Business Benefit of Blogs

bluepenguin
Member

Posted 09-Apr-2003 01:00 PM
I'm reading and hearing a lot about blogs, but frankly i have not figured out what the business use of these might be, particularly for a small company. Can anybody tell me how these have been helpful for marketing or customer service in particular?

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Jim Sterne
Guru
Member
Picture of Jim Sterne

Posted 18-Apr-2003 08:08 AM
I'm still scratching my head about Blogs. Let's break it down into a handful of areas:

Ego
Audience
Effort
Visibility
Value

Ego
I've written a mostly monthly newsletter for several years and I enjoy the heck out of it. It's an opportunity for me to spout off about whatever I like. I have 5,000 subscribers, so being careful about what I say and trying to say it in an entertaining way is paying off. It's fun. It's an ego boost. I could write a blog instead, but I have a feeling people are more willing to receive my occasional emails than remember to come to my site daily/weekly/monthly to see what I'm ranting about today.

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Audience
The bloggers who really attract a crowd are either well known to start with (Dave Barry—a syndicated columnist) or write about an area of special interest (Doc Searls—Linux) and thereby garner a large readership. If you're looking for the business of a blog, first think about how you are going to attract an audience. Why on earth would I go to a corporate Web site and read the musings of some marketing communications person??

Effort
Blogging is hard work. You have to keep at it. You have to be dedicated. It requires an expenditure of resources.

Visibility
For the time being, blogs generate a lot of interest from search engines. A lot of that has to do with their link-filled nature and the habit of bloggers to frequently reference each other. Many links to a particular page cause the search engines to sit up and take notice. So a healthy blog can rank very high in the search engines very quickly. If Doc Searls talks about Linux a lot, then his blog *is* a good resource for Linux info hunters and therefore a good site to get top billing. Why he's always number 2 or 3 in Google when you search for "Doc" is a conundrum and a reason why the search engines may change their algorithms someday to discount blogs. Time will tell.

Value
So, back to Bluepenguin's question: How have these been helpful for marketing or customer service in particular?

They are helpful in keeping a line of communication open to a subject-matter community and they are helpful in improving one's online visibility. But are they worth it?

If you are not a journalist by trade, you'll find that maintaining a blog for months and months is very time consuming. You'll find that a blog will help raise your stature in your subject-matter community to that of pundit or observer or visionary if you're really good.

If your ego is of a certain size... if your writing skills are good... if your desire to bear witness to a certain segment of the market and wish to lay down a daily history of events for all to see... go for it!!

I think I'll stick with a mostly monthly newsletter.

Jim Sterne
Target Marketing www.targeting.com
www.emetrics.org/summit603

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Marco Deveglia—CRM Group
Member
Picture of Marco Deveglia—CRM Group

Posted 21-Apr-2003 06:14 PM
I'm too wondering if this blog thing is for real, expecially as a marketing tool (as a ego feeder it's a great one).

On my website I ran a poll asking my visitors "Would you like to discuss about CRM?". I offered website forum, mailing list and weblog as options. Here are the statistics:

1.) Yes, with a forum on this site 44%
2.) Yes, with a mailing list 47%
3.) No, I'm not interested in discussing 7%
4.) Yes, with a weblog! 2%

(Total answers: 167)

I'm the first to admit this isn't representative of *any* universe. However, the weblog as an option for discussion didn't go very well among my website visitors.

Some months ago I was thinking of abandoning my email newsletter for a weblog. Today I changed my mind: email beats blogs hands down, in my opinion, as a marketing device.

On the other hand, I'm teaching my 8 year old son to use a blog for his own website: this tool beats any FrontPage or template tool for personal websites.
And definitely, having your own blog remains the current "sexy" online tool. Like "Would you like to come to my home and see my blog?"

Marco Deveglia

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CRM Group
The CRM Pros of Italy
+39 02-36557682 [direct]
+39-328-3651907 [mobile]
http://www.crmgroup.it
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Via Galeno, 21
20126 Milan MI
Italy

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Carol Smalley
Managing Editor, CRMGuru
Member

Posted 04-Jul-2003 06:04 AM
The about.com family of sites has blog information online that might be of interest to those in the CRMGuru community that are considering a blog, are questioning the value of a blog, or simply want to know how to do it.

Frequently Asked Questions about Blogs

Good luck!
Carol

P.S. They also have an entrepreneur page and now a marketing page. Check them out!

Carol Parenzan Smalley
Managing Editor
www.CRMGuru.com
carol@CRMGuru.com

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Geri Griggs
Member

Posted 30-Oct-2003 07:19 PM
The best definition I can give for a "Blog" is a "Web-Log" Blog posts are like instant messages to the web.

Many blogs are personal, "what's on my mind" type musings. Others are collaborative efforts based on a specific topic or area of mutual interest. Some blogs are for play. Some are for work. Some are both.

A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically—like a what's new page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly—from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction.

Blogs to me are "cutesy" and not something I would recommend for a business professional.

Respectfully,
Geri Griggs
A 24 Hour Premium Realtor
http://www.JustGeri.com
geri@justgeri.com

geri@JustGeri.com

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Rick Cooper
Member
Picture of Rick Cooper

Posted 06-Oct-2004 09:33 AM
Blogs are not an effective marketing tool for most small businesses. They are time-consuming and become an end in themselves rather than a means to an end. You must have a talent for writing and the ability to clearly articulate ideas.

To create an effective blog, decide on a topic and stay on message. The purpose is to establish yourself as an expert, not to promote yourself or your company. Any promotion should be secondary to the purpose of contributing valuable information. Blogs can help drive traffic to your website.

The media should fit the audience. If your intended audience is unlikely to read a blog, then don't bother. Identify whether your industry is static or dynamic. Dynamic industries such as software development require a constant stream of ideas to help identify needs and trends. Further, are you in a position to communicate information about your topic that will actually benefit your audience.

It is possible to create an effective business blog. I would recommend reviewing the blog from Sales Process Diva, Lori Richardson. Her blog is timely and informative. Successful blogs stay on topic.

http://loririchardson.typepad.com/salesprocessdiva/

For more information on how to create a business blog, visit Andy Wibbels site.

http://easybakeweblogs.com/

You're sure to glean some insights in how to develop an effective business blog if you decide it makes sense.

Blogs will continue to be woven into the fabric of the internet. Technologies including RSS allow people to subscribe to a blog and read it like an email. For further details, check out Bloglines, a comprehensive, integrated service for searching, subscribing, publishing and sharing news feeds, blogs, and rich Web content.

http://www.bloglines.com

As Jim Sterne suggested, consider a newsletter first. Blogs should be updated daily, while newsletters can be issued monthly or even quarterly. That gives you more time to craft a targeted message. If in doubt, consult a marketing communications expert who can help you refine your marketing strategy and identify the most effective means to communicate with customers and prospects. A list of experts is available through the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC).

http://www.imcusa.org/

Good luck and happy blogging!

Rick Cooper
Partner
Power Marketing
800-677-6708
rickc@powermarketingworld.com
www.powermarketingworld.com
www.saleslookasp.com
Stop Selling. Start Solving.

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Christopher Carfi—Cerado, Inc.
Member

Posted 09-Oct-2004 12:30 PM
My, how things evolve. Over the past 18 months in particular (i.e. the life of this thread), blogs have started to move from the early adopter/"what the heck is it?" stage to an increasingly important part of the marketing strategy for many companies. As discussed here, there are a number of applications for blogs in the sales force automation, marketing, and customer service space.

Rick, I have mixed responses to your post. I agree with nearly all of the points you make regarding blogs, but take issue with the following two statements:

Granted, blogs can become time-consuming and an "end in themselves" if you let them. But if a small business owner lacks "the ability to clearly articulate ideas," perhaps there are more fundamental issues at work.

Yes, blogs should be updated frequently—daily is an aggressive goal, but some of the best blogs out there are updated only once or twice a week. Like other communications channels, freshness and recency are key.

The primary issues with relying solely on a monthly or quarterly newsletter are spam filters
"mind share."

Many email newsletters are now trapped by spam filters, and never delivered at all. And, especially when initiating a relationship with new customers, interacting with them on only a monthly or quarterly basis may not be frequently enough. They will be inundated with a great amount of "noise" and many messages from your competitors in between those monthly and quarterly interactions. A more frequent communication may be required. In order to do so, blogs and emerging tools such as RSS feeds may be things to consider.

Christopher Carfi
www.cerado.com