Is Blogging alone enough to promote a business?

NO.
Blogging or ANY online strategy alone is not enough to support anything in the real world. Sure, you might be lucky, but a mixture of off and online activities are far preferable.

That said, It's no secret that blogging has had a big effect on my business.

It's also no secret that my business, consulting, training and speaking, was in a trough when I started blogging. I had lost momentum, and momentum in business is critically important. I had been concentrating on family health issues. I suffered from burn out. The Dot Com bust, a couple years overseas, and a string of less than stellar startups also had taken their toll.

Blogging had near immediate results, but blogging and other online strategies should be ONLY PART of a companies marketing and promotion strategy. I also worked on getting mentioned in the press (thanks www.prleads.com), writing books and articles, networking with old colleagues both in person (i.e. drinking beer and coffee with old friends) and over the phone/email, and a lots of other things.

Let's look at the recently released movie "Snakes on a planes." Massive Internet hit, even an Internet phenomenon, yet an offline (i.e. box office/financial) disappointment. Check out wikipedia.

Online World doen't equal Offline World

Blogging and other online strategies are and should be only part of a business's promotion/marketing/whatever strategy. The offline world STILL matters -- hey, we still live there, or at least sleep there.

Oh yes, my business is booming now too! But if you're pleasant and want to pay me, I'm glad to help you out too :)

Comments

[Alfred Thompson]

I'm regularly amazed at the people who seem to think that an online reputation and promotion is enough to get ahead. They fail to see that at some point you have to do work in the real world.

[Ben Yoskovitz]

I think people HOPE the online world is enough, particularly when they see professional bloggers earning a living from it.

I also think it's because things can be so much *easier* in the online world. You can reach a lot of people quickly, and it's a lot easier to email / blog / chat online than it is to meet people face-to-face. People feel very comfortable behind a computer screen so it entices them to focus a lot of energy there...

For most of us, we still pay the bills with "offline gigs" so we can't forget about "old fashioned" networking / meeting people.

[Easton Ellsworth]

Great points, Ted, Alfred, Ben. Even when we're working on the Web, there's a natural tendency to waste time given the sheer immensity of it all. Blogging can only do so much - the smartest businesses will look at blogs simply as tools to put in their toolboxes, but not complete promotion solutions unto themselves.