Blogging Gives You Personal Two-Way Communication with Customers
Like I was saying in my previous post, picking the most talented firm with the best reputation is only half the battle for your clients. They need to know that working with you will be a smooth and painless process, that’s why the most successful businesspeople build personal trust first, then leverage it into long-term business relationships.
Chambers of commerce know this. After-hours mixers exist to promote personal relationships between members. At VQC we network a lot, and we meet most of our non-referral business personally first, then turn move on to a business relationship.
People do business with people they trust, and trust is most easily won through personal interaction.
Online it’s no different. From the beginning, the internet has been so successful because it connects people.
The first stage of online marketing used About Us pages and employee profiles to “get to know” the company. But it’s tough to get to know someone through a little photo and reading that they enjoy cars.
Blogs serve as the next step in online customer interaction. Your customers get a direct line into your ideas coupled with a personal flavor. A well-written blog will read like one side of a conversation between friends.
Tech-savvy plastic surgeons have this down to a T. Their clientèle needs to trust their doctor on a personal level to feel comfortable. The doctors, in turn, make sure their big smiling faces are all over their marketing materials. If you’ve driven on 581 East recently, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Or look at this site.
A blog post with the author’s face next to it (coming soon to this blog!) shows off industry knowledge while reading like an email from a friend.
The ability to participate in the conversation through the comments is also much more engaging than simple reading. So it can be more than one side of a conversation with a friend. Potential clients can interact with you personally and, perhaps more importantly, with each other.
People appreciate connecting with other people. More than static reading, online readers today would rather
- Talk (or listen) to someone knowledgeable
- Share stories with a group in a similar situation
- Participate in the conversation
Blogs interact with readers, which (if done correctly) turns them into customers.
In the last installment of this series, I’ll wrap up and tell you the most important thing blogging does for your business.