Sharing tactics and tips on a business blog sends fear through even the most progressive business leaders.
For decades, businesses of all kinds have used their homegrown tactics, strategies and models to succeed. When these businesses are presented with the idea of business blogging they often get hung up on the idea of sharing some of those vital pieces of information.
This reaction makes sense. If you’re a consultant, for example, why would you share the secrets of how you do business with your potential clients? They could then simply read your blog and find a solution without ever needing to hire you.
It’s time to get over this fear.
Ideas and Concepts Are Free. Work Cannot Be Copied.
I’m a big fan that something that can be copied has no real value in the long-term. The world has been built by people taking something that currently exists and making it better. It could be a product or an idea.
Nothing in life is truly original. We’re always improving on what’s come before.
Another way to look at sharing your knowledge is that your potential clients can always take your ideas, but that is all they’ll get – ideas. They won’t be getting the work you’ll actually be doing for them.
Your work cannot be copied in the sense that you’d be working with the client. They’d either be getting your direct services or product.
A plumber can start a blog and share really detailed knowledge for plumbing issues consumers have such as unclogging drains to completely re-installing bathroom fixtures.
Yes, a potential customer could take those instructions and install a fixture themselves, but they won’t be getting the quality of work they would get if they hired the plumber.
That is where your value is as it relates to sharing information and adding new clients.
Blogging Strategy
I’m biased, but my view is there is too much to gain from sharing your information via a business blog.
When you see case studies showing that a blog can increase traffic by 250% in six months you know there is a lot to gain by blogging. That traffic represents a lot of potential clients that otherwise wouldn’t have heard about your business. Maybe a few would have eventually, but chances are the traffic your blog generates is from people that had no idea your company existed.
Yes, some of those visitors will never hire you, but they probably would have never hired you even if you had never shared any information with them. They are the DIY-types that prefer to take information and do it themselves. Some probably succeed, but others will flounder on the big items.
When we work with new clients about blogging strategy we always push to provide as much value as possible on the blog. That means giving up some really great information on the blog.
For us at GBW, this means sharing all kinds of tactics and tips about business blogging.
Yes. Our business is a little different in that we can teach people to blog on their own and they still might hire us because we do the actual writing. Lots of people don’t have time.
Some businesses will be like this and others won’t. I think it really doesn’t matter.
We realize that we have a lot to gain by blogging and if we lose a few customers in the process we’ll have at least helped those people out and we should still end up positive in the end.
Plus, if we don’t aren’t sharing information our competitors will. That’s how online marketing works today.