On blogging for business (in Ireland)

Some blogs make money through advertising, and through blatant promotion of its own products - nothing wrong with this if your readership doesn't mind. One good example is beaut.ie, with a reported 15,000+ hits a day. Another is Donal Skehan's goodfoodmood blog, and he's using it to help sell his books and his profile as an Irish chef.

More often however, blogs are a means of building a company's brand, and spreading their image as an authoritative leader in their field. This in turns leads to familiarity, trust, and a willingness to engage with and recommend. Many business related blogs in Ireland are based on this model. Some examples are: mine!: knowledgeworks, bizgrowthnews, and Damien Mulley.

Here are the basics for starting your blog:

- Pick your subject area or niche and begin writing about, commenting on and analysing your (hopefully interesting) area of expertise. Be fairly specific about what your subject is - vagueness won't win you any regular readers.

- Blog regularly, at least once a week. Any blog I look at will quickly ditched if the last post is more than a couple of weeks ago. The value of blogs is that they are regular snippets of valuable information - occasional one-off snippets just don't cut it.

- Keep it short and sweet. Not quite tweet-like, but long blogs don't make sense to me. Perhaps it's because of the layout on the page, perhaps it's because I go there expecting a snippet rather than an essay. Perhaps it's because blogs are personal and informal, and a long personal and informal posting doesn't appeal. It smacks of ego, conceit and blather, to be honest.

- Market your blog. One of the best ways to do this is to comment on other blogs. If your comment is interesting enough then people are likely to click through on your link to your own blog. Of course you should also link to your blog through your website, your email signature, your Facebook and Linkedin profiles, and anywhere else you can think of.

Offline promotion can also be of huge value, but this depends on your business and your customer profile (e.g. if you've a tennis coaching business and you blog on Irish tennis then do of course place flyers on tennis club notice boards).]

There's lots more to talk about, particularly on blogging worldwide and associated trends.

Short is indeed sweet though :) so I'd better listen to myself and leave it there for now! More to come though so watch this space...

The Attack of the Social/Professional Networks

Do you ever feel like you're being attacked from all sides by reqests for linkedin connections, facebook friend requests, and followers on twitter?

Does it feel sometimes that you spend all your time updating your profiles, and not enough actually working? I guess the success of these efforts depends on the business we're in, and our need. Certainly we're told by the 'experts' that not maintaining these presences is online business suicide, and I can see where they're coming from with that. But is this going to help us win business, or are we just covering necessary bases?

Moreover, it's evident that getting good search engine results is all about maximising the quality of our content, on our websites, profiles, blogs etc. So we spend yet more time refreshing our content, but to what avail?

A quick and dirty search reveals a dearth of specific examples of increases in sales through use of a blog or linkedin etc. Instead, there are many examples of slow burning successes: improvements in networking and knowledge-sharing and improvements in brand visibility and general image. Internationally there are amazing stories of new product launches or media campaigns which have taken off through Twitter or Facebook.

On a local level however, I think some more justification is required. For example, this blog is quite new, and in order to ascertain just how much time and resources I should devote to it, some more detailed research is in order.

In fact any business which is considering spending time every day or every week on online networking or blogging must justify this use of resources.

So, my mission for the next few days is to do just that - justify the time we're spending in defence of the Attack! Stay tuned for the results...

China China China

Morning Ireland reported on China's return to double digit economic growth today (how do they do it?). (Here's how: "A 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) fiscal stimulus package was complemented by an unprecedented surge in lending by the nation's predominantly state-owned banks, ensuring that China was the first major economy to recover decisively from the credit crunch." - Irish Times, 21/01/10)

Interestingly one of the things they say China has a market for (in terms of Irish exports there) is baby goods. Hence a big opportunity for Abbott and Wyeth, to name but a few.

I quake with excitment at the idea of doing business in China, and at the realisation that westernised products such as these that are so basic for Irish consumers have potential there.

Just imagine the thrill of setting up a business exporting to China, getting the mechanics of production and distribution right first time, and then focussing on growth. Pure, almost unending growth. The huge challenge would be getting procedures right to enable this growth, to allow the business to take on the opportunity.

Eesh, that's almost too much excitement for this time of the morning. Any other entrepreneurs who have a business idea that you think will fly in China, please get in touch! Get KnowledgeWorks on board!

And in the meantime, check out Entperise Ireland's info on doing business in China.

DON'T waste time, DO research!

- Who are you customers?
- How many of them are there?
- What are they currently buying?
- Do they need you?
- Who are your competitors?
- Is anyone doing your ‘thing’ already?
- Are they doing it well?
- Are your customers happy?
- How can you talk to them and sell to them?
- Can your customers afford you?
- Are you cheap or expensive?

These are the kinds of questions you need to ask if you're an early stage business or you're considering expansion into a new area or niche.

Don’t go spending your hard earned euros on product development, early stage sales efforts and marketing – DO this research first and find out if it’s worth the effort.

And for help with your research and analysis, contact KnowledgeWorks.

Trendspotting: what's for sale?

January is the fun month for trend spotting, and http://www.trendwatching.com/ are the definite leaders when it comes to this.

One trend that caught my eye, probably because I see evidence of it here in Ireland, is ‘sellsumers’. These are consumers looking to profit from their assets with novel ideas for generating hard cash.

Some examples:

- http://www.parkatmyhouse.com/ Post the parking space in front of your house for rent, especially if it’s near a train station or in the city centre etc. It can be rented by the month or just by the day.

- People are also renting out spare storage space in their houses or premises, camping space on their land, and B&B for hotel weary travellers.

- Our own Irish initiative for selling excess energy back to the grid is one which is gaining ground internationally, as more countries and US states look to implement it.

- Raiding the attic for jewellery to sell is also a trend which is very evident here in Ireland: several companies now encourage consumers to sell their gold and make a quick buck.

There are plenty of other examples of this trend in web content, design and manufacturing.

I wonder what opportunities there are for Irish business? This is definitely the time to start thinking laterally about these ideas. As delegates at Checkout Conference for Retailers were told this week: slashing prices was the strategy for 2009, if there’s nothing more to be done on prices then 2010 is the year for thinking creatively about new ways to sell to consumers. Perhaps retailers should partner with imaginative ‘sellsumers’ for some fresh ideas.

To flesh out the market for your novel idea contact KnowledgeWorks, the leaders in secondary research and analysis.

Multi channel sales

Shopping around for car insurance today reminded me of something I’d read from Forrester recently about multichannel ebusiness. Personally, I like to do my research online, but more often than not, switch to the phone for my purchase. In the case of car insurance I like to speak to a real person before purchase, mostly to ask for a further discount! (haggling is now cool again in case you weren’t aware, more on this to come).

I’m typical of the majority of consumers, according to Forrester. They say 70% of consumers like to research online before purchasing via another channel.

What a pain I hear you say. Yes, unfortunately this does mean that businesses today must invest in a range of channels, and make sure that content and customer service are excellent in each one. Customers are likely to be using more than one channel so all bases must be covered.

Don’t forget though, the customer is king, so paste a smile on your face as you go back to your telephone scripts, website content and your brochures – it’s unavoidable I’m afraid!

Full circle research

We’re starting the new year with change at KnowledgeWorks.

Instead of being slush and snow-bound, slipping our way into 2010 on slippery ice, we’ve put a strong foot forward with a new strategy for clients.

(Apologies for all the slippery metaphors!)

We’re now offering clients a full-circle research service. Our core area of expertise is secondary research (more on this in the coming days), but we’re now partnering with the best in Irish primary research to offer clients a one-stop shop.

No more dealing with several different firms for your business plan research, your client interviews and your questionnaires. We will organise it all for you from one source. Plus, you can be reassured that we work with the best and demand the best from our partners.

It’s a good deal for our clients, and we hope you like it.

For more on our partners click here

Here’s to a happy and prosperous New Year