My eye was drawn earlier this week by a post over at Blog Business Summit called Why hire a Blogging Consultant. Professional interest or in search of justification for what I do?
Definitely professional interest.
While it is an interesting overview, I think that it skims over the business side of what a blogging consultant should be able to offer and focuses too much on simply their knowledge of the Blogosphere. Certainly that’s important, as is the passion - you have to know how things work and why they work before you can start to apply them to a business situation.
But you also need to understand the business requirements of the companies you work with, their customers and their other marketing activities if you want to truely integrate a blog and really add value. You should feel comfortable working with both the marketing and technical teams (as well as the general management) with larger clients, and potentially be able to provide both of these roles yourself with smaller clients.
What I did like was the split that was made, between why set up a blog and how to do it so that it really works for your business. In the conferences they are running, they are focusing on the “how” rather than the “why”. I have no doubt that in the US, this is the right way to go.
However, in the UK, we are very clearly in a situation where we need both - the majority of companies are still at a stage where they are learning what blogs can offer them and why they should be considering them. However, there are also a growing number who have identified where they can be applied and now require help and direction in achieving that.
It is for this reason that I now run two blogs aimed at helping companies with their Business Blogging and the split between “Why” and “How” seems like a good one.
- Why set up a blog? - Better Business Blogging will be looking primarily at these aspects by focusing in on the range of business uses/applications of a blog and the issues in business and corporate blogging;
- How to do it? - The Blog Coach will aim to address the need for specific advice on the implementation, development and marketing of blogs as well as offering services and workshops to help businesses achieve this.
As you might imagine, there will be overlap between the two areas as one flows into the other but the differentiation is a good starting point.
So, why work with a Blog Consultant or, dare I say, a Blog Coach? Well, certainly for the understanding of how the blogosphere works and what works best, but also for the ability to apply that knowledge by getting to the heart of your business and ensuring it will produce the best results for you and your customers.
My biggest concern when hiring a blogging consultant would be duplicate content. There are many reasons to hire a consultant. You will get up to speed much faster and avoid those first timer mistakes. This will increase your odds of success.