Looking for something new to try in marketing in 2007? Try adding a blog to your marketing mix. Blogs are not new in terms of technology, but using them to effectively market your business is still a leading edge effort.

Blog marketing is:

• Informal – Blogs appear to be more casual and conversational than other marketing mediums, even your Web site.
• Personal – People blog not companies or departments, so make sure your posts come from your opinions, values, and beliefs.
• Open – Blogs are meant to give and get opinions and open the lines of communication with your audience.

Blogs help you:

• Build credibility and trust with your audience.
• Reach people you most likely wouldn’t reach through traditional means.
• Generate leads from those who have learned about you through your blog.
• Communicate with your audience, both prospects and clients.

Marketing rules still apply:

• Develop a strategy – Who is your target audience and what will appeal to them? Focus your blog on issues your target audience cares about.
• Understand your purpose – Why are you blogging? What goals are you trying to achieve? What’s your passion? When you feel strongly about something, you are more likely to do it.
• Engage your brand – Does the blog project the image you want your audience to see? Be true to your brand within your blog. Make it consistent with your Web site and other marketing materials. Get help with its design and be sure it works on at least the popular browsers. Being a more informal media does not give you a pass on typos and grammar. Don’t run the risk of reducing the perceived quality of your content with a post riddled with typos and grammatical errors.
• Remain consistent – Are your posts timely? Do you write about today’s issues? Are you engaging the audience and encouraging comments and posts? Put a schedule together for posting, create a list of potential topics and keep it within your task list as an ongoing project. Time management is critical if you want to consistently write for your blog.
• Integrate the blog into your marketing mix – Is the blog complementary to your other materials? Does it support your traditional marketing efforts? Blogging doesn’t mean you stop other forms of marketing for your business. Your blog gives you another viable means of communicating your message to your target.

How to market your blog:

Read How to Market your Blog in 2007 on ProBlogger by Darren Rowse. Guest written by Tony Hung of Deep Jive Interests, this post offers 41 ways to kick start your marketing effort. Will all of them be for you? I doubt it but that’s for you to decide, but the list is comprehensive. Start with the basics:

• Optimize for search engines.
• Submit your blog to feedreaders.
• Write quality content.
• Answer comments.
• Create links and trackbacks.

After that, it’s up to you.