Blogging Can Deepen Customer Relationships

Blogging Can Deepen Customer Relationships

I still get a lot of quizzical looks when I speak to clients about blogging. For those who are not involved in the blogosphere, there seems to be a shroud of mystery about this rather simple form of communication. The mystery leads people to assume that it is complicated. The old paradigm of cob-web developers who charge big bucks to do simple tasks is still cemented in people’s minds.

There has been a great conversation on the blogosphere recently about keeping customers at the top of your mind through communication with bloggers sharing their own thoughts on keeping yourself top-of-mind with your customers.

For me, blogging is a simple, effective way to improve communication with my clients:

• By listening to what other bloggers are saying, you can provide useful resources to customers and clients. Instead of waiting for your customer to engage you, you can engage them. If I run across a blog post that relates to a client or read of a blogger talking about a client, I immediately forward it. It took me a few seconds to click on "email this post" and enter the client’s email address and a short message, but the client has received important information and knows that I’m thinking about them.
• By posting on your blog, you develop an archive of useful information that will benefit your customers. If a customer is dealing with an issue that I’ve discussed on my blog, it takes me only a few seconds to pull it up and e-mail it to them. Not only have I helped them, but I’ve introduced them to a valuable resource that they can tap into at any time. I’ve now become a go-to resource for my clients – a resource they can use 24/7/365.

When I first heard about blogging and decided to give it a try, it literally took me 10 minutes to sign up at blogger, set up my blog and write my first post. If you can follow simple directions and write an e-mail you can blog. It’s that simple.

creative commons photo courtesy of Flickr and Sue Richards