Genesis Consolidated Services
Genesis Consolidated Services handles outsourced HR and payroll duties for a number of small and medium sized businesses in New England. Another software engineer and I successfully conceived, designed, programmed, and implemented a private blog for use by all 5000 onsite and offsite employees. The blog enabled:
- A more friendly, personal channel for communicating with their specific audience.
- The ability to promote new products and services without spamming their clients.
- An open forum for creating feedback and generating new ideas.
- An excuse to prove their expertise and stay in front of their important customers.
Although the blog was successful on all accounts, we encountered one major roadblock. While my co-worker and I were able to push this "radical" idea through very hesitant upper management, they insisted on keeping the blog private! Unfortunately, that killed our hopes of generating new clients referrals, one of the main strengths of a successful blog!
A quick anecdote, if I may. The management was extremely nervous about allowing users to openly comment on the blog posts. While we understood their concerns, we wanted to prove to them that it was the safe and healthy choice. The blog was programmed so that every comment was immediately texted to the two of us. If there was anything inappropriate, either from a business or personal standpoint, we could remove it immediately. To management's surprise, we never had to delete a single comment.
Davis Square Development
As a realtor in Boston, I started a blog about new properties, upcoming developments, recent sales, and other real estate related news. After first trying and abandoning a project aimed at providing generic advice to people in the market to buy real estate, this was an entirely different approach. I wrote almost exclusively about happenings in the Davis Square area of Somerville, where I lived at the time. Although the blog covered news and developments in an area roughly one square mile in size, it took only six weeks to:
- Reach an average of 70+ unique daily visitors.
- Build a base of over 30 additional subscribers who chose to receive my posts via email and RSS.
- Generate at least six new unique clients who contacted me via phone, email, and in person meetings.
The results were surprising, even for an optimist like myself! Sadly, the blog was discontinued after threats from other realtors who complained that I was stealing their business! The real estate industry is having a hard time adapting to new technology, and as a result, I had to tread lightly. Not even the governing body for Realtors could give me a straight answer on what I could, and could not publish regarding other Realtor's properties. However, the old posts still exist, but are visible by invite only. Contact me if you would like to take a look at this deceased project.
The Reluctant Eater
The Reluctant Eater is a personal project I began after reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. Inspired to change my own eating habits, I started a blog to follow my journey, often talking about hyper-local issues and farmers in the Boulder, CO area. By choosing and properly executing on certain narrowly focused topics, I received an unsolicited mention in the weekly newsletter of the local farmers market. The next day, 30 unique visitors came to my site. This was only 10 days after starting the blog with no promotional or advertising efforts whatsoever.
For most, the perfect customers are just a needle in a haystack. Why spend your time, effort, and money trying to find them? A properly executed blog can bring clients to you.