When it comes to business, blogging isn’t just something your 13-year-old does online to vent about the lack of coffee selection or required gym clothes at school. When talking about it in respect to business, think of blogging as a way of starting a dialogue with new customers or a way of strengthening your relationship with current customers.
Blogging actually serves a number of purposes in an aerospace marketing strategy. Here are five reasons to incorporate blogging into your strategy for winning and retaining customers.
1. Establish Your Knowledge Base and Reliability
When a new customer is looking to make a decision on a purchase, be it for B2C or B2B, one of the first places they look is your website. Sure, the look and feel and overall “snazziness” of it all is going to grab their attention, but what’s going to win their business is your ability to show them you know what you’re doing, that you are there for your customers and that you’re tuned into the aerospace and aviation industries just like them.
To be successful in this aspect, create blogs that are based on some of the most frequently asked questions from your newer customers. Blogs that cover questions, customer service issues and industry trends will also show that you know how to take care of your business and that you are a reliable resource for customer support and industry knowledge in the future.
2. Establish Trust
Earning the sale is a massive sign of trust from the customer’s perspective, but before you are awarded the sale you have to earn it by showing you are worthy of their trust. It’s all about building relationships and a blog is a great first step in the process.
Creating expert blogs, such has “how to” or “insider news” articles, establishes a sense of trust and goodwill with prospective customers because you are sharing information for free and not making them pay for it in advance.
Another great way to establish trust is to pull the curtain back on your aerospace organization and introduce your staff and the inner workings of daily life at the office. Photos and videos of the office, staff events, customer appreciation events and public service events are an excellent way to show your company’s personality and create an initial connection with a new consumer.
3. Establish a Line of Communication
To a new customer, your blog is a great way to establish a sense of whether or not you will be able to communicate with each other.
Your brand’s blog will show consumers that you are open and willing to communicate by the topics you cover (i.e., you are responding to what your customers are asking about) and by the frequency of your posts (i.e., you post regularly, not just when you need customers or something bad has happened).
4. Establish Your History and Experience
Regardless of how long you’ve been in business, if your blog looks “new,” then consumers will question how long you’ve been doing what you’re doing. An empty blog can create a sense of discomfort.
A great way to build up your blog quickly and to help create the sense of history for your brand is to include blogs on success stories from your brand’s history. Also, as you build up your blog, include links to previous or archived blog posts. This is a twofold win for you: 1) it shows you have previously presented content and aren’t new to the game and 2) it creates internal linking which helps to improve your website’s search engine optimization performance and rankings.
5. Establish Your Longevity
Believe it or not, this is one of the key elements for winning a new client. When a customer feels that you are a company that has a history and will be here for the long haul, then they are more apt to do business with you.
Blogging consistently will create a sense of trust that your customers will be able to count on you to follow through and stick with them. Another great tool to incorporate into your blogs to achieve this task is to incorporate “how to” posts, as these tend to help paint a picture of understanding of your potential customer’s life and will establish a sense of “we’ll be here to help you” with them.
Truth be told, the key benefit for blogging for your business is to build trust with your current and future consumers.
When you’re ready to gain new customers through a successful blog, contact the team at Haley Aerospace Marketing and let us create a strategy for success for your future.
