I recently completed a survey of small businesses over at Duct Tape Marketing that I think sheds some light on the impact of blogging as a small business marketing tool
It seems that the recent hype surrounding blogs and blogging has made the average small business marketer aware of blogs to the point that many have even dipped their toe in the blog water. What’s not so clear is the benefit many of these bloggers are receiving.
75 percent of the respondents shared that they indeed knew what a blog was. Another 46 percent admitted that they regularly visited from 1-5 blogs weekly. 13 percent stated that they visited more than 20 blogs per week.
However, of this same group, only 37 percent actually published a blog and, of those that did not currently publish a blog, 57 percent claimed they had no plans to in the near future.
It occurs to me that many small business marketers still don’t get the real power of blogs as an integrated marketing tool.
Adding to this claim is the discovery that 27 percent of those that
do blog post less than once a month. Given this fact it is no wonder
that 36 percent of the respondents also claimed that their blogging
activity had done “nothing� for them in terms of marketing.
A telling fact came to light however when considering only those who
said they posted to their blog anywhere from 3 times a week to once a
day. In this group the marketing benefits soared. 39 percent claimed
that search engine traffic grew, 18 percent stated that leads were
generated and 11 percent could attribute sales activity directly to
their blog. Another key point made repeatedly by this group in open
ended responses was the fact that their “expert status� in a chosen
industry was enhanced.
The benefits of blogging are immense and those that get that, and take advantage of it, will win long term.
While the marketing benefits of blogging may be questioned in some
circles it is clear that those who approach marketing as a serious
business building tool and commit to blogging on a regular basis seem
to gain the most from this technology.
Source: Survey results were based on responses from 488 small business owners who responded via email.
Today is BlogDay 2005!
Trackback by What about Bob? Robert Lair's Personal Blog — August 31, 2005 @ 7:47 pm
Very interesting results, I’d say. The key, in my experience, is to have a bit of persistence and to remember that gaining visibility involves getting involved with other blogs, not just managing your own….
Comment by Dave taylor — August 31, 2005 @ 9:53 pm
Last week I had the pleasure of conducting a workshop for about 30 small businesses owners. The word “blog” was familar to about 10%, only 2 people knew they were reading blogs (vs. websites)and no one had considered blogs as a business/marketing tool.
Lot of education to be done.
Comment by Toby Bloomberg — September 5, 2005 @ 11:49 am