On Saturday evening I commented on an excellent post by Lorelle VanFossen over at Blog Herald. Lorelle wrote about being bored by many blogs because many of them simply copy or reword information, without adding any value. In the vast sea of blogs, there seems to be a deficit of fresh, new content.
If as a blogger, you’re marketing to other bloggers, that post is right on target. If you’re posting daily just to stay in the game, but aren’t adding value for your market, you’re not helping yourself or anyone else.
But if your market lies outside of the blogging community, as mine does, know that they receive their information through different channels. What may seem repetitive to a regular blog reader may be just the information your target market needs to read.
My market is the small business community, specifically those who may not yet have a strong online presence. If you narrow it down still further, you’ll find it’s mostly brick and mortar business and industry in my geographic region of Wisconsin. These aren’t limits, just facts as to who my customers are right now.
My market by and large is not made up of bloggers or even blog readers. No, they’re too busy running a store or a company. They need help bringing a new product or service to market or increasing their customer base. One exclusive service, such as copywriting, design, or web development generally isn’t enough to meet their needs … and they may want to handle some functions in-house to save money.
So how do I find my customers? Primarily they find me, by word-of-mouth from my partners and current customers, and through my making every effort to show up where and when they are already looking.
I’m building this blog as a resource for my unique audience. As it proves helpful to my market over time, I’ll consider it a success. When I talk to a customer or prospect about the importance of local search and can point them to my blog for specific how-to’s, that’s useful information. They may be able to find similar information elsewhere, but these are my customers and it’s this blog they’re reading. Doesn’t it make sense to give them what they’re looking for?
Knowing who your customers are, really listening to them, and striving to find solutions to meet their needs is a recipe for success for any business, wouldn’t you agree? That’s my story and the purpose for this blog.
If you have a blog, who does it serve? Are you posting for the sake of meeting your blogging schedule or to meet the needs of your market? And if you don’t have a blog, what’s your story … how and where are you meeting the needs of your market?
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