Dog Blog & Marketing Stuff

So this week on Dog Blog & Marketing Week we are going to talk a bit about Awareness, Trial & Loyalty.

One of mum’s favourite concepts in the world of marketing is what she often referred to with non-marketing colleagues as the “Funky Funnel”. The Marketing Funnel as it would be more professionally referred to explains the traditional way people would interact with a brand. Here is an image of the funky funnel…

source:   http://www.darylconnelly.com/blog/the-marketing-funnel-a-simple-metaphor-worth-remembering

So it is pretty isn’t it but what does it mean? Well if someone heard / read / saw something about your blog it would mean they were aware of it. Like if I am down at the dog park and I see another dog running around… I’m aware of that dog. But if I go over and do the sniff thing… well now I am considering. This is like when someone comes to your blog and just checks out the homepage or a couple of pages. These people are building your visits and views but you may not see them again. All making sense down at the dog park so far?

The next level is where someone actually engages. This is where I do the play bow and actually start a game with another dog. For a blog this is where someone actually signs up to follow the blog or another social media connection. They might leave a comment.

Loyalty…. this is the dog I refer to as my mate. These are the dogs that I seek out and regularly play with at the park. For a blog these are the regular visitors, often seen by comments (but if someone better with the technical stuff knows another way to show loyalty please pop in a comment). And then it is when someone recommends your blog that you have advocacy.

If you are writing the blog just for fun than you may not care how many people are reading and where they might sit on the “Funky Funnel”, but if do have a commercial bent than chances are there is a marketer  somewhere (especially if you are dealing with a bigger brand) with a brand plan that includes the “Funky Funnel”. These marketers will doing activities (ie engaging with your blog) for different reasons. For some it may be awareness (ie just getting people to see and become familiar with their brand… like me knowing another dog is at the dog park). For others it may be about building a relationship with a specific group of users. This is where loyalty comes in. If you have a very specific topic for your blog and regular readers engaging that they also want to engage in (think like if I was to invite a friend from Rally O training to come play with my mates that I do Agility training with so my Rally O mate could tell them how much fun Rally is and see if they want to come try it).

So if you do interact with anyone from a commercial perspective be aware that they probably have a specific reason for working with you that might be a bit more than just putting an ad on your side bar. Hopefully this will help you in asking the right questions on why they want to work with you and how you can offer them an opportunity that best helps them deliver their goals (and then they get the results and want to work with you again).

An example of a blog that we have Loyalty and Advocacy with is We Live In A Flat. Donna’s blog was one of the early blogs we come across. Scanning through the comments of 1st World Dog and We Live In A Flat you will see regular comments from both of us. Also by participating in Donna’s My Best Photo Of The Week challenge we are creating Advocacy both ways. Swing by Donna’s blog and check it out… especially the great hints on photo apps… we have learnt heaps on making photos look cool from Donna’s blog.

Now if you missed our earlier Dog Blog & Marketing Monday swing by the page where we keep an index. If you don’t want to miss out on any future Dog Blogs & Marketing Mondays than sign up to follow 1st World Dog over on the side or Like me on Facebook.

OK way to much serious stuff…. even despite the wet weather it is time for mum to put the gumboots on and get out for a walk… Have a woofwonderful Monday!