The small business blog is a project that will give small businesses a voice in the community. Small businesses in Brooklyn have no outlet to tell the community about their business. In a day and age where big corporations are taking over the market industry, small businesses must fight to survive. People usually choose the big corporate businesses because they can provide a vast amount of products that a small business cannot. Prices are also usually cheaper in the big corporation than a small business.
The blog will allow owners to market themselves to the public in order to give them a small chance of competing against these big corporations. With such rich history, the blog will cover small businesses in Brooklyn. Brooklyn has many small businesses that have been around for decades in many different neighborhoods with an abundance of history.
The audeience of this blog is for people who live in Brooklyn who are proud of their home. Many Brooklyn residents are unaware of the histories of the small businesses in their neighborhoods. With this blog, they will discover the many small businesses and will actually be able to visit the businesses. The other target audience for this blog will be people who are not from Brooklyn. Often people form a harsh preconception about Brooklyn before they even enter the borough. The blog will provide them with businesses that have been around for a long time to provide them with history.
There is a need for this blog because small businesses owners are continuously losing their business because of big corporations. Small businesses cannot compete with the big corporations that draw all the customers away. Newly opened Coffee Lab in Bay Ridge must draw in their customers to make enough money to stay open. They struggle to keep customers since there is a Starbucks and Dunkin’ donuts a couple of blocks away. Another business Aloha Grinds closed a couple of years ago because they did not have enough money to pay the lease. Aloha Grinds was a Hawaiian styled café. Even though they served food on top of their coffee, they could not make enough money to stay open. They did not have enough customers.
I will be creative in how I write my stories, seeking out the most interesting businesses. I want to find the small businesses that have been around for the longest times and share with the community about their stories. I intend to find small ma-and-pa shops that will allow me to share their story and interview them. The blog posts will go further than simply talking about the current situation of the business. I intend to talk about the business in the most successful time and plan to get every detail that I can. Some question that I’ll like to find the answer to are Why did they start the business in the first place, and How do they still stay open now?
I plan to attract my readers by finding different small businesses. I plan to post a different business each time that will cover many different businesses. For example, I may find a business that is all about sports which will attract sports fans. I may also find small restaurants with great food that will attract people who like to eat. I may also find a small bar that will attract people who enjoy alcohol and the social life. I plan to give my readers a taste of a little bit of everything. There are so many different types of businesses out there and I would be doing my readers a disservice if I did not give them many different options.
Competitive Analysis
News coverage of small businesses from major newspaper, The New York Times already exists. The goal of You’re the Boss blog by The New York Times is geared towards other business owners. Their blogs creates an atmosphere that other business owners can get news, ask questions and learn from one another mistakes. People in the community need a blog that is focused on getting them interesting information about businesses that they would want to go to.
The Huffington Post has many small business blogs but none share the goal of my blog. Most of their blogs are about new small businesses that have just opened and are successful. I want to find businesses that have been around for a long time.
Another blog worth noting is BusinessWeek’s The New Entrepreneur. This blog covers the news, trends and ideas that matter to entrepreneur. This blog covers heavily on what is new and interesting to entrepreneur. They do not target old businesses that have been there for a long time.
I believe there is a great need for this blog because there is an audience for it. There are other small business owners and people that look to support small businesses in their community. I plan to cover the void of a blog that focuses on old small businesses.
Editorial Plan
Types of content:
My plan is to write a featured story on each business that I decide to write about. I think that I should include as much detail about the business as I can in my blog post. My articles will range anywhere from 500 words to 1000 words. The content will be a brief history of the business, how the business is doing now, and the significance of the business. There will be a lot of quotes in my articles from the business owners if they allow me to interview them and a lot of quotes from customers of the business.
Number of updates:
I plan to update the blog once a week. Each blog post will consist of one article. I believe that it will take time for me to conduct the interviews that I need for my articles. I will also need the time to write the articles for the readers. I plan to have at least 14 articles by the end of the semester.
Time to create post:
It will take me approximately 2 hours to conduct an interview. Then it will take me another 2-3 hours to create the article.
Multimedia:
I will include 1-2 photos per blog post. I think that if I include too many photos it will distract the viewer away from the content of the writing. I want the writing to be the strength of the blog.
Possible interviews:
-Arlene Rutuelo- Owner of Nordic Delicacies