Dirty Secrets of Blog Marketing

For many, blogging is a branding and marketing tactic. But a blog is also a product. And that means you have to market your blog. Working in marketing has taught me a lot of lessons about how people communicate, what they react to, and what it means to build a marketing campaign. Don’t worry, it’s not that dirty; marketing is just part of the game.

Advertising: Be Seen, Be Heard, Be Everywhere

Advertising works on a psychological level: people react more favorably to brands and images that they recognize. Better yet, they react much more favorably to brands and images that they like. In the world of blogging, comments are free advertising. And insightful comments are great advertising. The lesson? If people recognize your name (because you comment on blogs they read and trust), they’re more likely to visit or subscribe to your blog. And heck, comments are a chance to get your link out there. (hint, hint)

Product Development: Be Remarkable

Marketing starts at home. If you make a product that everyone wants, then it will market itself. This is harder than it sounds, but making a halfway decent product isn’t. Produce great content, focus on a niche, post consistently, have a decent design, and show your personality. Think about how your blog will improve your customer’s life. People will spread the word, and others will find they want more and more.

Customer Engagement: Build a Community

Businesses have learned that communities matter: they sway opinions, provide insights, and can be passionate evangelists of your products. When people comment or link to you, do your best to engage them.

Market Research: Test It Out

In the real world, it’s not hard to put together a focus group, conduct surveys, and evaluate the available data. Companies show off their products, get feedback, and revise. It’s even easier for bloggers. You don’t need to hold focus groups – there are some decent (and free) web analytics tools (Google Analytics, Feedburner) that can tell you a lot about what content works and how people are finding you. Use these to test out headline styles, design changes, and anything else that might help you gain traffic.

Public Relations: Announce to the World

When you do something you’re proud of, there’s nothing wrong with letting people know. For many prominent bloggers, Twitter is the blogging equivalent of press releases. But be careful: just with press releases, quality wins out over quantity. Don’t blast links to every article over Twitter…that’s what feeds are for.

Blogging is marketing

It’s funny…many organizations who blog want to use it as a marketing tool – but they need to market their blog, too. This is because, like most marketing, blogging is a long-term effort. It rarely pays off immediately, and no amount of marketing – advertising or press releases or commenting – will make a poor product successful.