Lizan Brand, owner of Greenfield Liquors inGreenfield, IN, explains how her small businesshas grown as a result of blogging.
Q: What was your marketing strategy before the blog launch?
A: Previously, we were doing small sale ads in local newspapers and had no Web site. Greenfield Liquors is a real mom-and-pop-type place in a small town. We don’t have a huge marketing budget.
Q: Why did you decide to use a blog as an ad tool?
A: We expanded our inventory and wanted to let people know we’re here and that we’ve changed so much. After learning about Compendium Blogware, we thought it would be a perfect fit for us. We didn’t want a Web site that would just sit there and be static. With a blog we can constantly update communication to our customers.
Q: What is it about blogs thatyou think resonates with your customers?
A: The kind of people I’m trying to find are tech savvy — people who are interested in wine and particularly love to read about new wines and find certain wines they’re looking for. The same thing is true of microbrews. People are looking online for those products, as well as rare and interesting liquors.
Q: What information do you include on the blog?
A: We update the blog at least once each week, and we’re trying to increase it to four or five posts per week. My sommelier does wine tastings weekly, so she talks about the wines she’s sampling. We also encourage interaction with the site by asking people to submit their favorite drink recipes. Then, each week, we set up samples in the store and pick one of these cocktails to be the featured drink of the week.
Q: How is the blog promoted?
A: We get traffic from keyword searches that are geo-targeted to our area. For example, I recently met the winemakers from Paige 23 Wines and uploaded a video of the meeting. Now, if you Google “Paige 23 Wines Indianapolis,” I’m the first result. Anyone in the area who wants this wine is going to see us first.
Q: What have the results been?
A: Last month we got more than 500 unique hits, which is great for a business of our size. Also, nearly 97% of all new visitors found us through organic search. Sales have been very positive this year — many people come in and say, “I saw you online.”
