Does the rise of blogs have any relevance to business? Do blogs represent a marketing vehicle for my company? Are they a challenge to the status quo? Should your company start a blog? These are some of the questions that Susannah Gardner, the author of Buzz Marketing for Dummies spoke about at the Canada West Coast Chapter November meeting. The meeting was co-sponsored by the High-Tech Communicators’ Exchange.
Susannah began her talk with a worst-case scenario. West Elm, a mail-order company specializing in inexpensive but stylish furniture and home wares, was mentioned in a posting in the blog, http://www.apartmenttherapy.com. A customer was bemoaning their experience with one of West Elm’s beds. There were more than a hundred comments on this posting in a month, many of them highly unflattering to the company. The lesson here is that if you don’t at least pay attention to the “blogosphere,” you’ll get bitten, perhaps badly.
With that embarrassing scenario out of the way, Susannah switched to speaking about the potential benefits of blogs for your business. Blogs offer a direct mode of communication with your current and potential customers. Consumers no longer trust traditional advertising; they don’t believe claims and aren’t moved to change their opinion about a company or its offerings through a traditional ad.
Since blogs began as personal diaries where writers opened up about their more private lives and were honest with their readers, the style of writing, as well as an expectation of honesty, can help businesses get over the hurdles that current cynicism may place in the way. Furthermore, business blogs can create a conversation between a company and its customers, providing information, getting feedback, and potentially changing public opinion.
The key point of her talk included 10 key benefits of blogging for business. Susannah has included them as part of the slides on her talk (on her blog about buzz marketing, of course), available at http://www.buzzmarketingwithblogs.com.
Susannah offered key pieces of advice to companies looking to start a blog: Don’t do it simply because it’s easy (and fun); do have a plan; contemplate your core message; determine who’s going to write it and what your company policy and posting guidelines will be; and consider how to market it and how you’ll track it. Finally, don’t start a blog if your company culture is not comfortable with lack of control.
