Marketing Science Blog

Blogging is an activity that began to go mainstream in late 90s, early 2000s.  Historically, it was a way to comment an existing web page, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice their opinions on that page.

What started as single sentence commentary has evolved into complete web sites of personal opinions about anything and everything imaginable.  As blogging evolved, online advertising has tapped into the its revenue potential.

Here are 5 reasons why you should use blogging as one of your primary Internet marketing tools.

1.Blogging is simple.  The simplest way to get your say on the Internet is to blog.  Only simple skills are necessary: read and type, click a mouse.  It’s like having a digital notebook or journal where you express your experiences, ideas, new products and hope that the value of your articles motivates your reader to some desired action, like clicking relevant text ads that earn you money.  If you have a computer and an Internet connection (that’s almost everyone) then you can blog and advertise.

2. Blogging is authentic.  Today, when advertising is saturating our lives, we question more than ever the credibility of promoters’ claims.  However, with blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, uninfluenced by paid advertising.  Reading blogs about opinions of products is like talking to people about their first-hand experiences. Everyone wants to buy a tried and tested product.

3. Blogging is free.  Because blogging is now proving itself to be a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing and offer it for free. Any opportunity for free “web time” is a bonus, particularly to businesses that are just starting up.

4. Blogging builds your credibility.  As you write and post more of your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize they can depend on your posts for their own informational needs. You become an expert. As a result, more readers visit your blog and other bloggers link to you. As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon contact you to advertise on your blog page, or invite you to become an affiliate, which pays for every referral sale generated by your blog.

5. Blogging builds your market.  Unless you’re a celebrity, it’s very possible your Mom reads your posts.  Mom has a lot of friends, so she tells her friends how interesting your blog is. But you don’t have to depend on Mom to get visitors to your blog!  Look into the following ways to build your readership and market via blogging:

Through e-mail. Today, blogging is overtaking e-mail to quickly and effectively reach and expand a market. In our new age of speed and instant access, logging in and checking e-mail is time-consuming than going to your favorite blog. And you avoid all the unwanted spam. get people to explore your blog by using a short teaser e-mail message with links to your blog. If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.

Using subscriptions. An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blog.  Hold back some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address.  Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.

Understanding your readers. Conduct surveys for your readers to understand their true wants and needs.  Ask consumers to give you feedback on posts, an ad link, or a free trial that you shared.  It’s like interviewing your readers without the hassle or intrusion of a physical interview.

Joining a blog network. A blog network is an organized collection of blogs that share similar interests, themes, readership, etc.  Consumers like the convenience of clicking one link to several blogs about a single subject.

Using RSS. RSS is still one of the fastest growing technologies on the Internet.  Having RSS feeds for your blog is another great way of creating awareness for your blog.  Having a variety of feeds also adds interest to your blog.

So, give your business a real boost by using blogging as a primary Internet marketing tool.

Posted by Bob Thomson

Marlon,

I just read your most recent article…

Internet Marketing Made Simple — The ONLY 3 Steps You Need To Know To Promote Anything To Anyone Online.

I hope you’ll forgive me for posting my comment here, but I could not find your new article on your blog or Squidoo lense…and I am fired up and wanted to comment.

All I can say is you hit the nail right on the head — once again!

This “tell it like is” article details exactly how I feel about today’s Internet marketing landscape. I’m sure it is also represents what a lot of honest marketers out there are feeling:

• the squeeze of big companies and
• the market dilution by crap-pushing, me-too, anything-to-make-a-buck Internet “mock”-eters.

Yep…That’s what I call ‘em. Because they make a mockery out of Internet marketing. They are making it tougher for honest vendors to make a living.

And as for the larger companies, they are absolutely trying to squeeze us Mom and Pop operators. Here is one example I have been dealing with myself:

I have been posting a lot of simple survey questions lately to social networking sites and to my list. What I am finding is that “experienced “corporate marketing consulting types” seem to take enjoyment in trying to trip you up with technical “analytics” questions they think you can’t answer as a “Mom and Pop” marketer.

For example, my most recent survey question was: “What is your single most important question about Internet marketing even if you’re just starting out?”

I was basically targeting newbies and intermediates…but to my surprise, I had all these expert marketers throwing “curve ball” questions at me…questions they think a small non-corporatist can’t answer.

I was expecting questions like…”What’s the most cost effective way to get website traffic?” and such.

And I did get some of those questions.

But I also received a lot questions from people who are in corporate marketing, people who know a lot more about marketing “analytics” than I do.

These folks seem like they are trying to intimidate me by asking questions like:

“For 2008 what are the functional KPI’s Fortune 500 companies should be keying on?”… and endless blather questions about this metric and that metric.

I’m convinced these people with advanced degrees and corporate experience know the answers to these questions. Why would they post such technical, jargon-laden questions to someone who is obviously a small business operator? Unfortunately, I think I know the answer to this question.

I think some are engaging in a form of marketing intimidation. I won’t broad-brush all corporate marketing types with this, that would be totally unfair. But I think there are plenty of them out there who want to make us small operators look foolish.

And the reason is probably due to the fact that they think ALL small marketers are crap-pushers with no value-added contributions to make. In some way, I can’t blame them. There are a lot of those types out there.

In closing, I want to leave you with one more example. It relates directly to what Marlon was saying in this most recent article.

I was looking at a question posted at LinkedIn the other day. The question was:

What is the synergy between search marketing and email marketing and can you give examples?

Most of the “answers” posted to this question were laden in technical language, jargon and the latest marketing-speak.

Most answers were written in a way that seemed to say: Hey look at me, I’m a really smart corporate marketer, and I know a lot more technical stuff than you…”

The big thing that is missing in almost every blog post, social networking post I see from these types, is that Internet marketing is about PEOPLE..it’s about humanity, society… I rarely hear these marketing know-it-alls talk about “people”.

Sure they talk about “targets”, “prospects”, “buyers”…but the language is almost always cold and technical.

In response, I wrote and posted an answer (that resonates with much of what Marlon is saying in his newest article) that Online marketing is more about getting traffic and building relationships through value-driven email marketing and that is what is really important in terms of “synergy”. You can see more of my answer below if you’re interested.

My Answer

My answer probably made some of the corporate types think: “Who the hell is this guy?? That’s his answer?? What a simpleton”…

I don’t care what they think. Simple works. People are simple creatures after all. Simple sells.

Listen, many corporate marketers are very good at what they do, I’m not taking that away from them. Most are very smart people. All I’m saying is that many seem like elitist surgeons with no bedside manor or concern about the “people” who are ultimately responsible for their paychecks. And some of them seem to enjoy trying to belittle the “little guy”.

Ok, I’ve had my say here.. Sorry for the ranting post Marlon, but you really touched off a nerve with your article. Keep up the good fight!

- Bob