Giving your customers the personal touch with a blog

It can be difficult giving anything like the personal touch to customers via machines. One of the drawbacks of doing business online is not being there in the flesh to see things for themselves.

Customers have to rely totally on the information you give them. Descriptions, details, promises of security and customer care. To name but a few examples. Copy should be able to do that. But of course it?s usually more to do with the business itself.

A blog on the other hand can be anything you want it to be. It can be an extension of your business, a way to raise your profile without the usual constraints. Or a personal exchange of ideas and thoughts. A place where people can meet for a chat and look for information. Or simply a place to stop by and be entertained for a while.

You know yourself the more you get to know someone the easier it is to make judgements about them. If they?re serious about what they do. Or if they?re the sort of person you want to avoid like the plague. It might not always be foolproof of course, but that personal contact can make all the difference to how you feel about them.

But like most things it won?t just happen overnight. Building up a following takes time. If they like what they see they?ll come back to see what else you have to say. You?ll only do that if you post regularly and keep it fresh.

Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of having a blog is to show the world you?re human. Not just a mouthpiece for an anonymous company, but someone willing to not only talk to them but listen as well. Something that seems to be lacking in a lot of business dealings these days. Underestimate the importance of that at your peril.

Whatever you decide to put in your blog avoid the hard sell approach. If it reads like a corporate manifesto or a blatant attempt to sell them something, any following you?ve picked up will disappear like magic. That?s not what they?re there for. And neither should you be.