Why it’s Essential to Engage with Your Customers via a Blog

Blogging has emerged as one of the best marketing tools on the web. From the ease of creating a direct communication to the convenience of interacting with possible customers and clients, blogging has provided a new way for marketers to do what they do – promote products and services!

However, often companies don’t get beyond good intentions. A study of Fortune 1000 Senior Executives in 2006 revealed that while 77% of them thought their companies should have corporate policies to produce Company Blogs, only 8% had teams dedicated to this task!

So What Does a Blog Do for your Company?

1. It Educates Your Visitors: It is a great forum to explain to your readers exactly why your company does things the way they do, and give them lots of helpful and topical information about the core idea behind your business. From looking at the bigger picture (latest trends worldwide) to focusing on your new products or offers, you will build a loyal fan base that identifies with your brand, trusts your advice, and will turn into customers.
   
   
2. Your Blog is Your Press Release: Instead of squandering your marketing budget on Press Releases that are not directed at your target customers, your Blog can serve as the medium to quickly reach a select audience – that’s the efficient way!
   
   
3. Your Brand Visibility Zooms Upwards: It all comes down to the content in your Blog. Quality content is usually linked by other bloggers. This helps you gain better placement on search engines and increases your visibility. Today everyone who puts anything out on the Net has only one dream – and that is to go viral! That’s going to happen to your blog when excellent content gets picked up and linked to other blogs, and then you’ll watch your brand value soar.
   
   
4. You Personalize Your Business: No-one enjoys dealing with a huge nameless, faceless organization. Potential clients would like to know who is behind the product or service they are buying. When you have a one-on-one relationship with your readers, it gives your business a face – people know they are dealing with someone they know and might have been in touch with personally via email and other forms of communication. This is a huge benefit.
   
   
5. You Get Instant Feedback: This is one of the most important benefits of a Blog – rapid, instant feedback and reviews which will help you tweak your strategy and respond better to the market you are trying to target. With a blog you can get feedbacks within minutes after publishing a post on a recent product launch, which lets you adjust your campaign or make necessary changes as suggested by the customers you are trying to promote your product to.

Remember, a Blog is only as good as what you put in it, so make sure your content is professional and relevant, and you will see the effect it has on your business.