Here’s-Why Business Blogging

It’s obvious the creators of the public service radio announcements I keep hearing understand an important principle of business blogging. Posing the question "So why should you care?" they proceeded to remove all doubt in listeners’ minds as to the answers: A better-educated population translates into less taxpayer money being spent fighting crime, while higher incomes translate into increased spending, boosting the economy.

As a business blogging trainer, I’m always teaching about the impact passion has.  Your blog must demonstrate to readers that, in you, they’ve found "the real deal." The other side of that, though, is neglected at business owners’ peril:

Readers must buy into the idea that your solution is something they should care about, and on which they should take action – now!

Going back to education, the Education Pays project consisted of a ten-month pilot campaign to use marketing for conveying positive messages about the benefits of education.  An even larger campaign by the National PTA and the Ad Council was designed to increase awareness of the importance of parents’ involvement in education. In each case, the thrust of the campaign was to have listeners, readers, and billboard viewers understand the answer to the question "So, why should I care?"

The job of each business blog post  is to, both directly and indirectly, answer that very question in the minds of online searchers. If they know why they should care, it’s an easy task to show them what actions to take next.

The Ad Council, by way of background, has been the leading resource of public servicing advertising in the U.S. for more than sixty years.  For a campaign to be selected by the Ad Council, it must fit three criteria:

• Issue must be of significant importance
• Issue must be of national scope
• Issue must be applicable to all Americans

Business blogs do not need to satisfy the second and third of those standards, because your business might be targeting a certain geographic area only, or a certain demographic only. What business blogs must accomplish, however, is to bring out the importance of the problem or the need, and of the particular solution your business or professional practice has to offer.

You might say the entire purpose of a blog post is to explain the "Here’s why you should care"!