Are you wondering how to influence potential customers and prospects?
The relationship between blogs and sales is little bit tighter than you would tend to think. Consumers are turning to blogs when looking to make a purchase and has become a common practice among internet users.
According to a report made by Research Now, the relevance of a blog in the buying process experience, is stronger among young buyers, up to 34 years old, who consider these platforms as their main source of information in order to make a purchase. Buyers from 35 to 54 years old, would rather read a blog only after discussing the purchase with friends and family.
This report also shows that the influence a blog might have depends on gender. While blogs are especially relevant to men, women prefer to listen to family advices, friends or other consumers’ experiences.
How blogs can influence a purchase decision?
Consumers consult blogs to search for information when considering buying home appliances (54%) or gifts, for themselves (45%) or for other people (30%). The most popular blogs are those about food and drinks (48%), followed by hobbies and leisure blogs (42%) and cultural and entertaining ones (39%).
People turn to blogs in order to make a preliminary investigation about products (46%), look for inspiration (43%), eliminate options (33%) or re-confirm their final decision (30%).
Blog Ads or Paid Content?
This is another controversial subject tackled in Research Now. From the 1,000 respondents, only 27% admits have abandoned a blog, because they had to pay to access the content. Less than 36% stated they have deliberately left a blog for the same reason.
Definitely, content is the fundamental element within the process of getting to know a brand until they make the decision to buy. The report found that blogs are now the third most influential digital resource (31%) when making overall purchases, behind retail sites (56%) and brand sites (34%).
Why are blogs so influential?
Consumers said that blogs rank higher than Twitter for shaping their opinions and higher than Facebook for motivating purchasing decisions.
This is one of the many reasons why brands need to implement inbound marketing in their marketing strategies, to satisfy their clients’ needs. Consumers consider blogs to be trusted sources of information. 70% of consumers prefer to find out about brands and products through articles rather than ads. Furthermore, they feel inclined to learn more about them, through blog posts. 60% of buyers felt motivated to keep looking for information regarding a particular item, after reading something about it.
Bloggers tend to be very honest and sincere in their reviews of products and services. They talk about both negative and positive aspects of a brand, and in doing so become a trusted source of information. Trust drives action, and thus consumers look to bloggers before they buy.
To learn more about how we helped some of our clients with content creation and blogging, contact us here: www.dalmastro.com or call us: (305) 807 931