How Business Blogging Mirrors BNI, and Why You Should Be Doing Both

In October 2014, I joined BNI Tigers, a local chapter of Business Network International. BNI has more than 7,000 chapters and about 186,000 members in more than 60 countries.

Today, about 20 percent of my monthly income can be traced back to my BNI chapter. Not too shabby for a year and a half.

I joined BNI Tigers after I was contacted by someone who read one of my blog posts on LinkedIn. That means all of my BNI business can be traced back to the McBlog.

Not too shabby for a content writer flying solo in the swamps of Jersey.

Generally speaking, networking and marketing have a lot in common. Most people go to networking meetings and wander aimlessly, hoping to bump into someone who will hire or refer them.

Yet they rarely stray more than five feet from the bar.

Some people show up to networking events armed with their sales pitch and a stack of business cards, shoving both down the throats of anyone who is unfortunate enough to be cornered. Others collect as many business cards as possible so they can add people to their email list or hit a certain number of connections on LinkedIn.

And solicit their connections’ connections.

Most businesses take a similar approach to marketing. Throw it on the wall and see if it sticks. Their marketing is reminiscent of King Kong – or a 2-year-old.

They stand tall, scream loudly, and beat their chests so people will pay attention. The message is usually a boastful, self-serving sales pitch.

Is anyone shocked that most networking and marketing is a complete waste of time and money?

When I first made a conscious effort to take my company from side business to full-time business, I was a fixture on the networking circuit. I made some good connections, but I didn’t make much money. Definitely not enough to justify the investment of time.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. You don’t have to be a writer to succeed with blogging.

Anyone with knowledge, passion and a plan can use a business blog to make money. The only advantage of being a writer is that I don’t have to hire someone to do the actual writing.

When I started blogging consistently, week after week, people started finding me on Google. More people viewed my LinkedIn profile, commented on my posts, and invited me to connect. I was invited to speak about marketing at a local chamber meeting. One of my posts was credited as a source in a book about marketing.

In some cases, I received inquiries immediately after someone read a post. In other cases, I received inquiries from people who had been reading my blog for months or even years. I used the blog to earn their trust, and they called when they had a need.

That’s the beauty of blogging for business. If you’re consistent and provide people with valuable, helpful information, the blog will never stop producing leads.

Just last week, I got a call from a woman who Googled “Jersey Shore copywriter.” On the first page, she found a post I wrote three years ago about the Jersey Shore being open for business after Superstorm Sandy.

Three years later, it converted a somewhat random search into a paid client. Cha-ching.

As valuable as my blog had become, I knew I had to establish more of a local presence and find a model of networking that actually worked. That’s when I joined BNI.

When you join a BNI chapter, you have to go through Member Success Program training. The idea is to learn how to make BNI work for your business.

The most memorable part of my training session was the jerk sitting next to me who just kept staring at the ceiling and rolling his eyes before leaving early. There’s one in every crowd, but don’t let those people take your eye off the prize.

The second most memorable part was the explanation of how BNI helps members build visibility, credibility and profitability.

You build visibility by showing up for networking meetings every week, delivering a quick presentation about your business, and scheduling longer one-to-ones with fellow members outside of the meeting. Because BNI is category-exclusive, none of your competitors can gain that kind of visibility in your chapter.

You build credibility by showing you know what you’re talking about. In addition to your weekly presentation, members deliver longer presentations during the meeting on a rotating basis. This allows you to dig deeper into what you do, the value of what you do, and who your ideal referrals are.

After you build visibility and credibility, you build profitability when a member of the group has a need for your product or service, or refers you to someone who does. You take profitability to the next level when those referrals begin to refer you to their contacts.

Incidentally, I’ve just started to get into that third tier of referrals during the past few months. Exciting stuff.

When visibility-credibility-profitability was explained, I instantly made the connection to business blogging.

You build visibility by blogging consistently and sharing your posts with your network. You build credibility by sharing helpful, useful information. You build profitability when people who read your blog hire or refer you.

One of my favorite things about BNI is its structure. I don’t have time to wander aimlessly at networking events. BNI allows me to seek out fellow members who I can refer people to, and vice versa. Effective BNI members are committed to showing up every week and helping each other grow their businesses.

That’s the whole “Givers Gain” philosophy of BNI. You gain more by focusing on how you can give to fellow members. If you show up and start tossing around cards and brochures like a blackjack dealer, you’re kind of missing the point.

A good business blogging strategy should have a similar structure. Instead of throwing stuff up against the wall and seeing if it sticks, consistently publish posts every week, every other week, or whatever frequency works for you. Just do it consistently. Share your posts on platforms that cater to your audience.

An effective business blog also focuses on the needs of the reader. Instead of pounding people over the head with a sales pitch, you educate people and become a trusted source of information and knowledge.

Like BNI, business blogging works when you focus on helping people, not selling to people. That’s how you build relationships. That’s how you earn trust.

And that’s how you make more money.

When I joined BNI Tigers in October of 2014, we had 24 members. Today, we have 44 members. Some drive an hour every week because the group is that strong.

We’re hosting an Open House on Thursday, April 21 at 7 am at the Windsor Athletic Club, 99 Clarksville Road in West Windsor. I invite anyone in the Central Jersey area to attend as my guest and see how BNI works.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in attending, please share this blog post with them or use the invitation below, and ask them to contact me. For more information about BNI and the business categories represented in our chapter, go to www.bni-tigers.com.

If you’d like to discuss how a business blog can help your company build visibility, credibility and profitability, let’s talk. Call me at 908-907-0031 or email info@scottmckelvey.com.