Comedian Ron White relates a story about being arrested by the police and being read his “Miranda Rights”, which begin with that familiar phrase: “You have the right to remain silent . . .” White explains that although he knew he had the right to remain silent, he chose not to exercise that right—and of course that decision landed him in trouble.
As marketers, we also have the right to remain silent. The problem is, if we choose to exercise that right, that decision lands us in trouble. If we’re not out there with helpful information for our customers and prospects, they will quickly turn to our competition for the information they want. And if they get information from a competitor, there’s a good chance that they will end up taking their business to that competitor as well.
That’s one reason a regular blogging program is so critical for staying in front of customers and prospects. People are looking for the goods and services you offer. Studies have been done that indicate that at any particular point in time three percent of your potential customers are looking to make a buying decision. Three percent may not sound like a lot, but it’s a different three percent every day. And after a while that begins to add up. Don’t forget that before people make buying decisions, they gather information—and today they gather that information online. If you’re out there providing helpful, quality information that they need, you’ve got a much better chance of being their supplier of choice.
Exercising your right to remain silent can really hurt your business. We’ve mentioned before that companies that blog 16-20 times a month generate three times as many leads as companies that only blog four times a month. Companies that blog more than 20 times a month, generate four times as many leads as companies that blog four times a month.
What can you do to avoid giving your prospective customers the silent treatment? Create an editorial calendar. Make a list of topics your clients want information about. Assign a date to each topic and prepare a blog. Don’t wait until the day before to try to come up with an idea. Work ahead. Want to make sure it happens? Put it on your electronic calendar and have your calendar send you a reminder. You can’t just blog when you feel like it. Your potential customers (at least three percent of them) are looking for information now.
Silence may be golden—but not when it comes to generating leads and growing your business.
P.S. If you’d like some additional blogging tips, we invite you to view our free 50-minute webinar online.