Dealer principals and executives must keep up with the evolving business world to stay relevant and competitive. Employees, vendors, clients and potential prospects look to the top to communicate with you to foster trust and help them feel invested with the brand; your company. Show them you’re ready to have conversations by putting a voice behind your organization’s leadership.
As a sales and marketing tool, blogging is all about reaching out and talking to the right people in a meaningful way. C-level executives are often subjected to the most visibility and scrutiny, especially during tough times. During good times and bad times alike, how you communicate with your employees, clients and prospects is critical to your brand image.
Any dealer principal or executive who wants to influence and build up his or her brand is going to need an intelligent, informative, educational, entertaining, and well-written blog. A successful blog can drive sales, improve a company’s image, and transform an obscure dealer principal into an influential and well-respected industry leader.
5 Reason Why Copier Dealer Principals Should Be Blogging
1. It puts a face to your dealership - As the leader you are the captain steering your dealership to growth and profitability.
My question to you, "Why do you hide behind a marketing curtain, your website?"
A short website bio, usually without contact information, makes most appear inaccessible. If your goal is to be a customer-facing and customer-focused dealership, blogging can create a public face for the dealership. Showcasing your company’s personality can go a long way toward defining your core values.
2. It strengthens corporate culture - Building a strong corporate culture is hard work and ever-evolving. Old methods such as posting mission statements next to the water cooler and at the front entrance are outdated and ineffective. By taking advantage of blogging, this becomes a powerful platform to demonstrate what the company really values. Focusing on fundamental core values such as honesty and integrity is another way you can shape corporate culture.
An easy-to-read blog, (examples to help you at CEO blog) can aide in demonstrating transparency by establishing an honest picture of the dealerships activities. Most important, the blog should be a window letting potential clients experience the corporate culture.
3. It makes you a visible expert - All dealer principals have a vision for their company but some don’t always have the platform to articulate the vision. In most situations, executives want to differentiate their company from their competitors and explain why their approach to business is industry-leading.
Dealerships MUST position their top executives and management team as industry experts, however; they are missing an opportunity if they aren’t using blogging as way to create visible expertise. A well written blog with broad appeal can be picked up for publication in industry related magazines such as ENX, Imaging Channel, BTA Office Technology or within your local business community journals. In turn, these published articles can then be proudly displayed on your dealerships website as well as being re-purposed by your sales reps. Goal here is to Promote, Educate and Inspire!
Click here for a special report "How to Overcome the Top 5 Sales Issues that Frustrate Business Owners"
4. It's about social conversations that to lead to conversion - Business is all about building relationships. If business owners take the time to follow and connect with industry peers or other businesses that truly interest them, and then interact by sharing content, blogging or tweeting a response to a conversation, this creates a ripple effect... business conversation!
"According to the BrandFog survey, 61 percent of U.S. respondents are more likely to purchase from a company whose values and leadership are communicated through executive participation on social media."
With the right engagement strategy, social-savvy executives can foster meaningful conversations and grow relationships which turn into real business opportunities. An active social presence effectively means there’s a networking event anywhere or anytime, so brand building is limitless. However, you must feel like showing up.
"No Random Acts of Social"
5. It amplifies public relations - By blogging and sharing content around industry related news, dealership related news or purely educational related information; a social-savvy executive can significantly amplify the reach of that coverage through a single status update. All of this not only supports your dealerships brand but amplifies your own personal brand.
An active social presence can't just help elevate visibility for the dealership but this also becomes a major asset for the storytelling of your business. Social media serves as a platform for you to communicate directly, transparently and immediately with your clients, prospects and other business professionals within your community.
Taking the time and effort to create an effective and professional blog can broadcast your passion, expertise, knowledge, abilities, and commitment to the business community.
Benefits to Blogging
- Personal brand building and company reputation
- Increasing "business intimacy" with potential clients which could lead to faster sales closes
- Increasing "business intimacy" with current clients which leads to cross-selling solutions and professional services
- Content can be redistributed to power all of your social media channels. If structured well, your blog should be usable across all of your social media channels
- You’re creating a platform to define your dealership and create your competitive advantage
Remember, blogging is a reflection on both the company and yourself. Therefore, a successful blog can be an asset to attract both publicity and sales. A poorly managed (or absent) blog will drive away customers and make the dealership look non-relevant to the modern connected buyer.
If you enjoyed please share your comments. Look forward to connecting and starting a conversation.
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In 2016, Larry was recognized by ENX Magazine, "The Difference Maker" as someone who is making a difference inside the copier channel. Larry is passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive copier world. With great pride I transform and coach copier sales professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help independent office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy
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