Business Exchange

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Boston Business Exchange, a group that is in the process of changing its name and its meeting venue, so no link.

Suffice it to say, they are business men and women who want to go a step beyond traditional networking, so naturally they are interested in blogs.

I spoke on Getting Naked and Blogging for Business, but in only 15 minutes time, I had to severely limit what I said, so I limited it to a few stories.

Instead of telling them all the benefits of business blogging, I pointed them to the Small Business Blog of the Day and its 101 reasons to blog.

As for consultants, here are some additional benefits.

You choose your niche and focus

o Write about what you feel passionately about.  It’s how you’ll attract  readers
o Position yourself as an expert
o Differentiate yourself for competitive advantage
o Write often, write short.
o Make your blog part of your overall marketing plan
o Think of it as managing your public reputation

Increase your visibility as an expert.

o Give away your resources as links
o Be a trusted filter of news in your industry or niche or neighborhood
o Point out important articles, news and resources
o Give your clients and prospects a reason to visit often
o Blogs are “word on mouth on steroids”
o You’ll get noticed and journalists will respect you.

Increase your sphere of influence  - Connect with Others

o Reach beyond the people you know
o Reach people in the future
o Reach around the globe
o Connect to people you respect and admire with your blogroll
o Be generous with links and credits
o Collaborate and cooperate on projects
o Your value is in your relationships, your value in trust,  not your exclusive knowledge

Make a chronicle of your professional life

o Content management system –great for notes .
o You set the categories
o When you read something you can make note, opine
o Corporate memory

Build your brand

o What’s your story? What’s your talent?
o Who do you INTEND to Be?
o What’s the POINT of what you do?
o Show how you think innovatively
o Let your personality shine through with all its passion and enthusiasm
o Share your knowledge and expertise and let people get to know you

Become a Better Communicator

o You will be exposed to more different points of view
o You will read more and write more clearly
o You will understand other groups/cliques better
o Listen to your readers