Flickr.com, CCL, myfovea

Every day, I receive several sales calls from service providers. Due to the recent economic downturn, ad agencies, brand specialists and independent marketing consultants are all going through extremely difficult times. 

The number of sales calls I receive seems to be inversely related to the severity of the economic downturn – and I feel for the people making the calls. Working as a consultant has allowed me to understand the unique challenge of making your prospect understand why your firm is unique, and better positioned to help them than anybody else.

As a buyer, I am also constrained by the current economic climate. My budget is down and I have to make a choice when it comes to who I hire, and what I hire them for. As the economic outlook gradually worsens, competition increases – and my choice becomes harder.

As I am held accountable for whom I hire, I need to look for the best help available, and hire those people that are guaranteed to deliver superior results. Over the years, I have hired many service providers, and I have adopted a single golden rule: always try before you buy.

For various reasons, it is not always practical to do a pilot or start working together on a smaller project: time constraints, supply and demand, and project constraints are just three of them. Steven Snell over at Traffikd has recently published an excellent article on “10 tips for using a blog to promote your own services”.

In my opinion, blogging is an excellent way for service providers to boost their credibility, and  provide a sample of what they have on offer.

In Steven’s words, “You could be providing the same exact quality of service as someone else who isn’t blogging, but because you have been able to prove your worth to your blog readers, they are almost guaranteed to come to you before going to someone with whom they are not familiar.”

As a buyer, reading a blog allows me to become acquainted with potential service providers in numerous ways, and helps me answer the following questions:

• Is there a “match” in terms of ideas, values or outlook ?
• What kind of projects/problems have they tackled in the past, and how did they approach them ?
• Do I/will I learn something from them ?
• Do they “practice what they preach” ?
• How are they different from their competitors ?
• Do they exhibit original ideas or a new approach ?

 Blogging allows for a relationship to be created before the first meeting even takes place, meaning you have the advantage over your competition. More importantly, it does so in a credible and value-adding way, and 24/7.

For any service provider that caters to corporate buyers, gaining access will become increasingly difficult. With less business out there, and more people fighting to get it, any advantage you have is more than welcome.

By allowing you to create relationships and show people what differentiates you from the competition, blogging may be just the tool that helps others find your edge.