The Temptation and Reality of Business Blogs

There are many — countless — small businesses that live month to month, quarter to quarter, year to year. These small businesses range from solo enterprises to publicly traded businesses of varied sizes and market focus. They struggle from one reporting period to the next to satisfy investors, shareholders, and stakeholders alike. That´s reality.

Equal reality is they continuously seek the silver bullet. The one thing they aren´t doing today, that if done, changes their financial future for the better. Forever.

Enter blogs.

Blogs are hyped as the latest, greatest, and best hope of business. Business Week runs headlines on the importance of blogs, countless gurus extol their benefits"?¦the gold rush is on. We all must blog. There´s great temptation.

Enter reality.

Blogs are low on the list of marketing tactics to grow a company. Faced with the need to immediately grow your revenue — this month, this quarter, this year — there are far more effective marketing efforts to undertake than blogging. In fact, blogging is for many businesses a colossal waste of valuable time.

If you start a blog today, hoping your business will significantly grow in the near future as a direct result, you´re kidding yourself. Blogging offers no immediate revenue or business growth.

Here´s my list of marketing activities I´d undertake to grow a business in the next reporting period. All activities would support proven and highly effective direct response marketing:

* targeted direct mail sales letter

* referral programs

* sales promotions and incentives

* white papers

* targeted advertising

* joint ventures

* co-op marketing

If you were given the mandate to significantly grow a business in the next month, quarter, and year"?¦regardless. What marketing and sales efforts would you undertake? Where would you rate blogging? Remember, you loose everything if you don´t produce significant revenue growth in the time frames investors, shareholders, stakeholders, and business leaders´ value most — this month, this quarter, this year.