships and directing people to where you want them to go. Landing pages, videos, content and more are all focused and accumulated on your site – your blog – giving you a quick and easy way of getting information into the hands of the people that will ultimately help you grow your business.
And today more than ever, a website is synonymous with a blog … more than 1 in 4 sites built today are on the WordPress platform.
Are blogs dead?
Nope. In fact they are growing larger than ever before as every single small business out there becomes head of their own content media empire.
Unfortunately not every small business owner knows it yet.
And that’s what will set successful small business owners apart from ones that fail.
Which one will you be?