Bloggers are seasoned content marketers; they aren’t successful if their content isn’t rich with information, legitimate, interesting and fresh. Successful bloggers also tend to have a large following and some considerable influence. More than a few businesses have seen loss in clientele with just one negative blog post about them. There are ways to utilize this resource and use them for marketing subtly.
Do your research- Look into all the local bloggers and find people who seem influential and have a large following. Keep your niche in mind. For example, if you own a small business dealing with gardening or agricultural supplies, focus on bloggers who write about recipes, local ingredients, gardening, etc.
Essentially, they should write content related to your industry. You should follow their posts, read their content regularly to see if you like their tone and style. Read the comments as well, just to see how their audience reacts to them. Shortlist the bloggers you like and subscribe to them.
Promote them first
The best say to catch a blogger’s attention is to spread their content. Share relevant and interesting posts with your customers, friends and family. Post intelligent comments offering insights from a business owner’s perspective. Be sure to be sincere in your approach.
It’ll work better if you genuinely like their content and consider their posts insightful. If you find a mistake or have more information to share, don’t hesitate to contribute. This establishes a sense of authority since it shows that you have knowledge of the industry.
Cultivate rapport with them
If they approach you for research and advice, don’t hesitate to give it. Many bloggers seek the advice of industry insiders to add legitimacy to their content and publish accurate data. If you’re helpful, you’ll most likely get mentioned in their blog post. If they find you to be a good source of information, they will approach you more often.
Offer them reward
Don’t start your relationship with the blogger as a business venture; just let it develop into one over time. Reward the blogger when you get a new client because of their blog. If you surprise them with an unexpected reward, you encourage brand loyalty to an extent. Remember, you don’t want the blogger to turn into a marketer; they’ll lose their legitimacy with their audience if they’re just promoting your product.
This is a subtler form of marketing, you just want to be sure you’re presenting some posts, providing good information. They work hard on their content so acknowledge that and give them some compensation.
Discuss Business
Instead of writing promotional articles about your business, products or service, you want the bloggers to just spread your name subtly. You create a presence of your small business. So if you’re organizing some event like a major sale, or a contest, ask them to cover the event. Sponsor a research trip if you can or use your connections to let them get in touch with manufactures and the like.
You should pay them for their hard work, especially for any clearly promotional posts. Besides that, by advising them and helping with their research, you build a reputation as an authority in your niche.
