Blogging to Build Your Brand and Your

Bottom Line

Why Blog?

Build Your Brand

Attract New ClientsCreate Press Opportunities

Why Blog? Build Your Brand.

• Show personality.

• Build your expert status.

• Humanize your company.

Why Blog? Build Your Brand.

• Show personality.– Who are you?– What sets your company apart?– What makes you different?

Why Blog? Build Your Brand.

• Build your expert status.– Show your value.– Open doors to opportunities.

Why Blog? Build Your Brand.

• Humanize your company.– This is a relationship business.– Clients hire designers that they like.

True Life: Why Blog?

• Tobi Fairley Interior Design

• Started blog in September 2008

• Named in Traditional Home 20 Designers to Watch in 2009

• Parlayed blog success to more—press, product creation, and more

Why Blog? Attract New Clients.

• Cultivate relationships.

• Feed your influencers.

• Optimize your site.

Why Blog? Attract New Clients.

• Cultivate relationships.– Show yourself as a person.– You are not a logo.– Create relationships without expectations.

Why Blog? Attract New Clients.

• Feed your influencers.– Give people reasons to talk about you.– Provide fresh & interesting content.– Every fan is a potential referrer.

Why Blog? Attract New Clients.

• Optimize your site.– Make Google your friend.– Frequently updated sites are better for

search.

True Life: Why Blog?

• Mark Cutler Design

• One of his vigilant blog readers referred him to her relatives

• Resulted in multi-million dollar home remodel in Hollywood Hills

Why Blog? Developing Press Opportunities.

• Bloggers on the front lines.

• Leveraging offline press.

• Creating relationships not pitches.

Why Blog? Developing Press Opportunities.

• Bloggers on the front lines.– Bloggers are influencers.– Shelter mag editors/writers find stories

through blogs.– Blog mentions great for search.

Why Blog? Developing Press Opportunities.

• Leveraging offline press.– Add any offline mentions (or online for that

matter!) to your blog.– Spread the word farther.– Shows the love for your company.

Why Blog? Developing Press Opportunities.

• Creating relationships not pitches.– Be a press resource.– Show your expert status.– Provide good content.

True Life: Why Blog?

• Ondine Karady Design

• Leveraging offline press by pitching to established bloggers.

• Soon to be on The Skirted Roundtable, One Kings Lane, and more.

Nuts and Bolts.

• Getting started.

• What do I write about?

• Driving traffic.

Nuts and Bolts. Getting Started.

• Two options for interior design blogs– Educational and value-added blog– Current events and news blog

Nuts and Bolts. What to Write?

• Something you enjoy.

• Something you know.

• Something that represents your company.

Nuts and Bolts. Driving Traffic.

• How will anyone know

about my blog?– Facebook– Twitter– LinkedIn– E-newsletters– Comments on other blogs

Nuts and Bolts. Driving Traffic.

• Make content sharable.

• Stay in front of your audience with fresh content.

• Live the phrase “social media is marketing on steroids”.

Who Should Not Blog?

Bueller…

“Blogs add one more tool to a marketer’s repertoire. As with any marketing program, to be effective, blogs must be integrated into a master marketing plan.”

– Toby Bloomberg, founder and president of Bloomberg Marketing (from Naked Conversations, Robert Scoble and Shel Israel)

Questions?

Alexandra Gibson

CEO, Gibson Design Management

877.273.8902

alexandra@gibsondesignmanagement.com

www.gibsondesignmanagement.com

@gibsondm (tweet tweet)

www.LeftBrainsForRightBrains.com

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http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/european_studies/http://tobifairley.comhttp://www.markcutlerdesign.com/Image from All the President’s

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