Have you been waiting to start a business blog because you’re skeptical of how a blog can help grow your business in a tangible way? If so, you’re not alone. It’s something I commonly hear from our coaching clients, especially those who have what they term a “real physical product.”

If that’s you, (or even if you have a service type business,) I’ve got good news for you! It’s some help in the form of a case study of a successful product-based business blog.

With the help of this business blog case study you’ll see how creating your own business blog can give a serious boost to your marketing, public relations, and media mentions – no matter what your product or service is.

In today’s case study we’re going to look at a business blog by Maytag. Yes, that’s right -Maytag. You know … the company with great washing machines and those under-worked repairmen who play tricks on each other in TV ads.

Well, now their development team for a new “men’s fridge” called the Skybox™ are blogging up a storm over at http://www.ka-thunk.com/.

It’s funny, informative, and it’s allowing enthusiastic sports fans to join in and do the selling for Maytag! Best of all — it’s creating a big-time buzz about this new product with a fraction of the cold hard cash that it would take with “old school” advertising.

Coaching Note: To get the most out of this case study, I suggest you print off a hard copy and then follow along online with the site areas mentioned online.

So, to get started … what is a SkyBox?

To understand how effective this product-based business blog really is, it’s obviously important to know what the product is. Maytag on their sales website for the SkyBox (http://www.skyboxbymaytag.com) gives this description:

“SkyBox is the ultimate trophy for the serious sports fanatic. Just fill the SkyBox Vendor with your favorite cans and bottles, make a selection and let Skybox serve you and your guests with icy refreshment. Unlike commercial vending machines, the SkyBox Vendor operates without coins or dollar bills. And with the number of added features, Skybox is sure to be the perfect ManCave addition.”

What makes the SkyBox business blog work so well?

1. First of all – it’s an authentic voice. Gary Petersen who does most of the blogging for ka-thunk.com does an excellent job of transferring the passion of the design team.

2. There’s a human connection that can’t be attained with a product/sales site. With humor, honesty, and helpful tips Gary makes visitors to the blog comfortable.

3. The content is relevant and applicable for both browsers and buyers. As always with a top-notch business blog – quality content rules the roost. People would prefer to get truly informed about a product they’re interested in rather than get a bunch of stale, stodgy sales material on a static website.

4. Most of all, there’s interaction! Shoppers and current owners alike can comment, ask questions, and otherwise interact in a way that would otherwise be impossible to do “real time” with a regular ol’ website.

The added benefit of the interaction is that guys who recently purchased the SkyBoxä for themselves are “selling” readers on the product instead of the company. And those conversations live on forever on the blog for all to read in the months and years ahead, as the word of mouth engine spreads.

Content creation comes easy because it’s client-centric!

You might think it gets a little tough consistently producing quality content for a blog with such a narrow focus. But that’s not true at all. Actually the SkyBox blog is a great example of how you can generate really powerful content with a single product focus.

If you visit http://www.ka-thunk.com/ and take a look around, you’ll quickly see examples of how you can create tons of quality content for your own narrowly focused business blog. For example, in a recent post, Gary dissects a review by Matt over at http://www.baseballmba.com/blog/2005/02/skybox_rookie_f.html.

Gary methodically goes through Matt’s review in its entirety, commenting and expanding on remarks that were made in the review. And Gary does something that’s very important for you to take note of. He does not whitewash any questions or negative comments from the review.

Transparency Counts with Business Blogs!

Some questions on the accuracy of the loading capacity for the fridge came up in the review. Instead of sidestepping the issue or giving some lame excuse, Gary stepped up and honestly admitted that he had not yet personally tested the machine in that capacity. But he added that he would in the next few days and would post his findings on the blog.

Honesty and transparency are critically important in business blogging. That’s because business blogs leverage the principles of word of mouth marketing. And word of mouth marketing is based on an honest, open dialog with consumers.

Today’s consumers are an educated bunch, and they will find out if you’re trying to hide something. It’s always better to openly admit potential issues with your product or service, connect with the concerns of the consumer, and honestly look to resolve the issues (with the resolutions posted to your blog, but of course.)

The natural tendency of many marketers and business owners may be to delete negative comments and never let them see the light of day. They mistakenly think that if they keep their business blog sanitized and focused only on the positive that it will position their company in a better light. But that’s not being honest, and that’s not what great 21st Century marketing is really about.

• Marketing successfully to today’s consumer means giving them a complete education on your product or service.
• It means respecting them enough to share the potential drawbacks of your product/service along with all the benefits so that they can make a truly educated decision in whether or not they want/need your product/service.
• Most importantly, it means that all the readers of your business blog will develop something in you that no amount of money, slick talk, or fancy advertising can ever buy.

That’s trust! And that’s something Gary and the team over at SkyBoxä do well enough for you to model for yourself.

Some of the Key Functional Components of This Business Blog

With any business blog that’s going to have the impact you want, there needs to be a balance between educational content, product information, and sales copy that will make it easy for an interested prospect to make a purchase – when and if they’re ready.

The blogosphere is just beginning to warm up to marketing, advertising, and public relations. But many bloggers are still hesitant to openly promote their own products or services for fear of offending readers.

But if your business blog has the type of quality content that your target market is looking for, and provides links and a navigational structure that makes it easy for them to find the relevant information that they deem valuable – your edu-marketing efforts will actually be appreciated.

What follows below are a few snapshots from the upper portion of the navigation column off the SkyBox blog. If you’ve printed this cast study out and you’re following along online as suggested, you can pull up the www.ka-thunk.com site in your browser and follow along on the actual site.

There are several interesting things that you should make note of and plan on modeling with your own business blog. As we review the following five components you’ll see how they all work together to simultaneously promote the product, provide valuable information, and make finding relevant content a breeze.

1. The product logo and tagline

You’ll notice that both the graphic and the words used in the tagline are calling out directly to the target market for this product – men who are serious sports fans.

Anytime you bring a group of competitive men together, inevitably you’ll have some bragging that comes up. After all, we just can’t help ourselves – it’s part of our DNA. And it’s something that we’ve perfected over the centuries too.

Buying a SkyBox gives the target consumer exactly what he wants — bragging rights!

2. General links

You’ll notice there are text-based links to related company products that are mixed with logo-based links to sites of direct interest to their consumers. On the surface, this may seem to be for convenience. But at a deeper psychological level it’s creating a subconscious level of bonding and rapport through similar interests.

It’s like, “Wow, these guys like the same stuff I do!”

That connection and familiarity is what helps to begin lowering the guard of the visiting prospect and make them feel comfortable with a new product or service you are offering. The point to take away from this is that people tend to buy from people who they think are just like them. The more you can show that you’re “just like them,” the more comfortable they’ll feel with you and your company.

3. Product quick links

Too often I see business blogs that try to dance around the fact that the main reason they’re blogging is to promote their product or service. To me it makes no sense. Why do that? Because some long-time bloggers say you’re “not supposed to do it.” I mean come on, let’s get real here. Why would anyone hide the detailed information that you know interested prospects will be looking for?

The consumer knows what they’re reading. And if they’re not interested, they move on — with or without blatant product links. It’s as simple as that.

But if the consumer IS interested, and there are no links to make it easy for them to find exactly what they’re looking for, you’ve just done a dis-service to that consumer. And you’ve lost a potential sale.

Your job is always to make it easy for people to make the decision to use your product or service. If not, they’ll just go and find a competitor who will make it easier for them.

Gary did a great job inserting these specialized links into the navigation area. You should consider modeling something like this for your own business blog if it’s narrowly focused on a specific product or service.

4. Blog Categories

This is pretty straightforward, but again, it is a good example of categories focused on the needs of both prospective buyers and people who have already purchased the SkyBox.

For your own business blog, make sure that your navigation categories are client-centric and make it easy for consumers to quickly surf your content to find what they’re looking for. Sometimes you may be able to build an effective navigation structure on your own. Other times you may need to solicit the help of current clients to ask them what they would be looking for if they were to visit your blog.

5. Media mentions

Once again, a very wise move to focus attention solely on media mentions.

Why?

Because although “media sightings” is a category in the navigation structure, many readers may overlook it there. Giving media mentions its own area in the navigation column makes sure that the two benefits that come from media mentions will not be lost by Maytag.

For one, if a visitor sees the show they like to watch regularly, that’s where they’ll go to check out how the product was mentioned. Just the fact that the product was mentioned on the show translates into a trusted endorsement for the SkyBox.

Secondly, even if a visitor to the blog does not have a favorite media outlet that’s mentioned, they’re likely to see all the media mentions in total as a validation for the quality and popularity of the product. It’s what psychologists call “social proof” and it’s an extremely powerful marketing tool.

By now, I’ve given you some pretty practical examples through this case study and you’ve probably gotten some good ideas that you can take and model for your own business blog. Take some time to read through some of the posts Gary has made and get a feel for his style and approach. There are lots of good ideas that you can apply for your own business blog within the site content itself.

Remember, to get the most out of this or any other case study — always think with your lateral mind.

Ask yourself – “What about this strategy/approach can I take and apply in my own industry or niche?”

When you use your lateral mind to scan the marketplace, you’ll begin to see opportunities and applications for not only business blogs, but all types of strategies, principles, and tactics being applied in other industries that you can take and apply for exponential growth in your own business, or business blog.

John-Paul Micek
Click-and-Mortar Coach
Business Owners Coaching Club
http:/www.AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com

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