Blogs: The new brick and mortar

Think for a moment why you visit this or any blog. For me it’s to see what the author is publishing today. Each time I read a new work from the author, I learn a little more about her. The more I learn about her the more real she becomes. When she goes from being a URL on the internet to a real person I become more willing to spend money on the goods and services she offers or endorses.

Traditional retail. I was raised in a retail family. We had two brick and mortar furniture stores in the Milwaukee market for more than 50 years (ending in the mid-eighties). The brick and mortar business model is part of my DNA. As the youngest of five I was exposed to business talk around the dinner table every evening. My Father and three older brothers were my first and still best business school teachers.

Why brick and mortar works. Brick and mortar means there is a real physical place you can go. You can see and touch the goods you will be taking home in exchange for your hard earned cash. You can interact with the real human beings responsible for the sales experience. Those people either leave you with a sense of confidence and security, or a sense of sleaze and schlock.

Model that experience on your blog. Each day you visit here I offer up a fresh piece of content that return visitors seem to classify as useful. The archives on this site are my floor samples. You are free to browse the showroom and see if there is anything you like. No pressure no hassle. When you are ready to get to know the human side, simply engage in a dialog via the comments section of any post. I respond to almost every comment and through those conversations you get to know me (and me you, by the way). You also get to know the other customers who shop here.

Side note: My experience “getting to know” Erika Napoletano via her blog Readhead Writing (Ranting) inspired this post. She does everything I have mentioned above. Delivers solid content all the time. Engages with me and other readers in the comments. She’s as real as real gets, I’ve yet to meet her and may never have the opportunity to do so. I still feel like I know her well enough to do business with her if the need ever arises. If that’s not the brick and mortar experience I don’t know what is.

How do you feel about blogs being the brick and mortar of the new economy?

Tagged as: bloggers, blogs, brick and mortar, brick and mortar business, business, experience, furniture stores, retail, retailing

Never miss another post!

I publish new content about the strategies I utilize to grow business online with social media engagement via story telling. Make sure to never miss another article by signing up for updates delivered to either your inbox or RSS feed.

• Sign Up For Email Delivery
  
  First Name
  Email Address

• Subscribe to the JimRaffel.com RSS feed

This site runs on the Thesis Theme

Thesis has so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site. Learn more about Thesis by visiting their Plans & Pricing page.