A Blog in Search of an Audience

As the newest member of the CI team, this is my first blog post. I’m hoping you find mine informative, thoughtful and maybe even funny. So, here goes.

If you believe the social media junkies, blogs (and other self-generated messages) are the best way to reach your audience. Well, that may be true, but first your blog needs an audience. Which is disappointing news to a lot people out there – who launched a blog and post and post and post, only to the vast space of blog-dom. Nobody is reading. Nobody is posting back.

So here’s my question: How does a blog find an audience?

It’s actually pretty simple. What do the people who you want to read care about? That’s right: not what do you care about. What do they care about?

Here’s the thing:  search engines have made it possible for people to search for the most esoteric of things – a solution to a problem. 

So there’s your answer. Think back to your most recent new business pitch or customer meeting. What were the re-occurring challenges or problems that they were asking you to solve?

That’s what your blog should be about. In 200 words or less, including hyperlinks to relevant sources, tell a story about how you solved a customer problem. I guarantee that there are many more people out there who are facing the exact same challenge, and you just proved that you can help them too. Your blog, your audience, it’s a beautiful thing.

- By John Connolly