Lewis, trust you to ask the question that no-one wants to hear!

OK ... my 2 cents ... the only companies that NEED to blog are those who are interested in developing a community around their brand, their services or products. And I am not saying that ALL companies do need to.

I am sure that there could be some econometric equation that links the size of a community to the elasticity of demand for a particular company's products/services. For those companies where community engagement closely correlated to propensity to purchase, then you would be crazy NOT to blog.

But, for those companies/brands where community is unimportant, or does not connect to a business model, then blogging could, at best, be considered "outreach". Having said this, should a blogging culture be fostered within a company, and some employees decide to take up the blogging challenge (a la Scoble) and do so in their own time, then that is a different question (one of process/guidelines over ROI).

I am looking forward to more commentary!

There's been some very good research done on this topic, particularly coming out of Forrester. The ROI of Blogging by Charlene Li and Chloe Stromberg (24 Jan 2007) discusses the issue in detail, although you'll need to pay to read it all.

Without (illegally) reprinting it here, the authors suggest the ROI can be determined by developing a model evaluating three key areas:

* Identify Benefits - such as increased brand visibility, savings on customer insight, reduced impact from negative UGC and increased sales efficiency

* Identify costs - incl. start-up costs (strategy, planning, etc) and recurring costs (monitoring, producing, responding and reading).

* Identify risks - think of the top three to five worst things that could happen (lawsuits, overwhelming consumer response, etc) and assign each a percentage of probability.

Calculate the benefits and costs across the three to five risk scenarios and that gives you a risk-adjusted ROI. Voila!

Lewis: very valid question. I'd approach it this way. At best, you're building your brand, engaging in meaningful dialog, and leading potential (and current) clients in their thought processes. Point a current or future customer to a blog post that animates a problem they're facing and you're likely to move forward faster than without the "visual aid" your blog provides.

At very worst, you're networking -- meeting people all over the world who probably know you better by reading your thoughts than many who sat in the next cubicle could.

Either way, you're benefiting so long as you're writing compelling content that pushes the conversation along. Start writing "today, I'm bored" posts and you'll lose on both fronts.

As a consultant, I see blogging as a way of establishing my credibility and increasing the odds of finding new clients. I can't tell you the exact ROI, but I have been contacted by quite a number of people who have found me through the blog and liked what they read enough to decide that my expertise and style matched what they were looking for. I think of it as providing a "free sample" of my work to set myself apart from other consultants in my niche (among all the other benefits you listed). And my hope is that when my readers decide they need to hire a social marketing consultant, they will come to me first because they already "know" me. When you have a book to promote, it also helps to have that ready-made community of people who like your writing.

Lew is one hot ticket! Besides building community, easy web publishing Solution, higher search engine ranking, lower costs, better communications and plugging products (all topics Lew knows well and talks about a lot) blogging is an excellent forum for letting clients and prospects really know your point of view. Turn your point-of-view into a marketing tool. Six month to a year before a change is made lots of companies search on the Internet. Using Lew’s strategies you can capture the attention of these pre-prospects and build a relationship with them, and you’ll have an inside track to representing them... all from publishing YOUR POINT-OF-VIEW!

Thanks everyone. Great comments all.

Agree with the author and some of the posters. The main purpose is smart business development, exhibiting your market knowledge and expertise. Also shows you don't just talk the talk, you walk the walk with some elements of new media.

Having said that, my PR firm does b2b and b2g, so understanding the business verticals and objectives of clients is more important than the latest social media tactics and technology.

I also read the Forrester ROI report mentioned above. It's a good attempt at a conceptual framework but to me seems to me awfully similar to old ad equivalency model for demonstrating value of media placements, and sharing the same drawback. You're comparing two very different things, and usually doing it just to show value to internal decision-makers.

Chris,
You are correct about the Forrester report; however, it represents a good first start.

Gavin,
I agree: A retail company should benefit directly, whereas an airplane parts manufacturer should probably skip blogging.

David,
For consulting firms such as mine, this is the reason I keep blogging: "Identify Benefits - such as increased brand visibility, savings on customer insight, reduced impact from negative UGC and increased sales efficiency."

Nedra,
It is great that potential clients are finding your blog. So far, and my blog is only 6 months old, I think I am preaching to the choir. But word of mouth takes time, and I will begin measuring ROI in terms of paying customers at the end of one year and then every quarter thereafter.

Vincent,
You the Man! (Inside information: Vincent was my best man 32 years ago when I married my beautiful wife. Today, he is a marketer extraordinaire and remains a good friend.)

I'm going to come at this from a slightly different angle. I'm a marketer but currently don't have a blog. I don't need to do self-promotion right now because I work for a company (so I'm not trying to attract clients).

However, I do read blogs. I check out lots of blogs and make my decisions to stick with blogs on a couple of criteria.

1. Original content -- In my opinion this is the most valuable assest that a blog can have. While there is certainly value in joining the blog-community conversations on topics, it's more important to have something of your own to say.

With the proliferation of the blogosphere, information has become a commidity. You can get inside information on nearly any topic. Being an aggregator of that information works for non-personal sites (technorati) but a blogger needs to be a content creator.

2. Has a voice. How you present your content is just as important as what you have to say. (I mean, we are marketers right.) Voice is a subjective quality that some people will like and some people won't. But, putting your voice into your blog will capture more attention than trying to be neutral. Plus, as mentioned above, it's ~your~ blog, so treat it that way.

3. Links to real people. Not being a blogger myself, I'm probably a little jaded on this point. I read plenty of blog (even find new bloggers getting started) that link to the same top 10 list of "OMG you have to read this". Yes, I know I have to read it, I'm already reading it. Please link around to other people who are writing strong, original content regardless of their level in the blog heirarchy.

So, from the reader perspective, that's what I think will help make (or keep) you successful.