Remember the good old days when you actually got excited when the new edition of the Yellow Pages was dropped on your doorstep? It was great because now you could look up a number to call that new store to see what time they opened and if they carried a specific brand you’ve been searching for? But it really wasn’t that “good” when you thought of this at 11 PM as you were planning your next day before going to bed. And if you ran a business I bet on at least one occasion you dodged a “friendly” call from the Yellow Pages salesperson offering you a “great deal” to increase your visibility in the community. It was definitely a good tool in its day.
But today if you think of your static website as your White Pages listing, then your organization’s official blog is the powerful Yellow Pages display advertising the salesperson was trying to upsell to you.
Yesterday, we presented Shel Holtz’s 4 great reasons why a blog is a business requirement as well as some basic guidelines for effective corporate blogging. Today, we’ll complement Shel’s with a few of our own.
- The Yellow Pages Replacement – There’s no denying it, more and more people use the Internet each day to search for the products and services that they intend to purchase. Even if they don’t plan on buying online, they will still end up doing their research there; if your organization has an official blog it might be one of the places they may visit.
- Inexpensive – You can actually get started with an official organizational blog for no money down. Services like WordPress.com, Blogger.com, Tumblr and Posterous provide powerful free tools to get your message out there. Of course, there are real benefits of creating a custom blog that matches your organization’s branding and has more functionality.
- Dynamic platform – That Yellow Pages ad will look exactly the same in a year as it did the day you gave handed over the copy. Unfortunately, your business might not. You may have added some new sought after product’s or services recently or you might have created a special opportunity for customers. An official blog is one effective way to deliver the message.
- Tell a story - Your story is your competitive advantage. It’s yours and nobody elses’, tell it! It might encompass your organization’s history, your employee’s dedication and service, client success stories or a combination of all of the above. As long as man has been on Earth, he’s loved to tell and hear stories and research has shown that brand that tell a story can charge a premium over those that don’t.
- Conversation – Finally and most importantly, an official blog offers the unique opportunity to engage and converse with your stakeholders. People like to know that they have a voice and are being listened to. The feedback loop made possible by social media is invaluable and will help you serve your customers better and make your organization stronger.
While the Yellow Pages is not going away anytime soon, social media, like blogs, are just getting started.1 Don’t delay, launch a blog, tell your story, engage your customers and “let your fingers do the walking” across your computer keyboard.