Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

June 5, 2008

In Search of the Elusive Non-blogging Customer

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 11:20 am

Last week, in a conversation called Traffic, Readers, and Colleagues — Are They Customers? I asked how you might help a new blogging business connect to customers in the offline world. A comment by SpaceAgeSage was so packed with ideas, that I asked if she might package them up, elaborate a bit, and offer them to you in the form of a guest post. I’m delighted to share this with you.

In Search of the Elusive Non-blogging Customer
by SpaceAgeSage

Liz is on a quest to bring blogging enlightenment to non-bloggers who are a vast and mainly untapped population of potential readers and customers. She recently asked in a post, “How would you help a new blogging business connect to customers in the offline world?” With a small and humble background in the brick-and-mortar world of public relations and journalism, I offer the following ideas:

Contact local organizations in your niche
Talk face-to-face with local groups and organizations associated with your niche and ask politely for a blurb in their online or hard copy newsletter. Offer to be a guest speaker for one of their meetings if applicable. One time, as a martial artist teaching self defense classes, I went to the biggest real estate organization in my area and asked them to send out my flyer in their monthly packet to members.

You can find contact information by looking for the meetings section in the newspaper, finding a national website for an organization and then asking for local contacts, talking to your local librarians (they know a lot), and calling up buildings or facilities where such groups might rent space for meetings.

I come from small town, America, but one of the most productive resources I have used is the “Welcome Wagon” lady. She takes packets of information, flyers, and coupons to every new home buyer or new rental she can find. If no one is home, she hangs the plastic bag full of promotional materials on the door.

Look beside you
As Liz says, “Look to the customers standing right beside you.” Family, friends, bowling buddies, classmates, colleagues at work, and members of organization you belong to, including your local church, could be a rich source of customers or people who can network you to customers.

When you do this, realize that not everyone understands blogging. I just recently spent a weekend changing one friend’s mind who avoided any internet connections because she had relatives endangered by some online activities. Remember, you get to be an ambassador for the blogging world and a business person!

Find non-blogging experts to interview
Write or email top non-blogging experts (authors, professors, business leaders) in your niche area and politely ask to interview them. They will tell everyone where to find the interview.

As a journalist, I was told never to let anyone read my story before it went into the newspaper. Trust me, though, any potential interviewee would love to be able to edit your work before your post goes live. You may want to offer this to the expert to make them more likely to give you the interview. Also, when querying them, let them know what you want to ask them, who will be reading your blog, and how the interview will be conducted (live, phone, or answers returned via email). After you post, send them the link so they can forward it easily to others, and please remember to thank them! They may be able to steer other interviews your way (or my way!)

Utilize press coverage
Write a press release to get coverage in your local paper. Focus your press release on either your blog or blogging. If you write about blogging in general, just make sure to use your site as a highly profiled example. Tell your local press that blogging is a “lifestyle,” and they will perk up their ears.

Online sites exist with free information on how to write a press release, but just remember the “who, what, when, where, why and how.” Also here are three tips:

Online forums
Find online Web forums, message boards, discussion boards, discussion groups, bulletin board, etc., in your niche subject outside the blog world and jump in. Be nice, be real, and give as much as you can when promoting yourself. You can find forums often attached to magazines, to newspapers, to activities, to organizations, and to web sites of companies that complement your niche and product.

Become a “YouTuber”
Make a YouTube video about yourself, your blog, or your product. Make it fun, funny, or interesting. I know of a company that sells equipment for autopsying lab rats for scientific study, and even it has “how-to videos.” (No, I did not watch them.) Just one video that “goes viral” can rocket anyone into stardom for a day or month. Be ready to utilize any generated traffic in ways that maintain these new readers to your blog.

Team up with complementary non-blogging businesses
Let’s say your blog is about astronomy, and your product helps people find or see the stars during different seasons. The RV online and offline community is huge. You might be able to team up with them in a mutually beneficial way. Think outside the box. Maybe schools, or home schooling groups, or the local hiking club would find your product interesting, too. It never hurts to ask politely. As my husband says, until you ask, the answer is always, “No.”
—-
Best wishes with your quest to find the non-blogging reader and customer!
–SpaceAgeSage

Thanks, Sage! You’ve got me busy with an entire list of things we can do.

–ME “Liz” Strauss


Filed under Business Life, Strategy, Successful Blog |



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21 Comments to “In Search of the Elusive Non-blogging Customer”

  1. June 5th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
    Scott said

    As an avid “non-blogging reader of blogs”, this is a very interesting post.

    For some time now, I myself have thought about what it means to be blogless as I travel the blogosphere.

    I think, perhaps, the most crucial point you make is that not everyone actually knows what a blog is. I think the blogging community tends to forget this.

    It is, of course, understandable that bloggers tend to write for fellow bloggers and have overlooked the massive numbers of people who do not understand features such as commenting, RSS feeds, even the word “posts” can come across as jargon.

    I leave comments from time to time on blogs, but that’s because I have spent some time working out what commenting is for. There are very few commenters who don’t have url links in their names- perhaps an indication that either a) few non-bloggers read blogs or b) non-bloggers are somehow reluctant to get involved.

    I really believe that the blogs which want to attract non-blogging readers have to make the “blog experience” as simple and friendly as possible.

    However, simplifying the experience could alienate the existing readers, who are bloggers themselves, and who know what it’s all about.

    Clear explanations about what RSS is, the benefits of subscribing, etc. are key to making the newcomer feel comfortable. Even a separate “Welcome page” aimed specifically at the first-time reader could works wonders- a kind of first-day orientation kit. Experienced readers need not access such a page within the blog.

    An interesting experiment would be for a blogger to sit with a non-blogging friend and let them explore and navigate on their blog, while answering questions and getting their feedback on the new user’s experience. I’m sure much valuable information would come out of seeing things through a newcomer’s eyes.

  2. June 5th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
    Barbara Ling said

    And don’t forget your town’s local Chamber of Commerce! They generally have business meetings at least once a month; offering a free talk in that venue could work wonders.

    Enjoy,

    Barbara

  3. June 5th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
    SpaceAgeSage said

    Scott — excellent perspective. Thanks! I think the idea of a “New To Blogging?” link/button might be a good idea because you are right about the jargon. Such lingo threw me for a loop when I started looking at the blogging world as a Public Relations opportunity for someone over a year ago. It took me a long time to “get it.” Even my husband, who is a Content Management Systems guy, doesn’t get to cross over much into blogging or social media where he works, so we are both exploring blogging as a new frontier.

  4. June 5th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
    SpaceAgeSage said

    Thanks, Barbara — The local Chamber of Commerce might even need a blogger to help them create a blog for themselves or to help educate their membership about blogs!

  5. June 5th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
    NooCamp - Lighting talks notes — Jure Cuhalev said

    [...] In Search of the Elusive Non-blogging Customer [via Zemanta] [...]

  6. June 5th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
    Scott said

    Since I left my comment, I’ve come up with an interesting fact. Not ONE of my friends and family reads blogs, though all are internet savvy. I wonder if your readers were to ask the same of their circle, whether there would be similar results.

    I think that targetting non-bloggers as a strategy could be exceptionally valuable. To do this, a “back to basics” approach really is needed.

    How about taking a laptop with you to these events with your blog available to be read by the attendees? You could even do a brief section featuring your blog on a big screen. It would be great marketing and would certainly stick in people’s minds.

    There is a huge market of people who do not have blogs, but who could be interested in reading a blog- if only they knew what they were.

    I describe a blog as an “online magazine” to people I know. This helps demistify the jargon.

    And, after all, you don’t have to be a magazine owner to read a magazine, just as you shouldn’t have to be a blogger to read a blog.

  7. June 5th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
    SpaceAgeSage said

    Scott,
    So much is moving so fast on the Internet that it is hard to keep up. For example, tonight I just tried a micro-blogging tool called Plurk. I feel we are on the edge of new frontier. It’s exciting to be “boldly going where publishing has never gone before.”

  8. June 6th, 2008 at 5:23 am
    Productivity in Context » Blog Archive » The Number One Question about Getting Started with Blogging said

    [...] In Search of the Elusive Non-blogging Customer Liz is on a quest to bring blogging enlightenment to non-bloggers who are a vast and mainly untapped population of potential readers and customers. She recently asked in a post, “How would you help a new blogging business connect to customers in the offline world?” [...]

  9. June 6th, 2008 at 5:26 am
    @Stephen said

    I just want to my local Chamber of Commerce morning meeting yesterday, and the speaker has started an online community and gave all of the attendees a one-year membership. I am not sure how many will get involved but it is an interesting experiment!

  10. June 6th, 2008 at 7:13 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Scott,
    I just sent you an email.

    Thank you for your insights in these thoughtful comments. I agree that bloggers are losing sight of who’s reading their blogs. That’s become my latest “quest and question” — to reconnect back with the world of nonbloggers to find ways to extend open invitations.

    You’ve offered many.
    Thank you so much.
    You’re not a stranger here.

  11. June 6th, 2008 at 7:16 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Barbara,
    I was telling someone yesterday that we, as bloggers, have a little of the “shy actor’s syndrome.” We’re great at talking when we have the microphone, but not as good when someone else is holding it and asking us questions.

    You’re idea to visit the Chamber of Commerce is a great one. I wonder how many bloggers will do it. It requires talking to new people without the “microphone” in their space not our own.

    I bet most will write a letter. Implementing our ideas is where we fall down mostly, don’t you think?

  12. June 6th, 2008 at 7:21 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    @Stephen,
    You’re the exception! Thank you for saying that you did that and reporting on the great results!! Hopefully that will push me and others to do the same thing SOON. I’m going to email you about possible ways we might track what happens.

  13. June 6th, 2008 at 7:25 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Sage,
    You brought so much to this post and to the conversation that followed. Thank you for this contribution. It’s exactly what I think we should be talking about. We need to know how to reconnect with the offline world.

  14. June 6th, 2008 at 7:28 am
    SpaceAgeSage said

    Liz -
    Thanks for posting my ideas! I was honored to guest post here, and I enjoyed conversing with your readers.

  15. June 6th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
    Karen Swim said

    Liz and SpaceAgeSage, thank you so much for compiling these ideas. I have been wondering how to reach the non-blogging community and you have provided ideas that I can act upon immediately. There are so many great sources of information, entertainment and education that it should not be a “secret” that bloggers keep to themselves. Together, we can introduce a whole new audience to the beauty of blogs.

  16. June 6th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
    SpaceAgeSage said

    Karen Swim — Best wishes to you and thanks for the feedback! I am sure the light bulbs will be going on soon in the non-blogging sector. You can feel the momentum building right here, right now.

  17. June 6th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Karen!
    Thanks for noticing Sage’s work! She’s fabulous isn’t she?

  18. June 7th, 2008 at 7:12 am
    Kelly said

    Sage, Liz, and all,

    Oh, I am a week late to this party but I have been reading along. What a great couple of posts!

    If you haven’t read them, I’d like to strongly recommend two articles on this subject in the last couple of weeks. The first was a guest post by Bob Hoffman, adman extraordinaire, at Copyblogger:

    http://www.copyblogger.com/social-media-skepticism/

    the next was Naomi Dunford’s very thoughtful response to that article at IttyBiz:

    http://ittybiz.com/social-media-marketing-sucks/

    In each, the comments are almost as wonderful as the posts. I comment at Naomi’s blog that only 4 of 10 U.S. adults have ever read a blog, and 70% of those read once a month or less—pointing pretty strongly to this still being an “elite” group, and probably not where your real life customer base lies.

    I have loved these two posts about non-blogging customers, because you have nailed it so perfectly: you’re going to need real life methods to find real life buyers, and those methods are the same as they’ve always been. The blog is only a new part of an old strategy.

    We don’t like to admit it, but we’re “preaching to the choir” here. A great and fine choir it is (I love my readers!), but as some commenters pointed out in Are They Customers, they aren’t generally customers, unless what you sell is somehow related to blogging.

    When I was in college there was a prof who said writing design books and magazine articles was a waste of time and he wouldn’t do it because they were only read by other designers looking for inspiration, not by “people with cash.” I distinctly remember that, because a few years later I read a magazine article (in a design mag) arguing that having a website/ online presence was a waste for the same reason.

    You could insert blogs into that sentence now, only it’s dead wrong. Yes, blogs are being read by other bloggers, not usually by people with cash. Books, articles, websites, blogs—they all demonstrate that you are a thought-leader in your specialty. It’s critical to be here now, as the medium grows, to be that established authority in what you do as more non-blogging customers discover us.

    Get out and introduce yourself in traditional ways, and keep blogging here at the cutting edge.

    Thanks!

    Regards,

    Kelly

  19. June 7th, 2008 at 9:10 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Kelly!
    I’m encouraged that more and more of us seem to be talking about the fact that real customers are still in the offline world for the mostpart.

    We can talk all we want about how great it is to be here, but we need to invite them to join us in ways that are to their benefit, not to ours. We often seem to miss that part. Why should they care about what we find useful that they live a fine life without? They need a practical reason that this new media works in THEIR life.

  20. June 10th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
    Why it is too risky to blog said

    [...] In Search of the Elusive Non-blogging Customer [via Zemanta] [...]

  21. July 10th, 2008 at 11:50 am
    Connecting with the Offline Customer: A Non-Blogger’s Perspective - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once. said

    [...] one day, Liz posed a question on the search for the non-blogging customer, and I just couldn’t stop myself — I bolted from the sidelines and let my presence be [...]

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