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Secrets to Success
Deborah Cole Micek
and John-Paul Micek
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Opinion and bias can be a good thing
Professional bloggers write with no attempt to persuade or influence their readers. As a matter of fact, many pride themselves on being relatively benign, politically correct, unbiased informers, disconnected from any source of capitalistic influence.
Well, as business owners, you and I both know that there are two things wrong with this approach.
To begin with, any intelligent, thinking individual is going to have an opinion, and that opinion will put a slant on what they say or write. There is no such thing as a person without an opinion. And if you try not to have an opinion about your business, your expertise or your passions, you'll be doing yourself a disservice.
Not only is taking this "no opinion" approach harmful to business, it is offensive to people who are members of your ideal audience. They don't have time trying to parse what it is that you are saying. These men and women want to hear your opinion, and if your own products and services will save them time, make them money, or add more fulfillment to their lives, they want to know that immediately.
Keep in mind that you should never turn your business blog into a multipart sales letter the way I see many Internet marketers trying to do. That would mean the terrible loss of the very powerful marketing and sales boosters of comfort, familiarity, and trust in you or your company that come from open, honest dialog. However, don't make the mistake of allowing this one cautionary statement to cause a cessation of all direct linkage between your business blog and sales. You may not want your blog to become a super long-form, multipart sales letter, but it can be a very effective marketing and sales platform.
Second, blogging purists (which many professional bloggers are) muddy the waters by equating a capitalistic marketing bent with some type of evil behavior. This is really quite hypocritical since their blogs and cash flow live and die by their ability to "interrupt" visitors with traditional mass-media type ads and banners. In my opinion, these interruptions are the ultimate offense to an intelligent prospect or client. A company-sponsored blog, when properly done is less cluttered and much more enjoyable to read.
The fact is, marketing with blogs is not a no-no. Yes, many people are tired of being marketed to. But if you're addressing the right audience using persuasion and influence, they are eager to market with you. This is so important a filter for you as a business owner that it bears repeating.
Don't be afraid of opinion, bias, or marketing with blogs. Use online persuasion and influence to blatantly market with your prospects, subscribers, and clients.
John-Paul Micek is the lead business coach at RPM Success Group Inc. Reach him at
JPM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.
Deborah Cole Micek, chief executive officer of RPM Success Group, is a business success coach and life strategist. Reach her at
DCM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.