Blogs and Blog Marketing are big news today, there is nothing novel or revolutionary about that. So in general we always talk about the possibility of blogging as part of a marketing campaign when we speak with perspective client. It isn’t always a great fit though. First you have to buy in on the ownership or at minimum the “ownership” of the marketing department. With out doing this you won’t positively know if a blog is going to get used or updated.

In such instances, I actually think selling a client on blogging is disservice to them and I believe it contributes to the fact that 50% of all “Business Blogs” fail in the first year and by fail, I mean these become dormant and never updated. Hence, these are not visited nor read.

Additionally you need to be able to come up with an “angle” for the blog, something that makes blogging effective for the client so that dedicating time and resources to it is worth doing. Companies that blog in a way that is just sales copy or PR on a different web platform seldom have any real success. So again with out making sure you and your client know what they will blog about and how it will assist them in building their business is another disservice.

Recently I had my new Sales Director out on his first call to do some field training with a potential client. The company is Executive Press, a Dallas printing shop that serves our local market and is actually doing some printing work for us right now. When the topic of Blogging came up the client was not that interested in it at first and I was about to simply move on and follow my own rules about the issue.

As the conversation continued, something unique was brought up, it turns out that Executive Press is a “Green Print Shop” as in being environmentally friendly. The gentleman that we were meeting with, (Company Owner Tom Sadler) made a commitment to this and explained things to us like using soy based inks and other concepts that make a Print Shop actually “Green”. He also noted that he recently observed a competitor who was advertising being “Green” by buying “Carbon Credits” and that there was a big difference in the two schools of thought.

Mr. Sadler is also very committed to “Green Industry” in Dallas – Ft. Worth as a whole and spends times working with several organizations on these issues. During that meeting and in the proposal that we then delivered to Mr. Sadler I highly recommended that he blogs about these issues. Simply dedicating say twenty minutes a day, a few times a week to talking about what is going on locally, mentioning other “Green Companies” and what they are doing to better our city and letting his readers know about events they can attend.

We have advised Mr. Sadler to blog somewhat independently, as an owner of his company but on a separate domain  vs. his company website. This helps bring to focus the subject of doing environmentally responsible business and less about his specific company. The advantages of doing so are immense. There are exceptional short and long term local Public Relations opportunities. There are also excellent networking opportunities because his fellow business people will appreciate being mentioned in his blog.

The real key is that Mr. Sadler is genuinely committed to doing business in this way and encouraging others to do the same. Sure the topic is hot, sure it is easy to gain traction with on Search Engines and in Social Networks but with out a genuine belief and passion such efforts are hollow and soon fail. In this instance Executive Press and Tom Sadler have put their money and their commitment ahead of their claims, they made the commitment, are practicing what they preach and were not afraid to spend the money to get it done.

When you add to that the current market opportunities and have a creative and committed entrepreneur like Tom Sadler, blogging is a natural and perfect fit. Whether we are chosen to handle Internet Marketing for Executive Press or not, I do hope Mr. Sadler starts a blog and posts to it often. The Dallas Business Market, Mr. Sadler’s Business and the Blogosphere will all benefit by it. I also would not hesitate to recommend Executive Press to my fellow business owners in Dallas, the work they have done for us was outstanding.

~ Jack Spirko