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Blogging as a Sales Tool

Written by: Christopher Palumbo

Article Overview: A blog is a highly advanced and yet very simple way of marketing your business by profiling a member’s, client’s or employee’s experience. Although client testimonials and reviews are the strongest sales tools for a business, online blogging can also work as a major marketing tool to increase online exposure and spread the word about your company much farther than you thought possible.

Blogging as a Sales Tool

A blog is a highly advanced and yet very simple way of marketing your business by profiling a member’s, client’s or employee’s experience. A blog is simply an online journal. It is public and can be read by anyone. Although client testimonials and reviews are the strongest sales tools for a business, online blogging can also work as a major marketing tool to increase online exposure and spread the word about your company much farther than you thought possible.

Blogging can be done by an employee of the company, a client you are working with on a regular basis or someone who retains a membership with your business. In fact, many successful CEOs use blogging as an informal way to get information to consumers, as well as strengthen brand presence online.

As an example, we’ll focus on how a fitness brand uses blogging as an effective sales tool. The company encourages its coaches and trainers to approach existing or potential members who have a significant amount of weight to lose and a strong back story on why they need to lose the weight. Ideally, the member should be highly-motivated and also possess good writing skills, which can be assessed indirectly by profiling her educational background, current career, and speaking skills.

Once a potential blogger has been identified, the company encourages them to write regularly about their weight loss experience and their experience with the company. In exchange, the fitness company provides them with incentives such as a discount on membership fees. The company also gives the member access to all of the club’s facilities so they are able to write about the entire club experience. The member, with a minimum of 3 entries weekly, will write the blog. Because other readers can view and post comments on blogs, a community can be created and the blogger will be more motivated to accomplish their own goal while acting as an example for others. Meanwhile, the fitness company is strengthening their online presence without overloading the wary consumer with expensive marketing campaigns.

In addition to the member’s personal blog, blog postings can also be used on corporate sites, in customer/member testimonial sections, and even in marketing materials. Blogs can also be added to numerous online blog directories for even more exposure. It is recommended that blogs are closely monitored to insure that they are being properly managed and the company is not unjustly portrayed in a negative light. Setting up a blog is easy, and the more members, clients and employees who are blogging about the company, the more online exposure and brand awareness can be generated.

Here is an example of a series of typical blog postings from a member:

Sept 9
I got my 40 minutes of exercise in today. The elliptical was much harder than I anticipated. My walking pace was 50 rpm while my running pace was 60. Tomorrow, I’ll run for 1 minute and walk for 39. I’ll probably do hills to keep it interesting.

Sept 7
I signed up for the 5K. I’m going to do it. Maybe not perfectly, but it’s a step towards my picture of health and fitness. I am so nervous, but I know I can do it. I need to start training for it!

Sept 5
I've hit a plateau with my weight loss goal and I really need to get going and drop the final 5 pounds. My Lifestyle Coach suggested that I try something different and enter a race. She said mixing up my workouts will maximize my results and I’m into that! I am thinking about it. She suggested a 5K then a 10K then maybe even a marathon. I laughed when she mentioned a marathon. Imagine?!

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Article Tags: blog, blogger, brand presence, business online, ceos, client testimonials, club experience, consumers, educational background, effective sales, fitness company, good writing, incentives, major marketing, marketing tool, membership fees, sales tool, sales tools, weight loss experience, writing skills



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