Marketing Begins At Home

That’s a rhetorical question, lest you get any ideas….

But all seriousness aside, I get asked this question a lot so here are some answers. And those in the know, feel free to add some more thoughts in the comments.

Don’t Monologue – There are a lot of blogs out there and chances are, whatever industry or community of interest you are in, there are a few other blogs covering that same territory. There’s no way they will know you exist unless you tell them, and the best way to do that is leave comments (thoughtful comments, not spam) on their blogs, and links them on yours.

Remember, marketing is conversation and conversation is dialog. If you aren’t engaging, no one will know you exist, no matter how brilliant your 1800 word tomes on Byzantine iconography.

That’s Enough About You – While we are on the subject of dialog, don’t fill your blog with stuff about you, your company and your products. You probably have a whole marketing program to do that and in any case, blogging isn’t a sales channel, it’s a conversation channel.

Talk about your industry. Be a resource for others who are following in your wake. Share some of your real brilliance. And of course, pay attention to the first rule – don’t forget to share it with others.

Think Search – If you want people to find you, you have to understand a bit how search engines work. And you have to put yourself in the head of someone who might be looking for what you have to offer. See the title of this blog? ’nuff said.

Use Every Tool – Tag your posts. Announce them on Twitter. Share full RSS feeds. Don’t feel that because it’s a blog, you have to stop at blogging. Use every tool in the social media toolkit you can find to bring people to you.

There’s a start. I’ll have more throughout the week.