Using Business Blogging to Let Readers Define Your Brand

Last week wasn’t the only close presidential race in American history.  Back in 1840, Mental Floss magazine reminds us, when Whig candidate William Henry Harrison campaigned to unseat Democrat Van Buren, an interesting thing happened. Not only does my finding blog fodder in this political story illustrate the process of “learning around for your business blog”, there’s a real lesson here for Indianapolis blog content writers about handling reader comments.

Read around, learn around, is my ongoing advice as a blogging trainer. Ideas are all over the place, all of the time, in fact, but you've got to "hear" and make the connection, using Other People's Wisdom (O.P.W.) to help visitors to your blog understand what it is that you do, what you sell, and what your business is really all about.

Sometimes, though, it goes the other way, with your readers helping you better understand what they would like to receive from your business or practice.

As Mental Floss relates the story, in the 1840 campaign, Harrison was derided by a newspaper editor as a “poor farmer who would be happy with a pension, a log cabin, and a barrel of hard cider.”  Rather than trying to combat this “attack ad” (shades of our own recent political races!), Harrison, who was fairly wealthy and didn’t drink hard cider at all, embraced the brand, campaigning as the “log cabin and hard cider candidate” who understood the common man better than the snooty New Yorker Van Buren.

The lesson for blog content writers in Indiana?  “Get feedback from your customers,” as corporate trainer Roger Dawson advises. Using testimonials in blog posts, capturing customer success stories, and welcoming comments to your blog are all ways to get feedback.

And if the comments are negative? (This is one of the big fears business owners and professionals confide they have about starting an SEO marketing blog in the first place.) A blog is the perfect vehicle for putting your own "spin" on reports about your cmpany, is my answer. Through blog content writing, you can exercise control over the way the public perceives any negative developments and correct any inaccurate press statements.

The Harrison story deserves a place in corporate blogging training sessions.  You can't embrace either kudos or criticism if you don't know about them.  Blogging for business is the perfect way to let readers help you define your own brand!