I don’t have time to blog!
We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, we have a great pool of talent to draw from here at Blogging Painters. We all have our own strengths and fields of expertise, like Heidi and customer service, Scott is the wood snob, Tommy with products and Dean is the go to guy for many of us on all things RRP. And so on. These posts can be used long after we have read them. Many of us do not have the time or the skills to create a blog, which can be a very useful tool.
Ok, how do I use them?
Recently Heidi posted about comparing estimates and suggested that you use the article to share with your customers. That was a great piece to link on your own site, or send to a customer.
In my area, we don’t have a lot of stucco homes, so when a customer asked me about Elastomeric, I usually refer to the Data sheet and my limited knowledge. But next time I can send them Gabe’s article on Elastomerics or if I want to reinforce my suggestion of the proper way to strip a log cabin, I can send them a link to Scott’s article. I can send these links to a customer, or bring them up on my IPad during and estimate.
Do customers really care?
I recently read this article where the author talked about the online education some customers gain in their quest to complete their home project.
Customers have been told for decades that they are always right. They may THINK they know it all, so we have to be careful how we approach them. This means we need to be proactive in showing them we actually do know more.
How much more proactive can we be than sending them a well written, informative, peer written article?
Ok, maybe I could write one!
Some of you may have certain reservations about sending an article that is location specific or has another contractor’s name in it. Here is a recent article I did on Choosing Color as a guest for a local blog, in this one I referenced local companies, I just took a few minutes to take out the local references and I posted this here on BP, which could be sent to your customer.
Look for local blogs and offer to write a guest post yourself.
What do I write about?
Write what you know about! Process stories can be a great way to show a potential customer how your business operates, here is a great article from Chris Johnson:
Process stories are made up of two things: procedures and anecdotes. Both are important to tell the whole story. Your procedures will appeal to people that want to know that you’ve thought of and mastered the details. The anecdotes are a little more tricky, but they help people connect emotionally and provide a form of social proof.
Great article! I am doing some research in blogging and this article could not have come at a better time. 🙂 Thank you.
Jason, you are very welcome, it was our conversation on Facebook that prompted me to write this! I hope you will join us here at Blogging Painters!
What is the requirement to join? Can’t say that I’ll have anything to post soon, as I am just turning this seemingly heavy leaf over… haha! 😉
We accept anyone with a desire to improve their business by sharing best practices, networking with others and creating an online reputation that establishes themselves as an expert in their field! Join us on Facebook and Twitter, subscribe to the blog and we’ll help you turn that leaf!
Done! 🙂 I think the only thing I hadn’t done was twitter. Thanks for the help Chris. Looking forward to this new chapter.
Chris,
I think blogging is really misunderstood…whether it is actual writing or just seo fluffy stuff.
Misunderstood by whom?
Would it depend on the intent of the blogger?
Doesn’t blogging have that two edge sword effect where it can service both SEO and Good Content?
I know someone that blogs with the intention of SEO. But who really is going to see that if the article is well written?
So many questions…
Very good questions Jason. I think paint contractors in general are confused about how to use a blog and what blogging is even all about. Good group here for sharing info about all that.
Scott, I agree! It’s just another way to communicate!
Jason, you are right, blogging can serve two masters, content and seo, but content must come first. Goes back to my comment to Scott above, another way to communicate, with each other or our customers, we need to look at blogging as a a dialogue, not a marketing campaign!
True that! Thanks.
Our trade for the most part is pretty mundane. I think writing about my daily experiences and sharing brings some needed excitement to the grind.
No doubt!
Great article. I just read the previous one on google not being your customer.
Thanks Darrell!
Thanks Chris for the mention! And a solid post by you! When we spoke a year ago I was really excited to see this project take root. Man has bloggingpainters.com kicked ass! Keep it up!
Thanks Darren! We plan to! It has been quite a year, and we have some great stuff planned, like “Project X”! 😉