Spring, Mother's Day, and Inspiration

Spring has finally sprung in Vermont and with it I've sprung a nasty spring cold and was hunkered down all weekend with a fever and a box of tissues.  On the bright side, my daffodils "sprang" literally overnight.   Last fall I planted 100 new bulbs of my favorite flower.  On Friday, the buds were still tightly closed, but by Sunday had exploded into a long awaited bountiful blast of brightness. 

I've been silent for a couple weeks, but we've been cooking up some big marketing ideas for Vermont Shortbread Company.

On April 19, I spoke at the WBON (www.wbon.org) spring conference.   I did three breakout sessions on blogging for publicity.  Many people are intimidated by writing and the most common statements I hear in my local networking with other women are:

• I'm not a good writer.
• I don't have time.
• I'm not technical.
• I don't know what to write about.
• I'm not inspired. 

So, I took a leap of faith and instead of focusing on the technical aspects of blogging, I decided to talk about the human relationship side of blogging: how blogs are an ongoing conversation with your perfect customers.  I created an exercise (I hate to call it a writing exercise because that intimidates people) in which participants identified:

• perfect customers
• keywords perfect customers might use when searching online
• what participants are passionate about
• one piece of inspirational "fuel" from the conference that had a profound impact on their day

Then, with a little visualization and inspiration, they wrote their first blog entries.  Grammar and neatness did not count (yet...).  All that mattered at the start was spilling our passion onto the page and weaving in important keywords for our businesses. 

I enjoyed sharing my passion for doing what I love most and the feedback was amazing.   There was lots of laughter and everyone was eager to share her post with the group.  The "high" from the experience lasted well into the evening for me.  Or was that the glass of wine I had at the cocktail hour?

Bottom line - business blogs are here to stay.  However, blogging is just one of many effective forms of internet marketing.   You don't have to do it if it feels like a huge chore.  I do believe if small business owners see blogging as a conversation, or an honoring or nuturing of a relationship rather than an odious writing chore, it can always be as fun and inspirational as my breakout session at the WBON conference was. 

Back to spring daffodils and inspiration...did you know Mother's Day is May 13th?  Were you aware that National Shortbread Day is also coming up on May 16th?  Have you shopped for either yet? 

Stay tuned for specials honoring both of these important shortbread holidays. 

May your day be filled with spring warmth and inspiration,

Ann, the shortbread chick

Comments

[Holly, a.k.a The Candle Guru]

Great post Ann! I was running dry on what I could write about for my almost one month old blog. The idea of using the blog as an ongoing conversation with my "perfect customers" is FABULOUS! When I think of writing blog entries like that, it doesn't seem daunting at all! Thanks!!

PS. Glad to have you back as I've become a regular reader of VermontShortBlog.com! Sorry to hear about your cold too - hope it goes away as quick as your Daffodils sprang up!