Blogging for Business: Business Blogging v. Professional Blogging Filter #2 » Advanced Business Blogging… A New Media Marketing Expose’

Today we continue to reveal the truth about blogging for business in the real world of small business ownership. In part one of this series we got off to a rocking start dispelling many of the myths and arbitrary “rules” that have been spread round by long time bloggers. Today we’ll roll on with the second filter that will help you clear the muddied waters of business blogging. And we’ll highlight more distinctions between pro-bloggers and business owners who want to market with blogs and New Media.

Filter #2: successful marketing with blogs and New Media is about people, persuasion, influence … and bias

Professional bloggers write with no attempted persuasion or influence of their readers. As a matter of fact, many pride themselves on being relatively benign, politically correct, unbiased informers disconnected from any source of capitalist influence.

Well, as business owners you and I both know there are two things wrong with this approach.

There is no such thing as an un-opinionated person, unless of course they are lacking in intelligence

First off, any intelligent thinking individual is going to have an opinion and that opinion will put a slant on what they say. There is no such thing as an un-opinionated person, unless of course they are lacking in intelligence (and that of course is a whole nother story.) The claim to be unbiased is frankly BS. And if you try to be un-opinionated about your business, your expertise, or your passions you’ll be doing yourself a disservice.

Not only is taking this un-opinionated approach harmful to business, it’s offensive to other intelligent, thinking people who members of your ideal audience. They don’t have time trying to parse what it is you’re 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, you should never turn your business blog into a multi-part 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 and/or your company that come from open/honest dialog.

Don’t make the mistake of allowing one cautionary statement to cause a cessation of all direct linkage between your business blog and sales

But don’t make the mistake of allowing 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 multi-part sales letter, but it can be a very effective marketing and sales platform in that it educates, opens dialog, and builds trust.

Secondly, blogging purists (which many professional bloggers are) muddy the waters by equating a capitalist marketing bent with some type of evil behavior. This is really quite hysterical and 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 in 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. That’s true. 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.

In the next installment of this series we’ll look at yet another filter that will help you distinguish between professional blogging and blogging for business.

Copyright © RPM Success Group Inc. 2002-2006. Full copyright reserved by RPM Success Group inc. Bloggers and journalists are welcome to link to posts or excerpt so long as full credit/attribution is given to AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com and RPM Success Group Inc.

John-Paul Micek is a Business Acceleration Coach with four multi-million dollar businesses under his belt and over 8000 hours of experience helping entrepreneurs like you get the profits, performance, and lifestyle you want from your business. He’s a published author (Secrets Of Online Persuasion,) a weekly columnist for the Honolulu Star Bulletin, and professional speaker. You can reach J.P. directly via [communicationcommando@gmail.com].

Discover the fastest, easiest way to unleash the full promotional power of your business on any budget. Get your free preview of the proven New Media system that puts all your marketing on multimedia steroids – BLOG Interactive 360™.