Does Your Small Business Need a Blog?
(businessandblogging.com) As you know, Laura and I are currently running a challenge for any read
er to identify a small business that could not possibly benefit from the low-cost marketing tool of a blog. We dared you to identify a small business that couldn’t use a blog. We vowed that we would find some angle or strategy that that business could use to build a blog around or we’d offer you some free press on business and blogging.
This has been a lot of fun and has gotten quite a few comments and emails. We have been challenged to identify opportunities for:
- illegal or deceptive businesses
- quarries
Future challenges to be posted (or stump us) are:
- roadkill remover
- independent embalmer
- junk remover
- highway stripe painter
- funeral parlor
- thrift shop
- independent HR firm
- others thought of by you????
Recently though we got some attention from Small Business Essentials, who was offended by our article. She referred to the premise that almost any business could have a blog, especially a gas station as “absurd, misleading and filled with self-serving logic”!
I’d like to address her points and then remind us all what the point of our particular contest (besides a little creative fun) really was.
Writing Skills are Important (and according to the article, most gas station owners she knows don’t have them, at least not in English).
While I don’t feel comfortable presuming that a gas station owner wouldn’t have good writing skills, I can agree that writing skills are important in a traditional blog. As we stated previously, the owner, any employee or family member could write the blog. I doubt that the owner creates all of his or her other marketing materials.
And don’t forget, blogs can be solely based on pictures, podcasts or videos. No writing needed.
Blogging is not cost-effective in this niche. (The article compares the time it takes to put up a blog vs. setting up a sign outside with prices.)
I would never advise someone to blog about their prices rather than put a sign up outside their station. However that doesn’t mean that blogging couldn’t be effective as an addition to traditional methods.
Blogging is about as close to free as a marketing tool can be. A free blog can be set up on wordpress, blogger or typepad within 5 minutes. How much return does there have to be on “free” for it to be cost effective? Sure, time is involved, but how much time, and whose time, is really up to the owner.
This niche has already been done. (The article states that AAA and Yahoo can provide all the same info as the gas station’s blog.)
I have a newsflash for bloggers and potential bloggers - with over millions of blogs in the blogosphere - every niche has already been done!!
Blogs give a face to a particular business and a particular view point.
For example, there can be thousands of people blogging on small business startups (and there are) but no one does it quite like Small Business Essentials - and that’s what makes her unique. In reality, there are very few gas stations blogging - so it would be easier to be remarkable.
Blogs also help build community, and a blog by a local gas station could actually do just that.
Conversions and traffic are not guaranteed. (The article states that the owner would have to spend time doing SEO activities as well as managing his/her business.)
That would be the case if they were interested in building an online following. But they are not. They are interested in engaging their current customers and generating word of mouth.
They could tell their customers about their blog - a special discount if you can mention what a recent article was about .
They could write human interest stories about their customers that end up on the blog - Mr. Jone’s son won a scholarship, Mrs. Brown’s daughter is home from Iraq, etc. Believe me, the customers would be telling each other and new customers about the blog. And other people would be coming in to tell their bits of news and get it put in the blog.
And as a reminder - conversion is not guaranteed from any marketing strategy - even those that cost money.
Gas stations are local businesses. (The idea here is that people only go to the nearest gas station.)
There are a dozen gas stations located near me, all with gas prices within a few pennies of each other. What would make me choose one over the other?
Well, a discount - even one that I know about because it’s advertised on the blog - and for blog readers only.
It’s also possible that a feeling of “knowing” the owner can generate good will. In today’s economic climate, the importance of good will for gas station owners, should not be taken lightly.
Recent reports have indicated that angry gas station customers across the country are storming into gas station offices, yelling at employees and even threatening them. Customers are frustrated about the price of gas and are taking it out on the people they hold responsible.
I’m not saying that blogs can bring peace to the world, but to the extent that they could make people more real to each other and help forge a connection- then they could help to reduce the likelihood of employees being the victims of displaced anger.
Gas stations don’t require experts. (The thought here is that gas is a commodity and the people who work there are faceless and interchangeable.)
Yes. And the only way to compete on a commodity is price, or to change the value proposition. As mentioned above, it’s possible a blog can do that.
Running a gas-station is time-consuming. (The message here is that the owner is tired after working and won’t want to blog.)
Again, I’m uncomfortable making assumptions about the characteristics of gas station owners and their level of interest in writing or posting pictures, etc. on a website, as well as making assumptions about the owner’s employees and families.
He or she just might find creating a blog to be the creative stress-reducer they need after a long day at the station.
————-
To be clear, I would never insist that every business must have a blog. Nor would I go so far as to say that a Gas Station Needs a Blog.
I am saying that more businesses could benefit from a blog than the few professional bloggers, elite consultants or larger businesses that have one.
The point of our little challenge was to get people to remove assumptions that they have about blogging like - who can do it, what they can write about and whether or not their business can benefit.
Remember: Any good marketing strategy should be aligned with the needs of the business, the owner, the desired return, the budget and the opportunity cost. No one should take on any one-size-fits-all marketing strategy, whether it’s blogging, brochures or helium balloons.
That said, as we continue with our challenge of crafting blog strategies for curious businesses, as well as our formal review of big business blogs,
Laura and I hope to challenge you, amuse you, and most of all inspire you, to take another look at your own business and assess whether you might just see the potential of a blog in your future.
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POSTED IN: Business Blog Challenge
40 opinions for Does Your Small Business Need a Blog?
Nikole Gipps
Jan 18, 2008 at 12:13 am
Nice! I love it, down to the picture of the pumps at the top. Great job passionately defending your position!
Nikole Gipps
Jan 18, 2008 at 12:21 am
BTW, your summary of my point on writing skills makes me sound a little racist. What I actually said was “lack the writing skills of a professional writer”, which is true - many people in many professions lack the writing skills of a professional writer, and that’s why they do something else than writing for a living.
John
Jan 18, 2008 at 4:10 am
What a well thought out example to make your point.
Liz Fuller
Jan 18, 2008 at 6:30 am
Hi John
Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate your support. I’d also be curious as an advisor to small businesses, whether you recommend blogging as a marketing tool?
Liz
Liz Fuller
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:07 am
Hi Nikole
Thanks for your comment - I hope my passion didn’t outshine my logic! :)
As far as the summary of your point on writing, I actually meant just the opposite of “racist”. I thought you were implying that the owner could have good writing skills in their first language, but that many of the gas station owners in your neighborhood spoke English as a Second Language - making it much more of a challenge to write effectively in English.
I certainly wouldn’t be able to write blog posts in a second language - although I still could post pics, short entries, etc. And they could always blog in their native language if that was the majority of their customer base. It might help with the community-building aspect.
In any case, I apologize for the confusion. It was never my intent.
Liz
Shannon
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:07 am
Liz, you are being a bit kind, especially when I found her comment about the owners of gas stations a bit stereotypical - and perhaps a bit elitist.
My dad owned a gas station & convenient store for 10 years in the Adirondack Mountains. He’s Caucasian, born in the US and has a BA from Syracuse University. And he knows thousands of gas station owners who speak the language well, even if they originally came from another country. (There’s even a couple of trade magazines written in English which hundreds of thousands of owners get!)
As his ‘marketing expert,’ we used tons of marketing techniques to build his LOCAL business, including websites. We got thousands of hits per month on his main site.
And I am sure if blogging was available, we’d had done that too - probably like you suggested - what’s going on with the people in town, as well as videos and pictures of the beautiful mountains and lakes.
Maybe the writer needs to do a bit more research before making such comments.
Rachel Clarke
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:12 am
I share your perspective Liz. A blog should be considered as part of the marketing mix for any type of company, it should not be an automatic no. I’ve helped develop blogs for a 2 person tea import company, an 8 person mobile app company and a rowing equipment company. very different uses for each.
Liz Fuller
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:19 am
Hi Shannon
I appreciate your perspective. It’s interesting that you have already used websites and other online marketing techniques to support your father’s local business as a gas station and convenience store. The blog you describe with local news, personal stories and local pics is just what I envisioned for a small town gas station blog. It would be a little tougher in a larger city, but there are still pockets of community within those as well.
Liz
Liz Fuller
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:21 am
Hi Rachel
Interesting examples of blogs that already exist and are effective. As we get into this challenge we do find that some of the obscure ideas people come up with that “couldn’t possibly benefit from a blog” already have ones out there. Pretty exciting stuff!
Liz
Susan Gunelius
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:18 am
I have to agree with you on this one, Liz. I think any chance a business has to differentiate itself from its competitors is one that business has to take. Blogging can create a relationship with customers thereby driving customer loyalty (i.e., a price difference of a few cents won’t drive customers to the competition). I also think a blog provides an opportunity for a gas station owner to create soft differentiators (i.e., subjective) to its customer base (e.g., clean bathrooms, safe location, etc.). Price and location/convenience are the main motivators for customers when choosing a gas station, but a savvy a gas station owner could create a myriad of soft differentiators on a blog.
Also, a blog could provide a format for the gas station owner to provide more than just gas. I could see an area for various tips, news, ideas and more - all in an effort to create a relationship with readers. And yes, while most gas stations cater to ‘local’ customers, a blog could open up some tertiary income opportunities through advertising, selling merchandise and more. And yes, while AAA and other website can provide this type of information, why can’t a gas station owner provide it to thereby creating a sense of trust and security for his customers and readers which in turn further enhances the relationship and community aspects a blog invites.
Would a blog deliver a high ROI for a gas station owner? It depends. The easy answer is probably not, but when you think out-of-the-box, there is some opportunity to leverage.
Liz Fuller
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:50 am
Hi Susan
Thanks for your well-thought-out response. I hadn’t even thought about a gas station earning additional revenue through advertising on the blog.
Blogs are such a new phenomenon that their potential for use as a marketing tool for traditional brick and mortar businesses has not been fully explored.
Hopefully the businesses we review on this site will provoke some creativity and help people take the blinders off.
Liz
Miranda
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:51 am
Local is big. If you can write about local things, you will get more hits. The most popular post on personal blog (http://www.bloggingprofessional.blogspot.com) is a review of a local restaurant (not particularly favorable). And because that small business doesn’t have a Web site or blog, guess what comes up #1 in a search for Blackstone Logan? My review.
I agree that nearly any business can get increased LOCAL exposure for their small business with a blog. And for a small business, it’s that local exposure that might be most important.
Sean Kelly
Jan 18, 2008 at 9:25 am
I have to strongly agree with Nikole on this, ardently support her position and hope that all bloggers will immediately adhere to common wisdom and not waste time challenging the obvious.
Consumers are only interested in what professional writers have to say. That’s why they rarely discuss things with their neighbors or gossip.
People never read the PennySaver or local Shopper mags, and they only look at slick four-color direct mail pieces, never the amateur stuff from the shop down the street.
People would never access and compare local gas prices or look for specials online, or visit a local merchant blog that offers free exposure to community groups, school and nonprofit fundraisers.
I fully support all of those who put immediate limitations on new communications tools with unlimited potential. Why? Because it’s so much fun making a living doing stuff that can’t be done.
Laura
Jan 18, 2008 at 9:28 am
Wow! What a great discussion going on here.
I think Liz’s example of a gas station is an excellent one. While you might not immediately connect gas stations and blogging, she has shown how a blog could be useful.
Miranda - you make a great point about local being big. Just because the Internet is international, we shouldn’t forget that it also includes our local area.
Keep the discussion going!
Laura
Jan 18, 2008 at 9:32 am
Hi Sean!
Uhh. I read the Pennysaver, I compare gas prices, I clip coupons (my own addition).
In short, I do all those things that you say no one ever does.
The truth is that some of the population will be reached by the blog, others will not. That’s true of any marketing method.
Even if blogging only reaches three people out of a hundred, in a town with (say) 10,000 people that’s 300 new customers!
Plus, blogging doesn’t have to be time-consuming. It can be as simple as posting a special once a week and answering comments.
Liz Fuller
Jan 18, 2008 at 9:38 am
Hi Sean
Thanks for putting some levity into the comments! You made me chuckle. Appreciate the support, and your points, made with humor……you were kidding, right?
Liz
Miki
Jan 18, 2008 at 10:39 am
Sean, you are completely right and totally hilarious:)
In terms of ESL, my non-native freinds tell me that it’s is far easier to write in English than to speak it. And if many blogs, including the high ranking ones, are samples of “quality writing” I think I’m gonna cry!
Kudos to all the previous reasoning.
Liz Fuller
Jan 18, 2008 at 11:12 am
Hi Miki
Good point - it is easier to write in a second language than to speak it…hadn’t thought of that.
Liz
Mary Emma Allen
Jan 18, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Liz, good explanation point for point. I’ve written, at Home Biz Notes, about the advantages blogs can be to most any business. They’re far easier to set up and maintain than a web site. I even wrote a post with suggestions for business owners who felt they couldn’t write well enough and/or didn’t know what to post on a blog.
Laura
Jan 18, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Thanks Mary Emma! I think that small business owners should give blogging a closer look.
Nikole Gipps
Jan 19, 2008 at 1:28 am
I want to talk about the actual numbers for those who say they’ve tried it.
If you calculate the costs of starting up and maintaining the blog, how do they compare with the financial benefits of having it?
Person who had a gas station blog - did this blog actually translate into sales or were you just giving your time away?
Most people who advertise on a blog will never make more than $100 per month. (I might even argue that most don’t make enough to even pay for their hosting fees.) Say you only make one post a week, it takes you 2 hours to write it, and you bring in $50 in ad revenue. Is your time more valuable than $6.25 an hour? Say it takes you a month of weekly posting to get one customer to drive your way and buy gas - is that amount of profit worth all the time and effort you put into it? Would your time be spent better elsewhere?
Comparing gas prices cracks me up - it is like people who drive across town to purchase gas that is 2 cents cheaper, not factoring in that it actually costs them more because they drive further to get it and spend an additional hour with each flll-up. What do you make hourly in your job, and how much time do you spend comparison shopping - are you making up for it in savings when you look at your hourly wage?
Picking apart my argument based on pennysavers and coupon clippings isn’t going to work - I want one person who can actually say they tried such things and had a decent ROI. There is a reason why so many blogs get abandoned - they probably should have been realistic enough to not create them in the first place. Even those classified-type ads mentioned here are losing ground to other methods.
Liz Fuller
Jan 19, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Hi Nikole
I’m interested in that challenge as well - one person who can say they tried it and benefited from it - although I’ll take a qualitative ROI as well as a quantitative one.
How ’bout it? Anyone have any real-life examples or testimonials???? Let us know and we’ll highlight you here on businessandblogging!!
Mihaela Lica
Jan 20, 2008 at 9:11 am
Very good points Liz. While I am not that sure that my backer needs a blog, I have to say one thing: all businesses that need to make their mark on a very competitive market need it.
Now if my backer has the coolest bread and muffin recipes in the world, I think that the blog might even convert.
If the gas station will give the best tips for taking care of your car, the blog will bring revenue.
In my opinion anyone who has something to say should have a blog. What bothers me is the invasion of scrap and MFA blogs.
Susan Gunelius
Jan 20, 2008 at 11:09 am
In response to Nikole’s comment about thinking it’s funny that people drive around town to find cheaper gas…it reminded me that here in Central Florida one of the local news affiliates announced where to find cheap gas in the area during its on air news reports and also has a page on its website where people can find the cheapest gas based on where they live (or work, etc.). The feature and web page is extremely popular, so there is definitely some merit to offering this information through a gas station owner’s blog. In other words, I don’t think it’s funny because it’s already being done and very successfully.
Nikole Gipps
Jan 20, 2008 at 11:30 am
There is a radio station here that announces them as well. But in the Bay Area, 15 miles out of your way could take you more than an hour.
I’d also argue that a more efficient use of your time could be submitting your own station’s prices directly to the radio station’s website. (Time spent: Maybe 3 minutes a day.) If they are the lowest for that city or area, they will read them on the radio and put them on their webpage. Unlike the gas station blog, the radio already has established listeners and readers … so it would be more efficient to use theirs than to build your own from nothing.
Laura
Jan 20, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Hi Mihaela, Susan, and Nicole
Mihaela makes a good point - the company’s product still has to be good. Actually, I think that’s important to remember. The question was whether or not a business could possibly benefit, not what the best use of time was or whether a blog should be the only strategy (it shouldn’t).
Susan, you bring up an interesting point too. We have those websites and services that list different gas prices. I’ve actually used it, because, along an eight mile stretch that I drive anyway to pick up my kids from school there are five different gas stations.
Hi Nikole,
Blogs come in all shapes in sizes. A blog like this one that you’re reading is updated daily. A gas station’s blog need not be. I would think once a week would be often enough. Also gas prices are not the only thing they could talk about. Most stations in my area are combined with a small convenience store. What about promotions like: running a blog special in the summer for one-day-a-week half price fountain drinks?
Liz Fuller
Jan 20, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Hi Nikole
I think the flaw is thinking that I am proposing blogging instead of other methods, for example calling into a radio station with prices - I am suggesting blogging in addition to.
Although - that leads to a good idea - if a gas station blog had some humour or interesting stats or human interest stories on it - morning DJ’s might just read it off as part of their rush hour program - leveraging both mediums!!…hmmm
Liz Fuller
Jan 20, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hi Mihaela
I agree - a blog that’s really a splog, pulling articles off of other sites is not going to do any good. But one that gave tips, insights, infos, humor, human interest, pictures, etc. has the chance of building a community and potentially bringing in customers who want to support the business.
Liz Fuller
Jan 20, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hi Susan
Thanks for the info about the gas prices - I didn’t know that was happening - further validation of the idea - now I just need to find a gas station that is already blogging!!! :)
Nikole Gipps
Jan 20, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Laura, would you need a blog for that?
Instead, could you just have people submit a piece of paper at checkout with their e-mail address to receive specials, leaving out the problem of people remembering to visit after they have already left?
Ren Garcia
Jan 20, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I’m coming in late, but I always say “better late than later.”
On ROI on the blog of a gas station:
The gas station makes money on the gas and allied products and services. To start the business, you put in Equity. ROI is computed on the Equity put in. All fixed assets come from the Equity. The spread between Revenues & Cost of Goods Sold pays for the Expenses of running the business. The remainder generates the Working Capital to keep the business going and to minimize the business’ reliance on debt.
The blog would be part of the expenses. You don’t compute ROI on expenses like rent, utilities, salaries, etc. It would be misleading.
The blog is not even part of Cost of Goods Sold.
What you want to know is: how much the blog will add to your operating expenses such that it will affect your bottomline. At the end of the day, even if you include opportunity costs, it will not be much.
Laura
Jan 20, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Hi Nikole,
Personally, I never give out my e-mail address for offers like that. I’m too afraid of it getting sold and getting spammed to death. As it is, I get more spam that I like. Maybe that’s just me, though.
Laura
Jan 21, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Thanks Ren!
You made our point exactly. Blogging will not be a very big investment for the business owner.
Nikole Gipps
Jan 21, 2008 at 2:19 pm
How much is “not a very big investment”?
I’m sure this amount is different depending on the business.
So what is not much? $100? $500? $1K? $3K?
Liz Fuller
Jan 21, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Hi Nikole
As I’m researching this further in the real world I am finding quite a few gas stations that already have a website but no blog. From my experience, they would be able to add a blog with no additional cost (except for time). Alternatively, many of them could use a free blogging tool as a substitute for the (probably) expensive sites they already have.
I think this discussion has been assuming that the gas station owners do not already have an online presence so a blog is a significant additional expense. What I am seeing is that perhaps it is a trade in expenses - and one that would better suit their needs by being more flexible, more easily updateable, more personalizable and less expensive.
Liz
Nikole Gipps
Jan 21, 2008 at 2:56 pm
You’re also assuming a “free blog” is just as good as one they’d pay for … when in reality they might do better in terms of branding and visitor attraction if they had branding and some features that are not available on a free blog site.
How does one add a blog to your site for free with no programming experience without going for a free/nonbranded blog?
I’d agree that if any small business was buying a site, they should get one made in WordPress (or similar software) so that blog entries could be easily added as part of the original design.
Liz Fuller
Jan 21, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Hi Nikole
I am definitely advocating a free blog until a business determines that they can actually benefit from one and would keep it up on a regular basis.
If they already have a website, they can add a link to the blog site with little expense from their “webmaster”. There are a lot of wordpress themes out there. One would probably look close enough to their original site as to work for them.
I am much more hesitant to say that every business needs a website. I think many business owners these days think they need a site without understanding why or what it will get them and then over invest. A blog is a low cost alternative to get a presence on the web without investing a lot of money. It also gives the control to the owner rather than a webmaster if that is what is desired.
I hate to see people throwing money away on an expensive static site when they could have a low-cost dynamic blog.
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