MAKING
BLOGS WORK
BLOGGING IS HOT!
By Phil Becker, Managing Partner, The Venture
Group
Five years
ago, nobody knew what web logging was. Today, there are an estimated
ten-million blog sites and that number is growing by 4,000 daily!
Blogs have influenced a Presidential election, may have cost Dan
Rather his job, and are now beginning to totally redefine the
relationship between companies and their clients. Blogs represent
an intimate, immediate, two-way relationship between a firm and
the rest of the world that has never before been possible.
Mainstream media from Business Week to The Wall Street Journal
have done major cover stories about how this new technology is
reshaping the way people and companies use the Internet. Impact!,
the Software Council's Marketing SIG, is devoting their September
meeting to examining how leading companies are starting to integrate
blogging into their marketing mix.
While many people create or read blogs, the blogging phenomenon
is so new that we are just beginning to understand how to use
them as marketing tools. There are firms that are already using
blogs effectively to drive sales and maintain valuable customer
relationships. Conversely, blogs can also be a weapon that could
destroy your brand or your entire company, and you may not even
know about it until it's too late.
This article briefly examines what a blog is and suggests ways
it could be used by both large and small companies. In addition,
while blogging as a marketing tool is a very new phenomenon, there
have been enough successful (and some remarkably unsuccessful)
uses, that we can produce some guidelines to follow if you want
to increase your chance for success.
So, What Is A Blog?
Blogging is so new that there is no consensus about a definition.
We know that the term "blog" derives from "web
log." The Wall Street Journal defines a blog as a chronological
log of material that is regularly updated, with new entries at
the top. The entries can be about anything. Also, a blog may optionally
permit readers to add their comments to the blog, which changes
the dynamic from a one-way presentation to an almost real-time,
multi-way conversation.
Forrester Research adds that blogs contain numerous two-way links
to other blogs, web sites and files, which greatly expand the
range of information and accessibility of a blog.
Finally, most blogs come "feed-enabled," which makes
it very simple to distribute the blog postings via tools such
as RSS (Real Simple Syndication). This means that blog readers
do not have to make special trips to web sites to read the blog;
instead they can read the headlines that pop up on their PC and
then access the blog with a single click.
What are
My Options?
From a marketer's vantage point, there are several ways to utilize
blogs. The most obvious is to create your own blog, which allows
you to distribute your message directly to your audience. While
this is extraordinary easy and inexpensive to set up, there are
some guidelines to follow in order to assure success, which are
discussed below.
A second approach is to advertise on other organizations' blogs.
The advantages here are that it usually very inexpensive and an
excellent method to reach a very targeted audience. The downside
is that most blogs today have very narrow readership. Only five
blogs appear to have more than 150,000 active readers and the
average blog has less than 150!) In addition, with a blog's facility
to allow readers to comment on the content - including its advertisements
- you really can quickly lose control of the message.
A third technique is to pay bloggers to include your company and
its products in its regular entries. This "paid PR"
is obviously controversial, but has been used successfully by
a number of firms. The secret appears to be that the paying company
must be open in what it is doing, so that the reader des not feel
that they have been tricked or mislead in any way.
Regardless of whether you utilize any of these options, you should
start to monitor closely what other blogs are saying about your
company and your industry. This both gives you clear and timely
feedback of how others perceive your products, and alerts you
to possible attacks by either competitors or others who have a
grudge of some sort against you, which can be extremely damaging.
Remember, blogging information travels very fast, and unlike other
Internet tools such as web pages, blogs tend to linger on the
Internet forever. As Business Week noted, "While you may
be putting it off, you can be that your competitors are exploring
ways to harvest new ideas from blogs, sprinkle ads into them and
yes, find out what you and other competitors are up to."
The traditional search engines such as Google do not track blogs
well, as they change too fast. Instead, consider blog-specific
search engines such as Bloglines, Feedster and PubSub.
How Do I Get Started?
OK, so you have decided to build your corporate blog. Now what?
As mentioned earlier, the tools to build and maintain a blog are
very easy to use, and the cost is minimal -- $40 a month buys
you some of the top facilities; many others are free. However,
before you start, here are a few things to consider:
Know Why You Are Blogging
As with any component of your marketing program, the first decision
is what am I trying to accomplish. Is your goal to find new customers
or maintain existing relationships? Is the objective to enhance
the corporate image or to build loyalty for a specific product?
How does the blog fit in with and support the rest of the organization's
marketing efforts? These are fundamental decisions that will guide
the ensuing implementation and ongoing support of the blog.
Blogging Is Only One Element of a Successful Marketing Program
A successful blog works in concert with other marketing tools,
such as advertising and your web site. Each tool has its specific
strengths and you should use them together to send a single, coherent
message to your audience.
Target Your Audience
As with all marketing tools, you should carefully target your
intended audience, based on what your objective is. Is your blog
aimed at existing customers, with the intent of maintaining a
very close, ongoing relationship, or is it directed at the untapped
marketplace, where the blog can build an initial relationship
with otherwise unreached prospects? A single blog is seldom effective
at reaching and holing disparate targets, so consider having multiple
blogs if you have multiple audiences.
Understand What a Blog Cannot Accomplish
Blogs are not advertisements. Don't focus on praising your company
or its products, or people will soon lose interest and not continue
to return to your blog site. Instead, focus on interesting subjects
that indirectly include your subject. Remember, you are trying
to develop and maintain a positive, on-going relationship with
the reader, not on closing a deal immediately.
Don't Use Personal or Political Blogs as a Model
Blogs originated as vehicles for individuals to express their
views on the Internet. They quickly expanded in scope to become
political tools for local and national campaigns. However, personal
and political blogs tend to take controversial and often adversarial
stances. Obviously, most corporate marketing blogs take a position,
but they aim to be supportive, not adversarial. I do not know
of any marketing managers who are actively looking to get into
debates or disputes with their prospects.
Commit to a Long Timeframe
Blogging is not a one-shot deal. It is more like a newsletter
that establishes a relationship with prospects and customers over
time. Blogs require constant commitment to writing and responding
to customer input over the active life of the company or product
that is the subject of the blog. If you do not keep the blog alive
and current, readership will drop off rapidly. Even worse, an
inactive blog is like a week-old fish in the refrigerator: it
leaves a stale odor that reflects on everything around it.
Therefore, before you start a blog, designate who is responsible
for writing or coordinating it, and be sure that adequate resources
are budgeted for the life of the program. A firm's unwillingness
to commit sufficient resources over a long period is the single
biggest reason that blog programs fail.
In summary, blogging is a brand new tool in the marketeer’s
toolbox. Only about 4% of corporations nationwide are using them
today. Yet, because of their low cost and high impact, they are
clearly a tool of the future, so it is advisable for any marketing-aware
firm to closely evaluate how to utilize this new capability.
More Information
To
see how other companies have already successfully implemented
blogs, please join us at the next Impact! event “An Executive’s
Guide To Blogging Your Way To The Top!” on September 15th
at the Doubletree in Santa Monica, where both individual companies
and advertising agencies will share their real-world experiences
with you. Register
today!
Phil Becker has been in high-tech marketing for more than twenty
years. His firm, The Venture Group, specializes in helping small
to medium sized technical companies develop and implement tightly
focused, yet cost-controlled marketing plans and programs in order
to grow revenues at a rapid and profitable rate. You may contact
Phil at 310-645-4482 or at psbecker@alumni.princeton.edu.
