Comments on: Blogging and Your Marketing Program: A Nice Addition… or a Necessary One?

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By: Maria Elena Duron

Maria Elena Duron — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:17:19 +0000

Scott,
I agree with your post and the reality that many marketers are facing in their business roles.
I also am asked the “why should I blog” question by clients and their board of directors. And, with 4 different generations at play in the workforce – it is often difficult for those who are not “web savvy” to understand the purpose and the presence of blogging.
Seth Godin, author of Permission Based Marketing & Purple Cow, said it best when he said it’s just another form of communication. I agree!
Nowadays, leaving messages on voice mail is considered “having a conversation”. A friend of mine’s 14 year old daughter logged in 3,000 text messages last month and he was shocked. While another friend commented, isn’t that just an electronic form of “note passing” – didn’t you do that as a kid?
Blogging is just another form of communication. If your target client (the clients that give you the most pleasure and profit) are “talking” on-line via emails and posts — then you need to be blogging. If not, you’ve missed a form of communication that will help you be heard and stand out above the competitive clutter.

By: Stephen Denny

Stephen Denny — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:55:05 +0000

Maybe and maybe not. Blogging is only as good as your voice, the strength of your signal, and the conversation it sparks. If your company blog has no comments, isn’t read by anyone, and doesn’t get picked up, it’s not paying for the person/people you have on the payroll who do it all day, every day.
Your CEO wants to spend money to get the best return. Is the cost of a headcount in marketing as good as an investment in operations or manufacturing? What about a second salesperson in the NY Metro area?
What’s the ROI of the blog thing, anyway? If you can’t triangluate a way to get there, don’t pitch it — unless communication is part of your company’s DNA. Companies that tightly control all outbound communications will never blog (successfully); those without a robust strategy to get dialogs started will fail, as well — and all of it costs something.
It’s not good enough to say “everyone must blog” because everyone doesn’t need to.

By: Stephen Denny

Stephen Denny — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:53:42 +0000

By: Debbie Weil

Debbie Weil — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:14:31 +0000

Scott,
Good points all. And a clarification of who a “heavy Web user” might be. Many companies have customers who are online these days, talking about their products on discussion boards, blogs, etc. One example (that, yes, I’m involved with) is GlaxoSmithKline and their new OTC (over-the-counter) weight-loss product, alli. GSK has started an official corporate blog at http://www.alliconnect.com.

By: William

William — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:03:54 +0000

Great post!
I think it’s insinuated here, but if your customers aren’t the types of folks who read and value blogs, blogging probably isn’t worth too much time.
I found out that starting a blog, and asking others to write or contribute to posts, helps everyone understand the business a bit better since we’re speaking directly to the customer.
Thanks for the post!

By: Nat_Nudge

Nat_Nudge — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:03:52 +0000

Good concise post Scott.
It seems to me, if a comapny or brand has an online presence – then it will become a matter of, “a company cannot afford to not have a blog”.

By: Glenn Gow

Glenn Gow — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 00:51:16 +0000

Scott, you make many good points.
My take (and what we consult our clients about) is that you MUST participate in blogging because:
1) Either, someone is blogging about you, and you need to be part of the conversation, or you have NO influence in this medium. Do you want those bloggers to overwhelm the messages you want the market to hear? I don’t think so.
2) Or, no one is blogging about you, in which case you don’t even EXIST in this medium. It’s a huge missed opportunity to create (relatively easy-to-create) valuable content for your target market.
One way to think about this is that many, many target customers don’t distinguish HOW you’ve published information, they just Google about you, and they find out about you through search.
Many, many target customers may not know what a blog is, or how it works, and they may never care. What they care about is gathering information that will help them make a better decision. You need to provide them with that information through all viable methods, including blogging.

By: Mona Piontkowski, Irvine, CA

Mona Piontkowski, Irvine, CA — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:15:48 +0000

Blogging for blogging sake is not always time well spent. How many times have I read through a blog that I thought to be useful only to get to the end and realize all I learned was how to waste my time.
Blogging is an interesting concept – it allows us as marketers to reach our potential clients with useful information and a hint of our corporate personality. It’s really hard in most traditional marketing venues to get across the fervor one feels about one’s product or industry- but blogging offers that opportunity. I’m passionate about continuing education – I think it is vital to our nation’s ability to compete in the world marketplace – but my direct mail piece touting my site SeminarInformation.com can hardly show my or my co-workers passion. How can we tell the world we’ll go the extra mile to provide an answer to client’s question about a particular seminar – only through my blogging about the experience. It gives us “life” beyond our corporate image.

By: Scott Baradell

Scott Baradell — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:49:13 +0000

Thanks, B.L.

By: B.L. Ochman

B.L. Ochman — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:38:38 +0000

Great post Scott! I have talked more companies out of blogging than into it because I agree that blogging needs to address the bottom line.
It’s possible not just to drive traffic to the main site, but also to do business through a blog, and to have advertising revenue from it.
You’re also so right about how you have to talk to CEOs and about how many of them still have their assistant print out their emails.

By: Scott Baradell

Scott Baradell — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:34:41 +0000

Lewis,
Like Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, we’re totally in sync.

By: Lewis Green

Lewis Green — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:11:50 +0000

Scott,
I once was the manager of communications at an energy company, and we would have launched a great blog. But we distributed energy, we didn’t dig it, mine it, or in any other way produce it.
If a major oil company started a blog and could not adequately defend why over the last three decades they haven’t invested in alternative fuels, I think a blog would make their lives miserable.
I think we agree. I just wanted to expand on your excellent post and comments with my own take.

By: Scott Baradell

Scott Baradell — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:49:09 +0000

Lewis,
I was actually just speaking with an energy company the other day about starting a global warming blog — showing some of the things they are doing to help the environment. If the talk is backed up by action, a blog like that can be a great idea.
Unfortunately, in the case of Exxon, their position toward global warming has been deplorable.

By: Lewis Green

Lewis Green — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:05:32 +0000

Scott,
Your post touches on an important subject. I agree with you and Mack that we have to deliver ROI and part of that is a reduction in marketing research expenses.
Furthermore, not every company needs to blog and some companies should not blog. If I were advising Exxon, for example, I would tell them not to start a blog. No good can come from that, and certainly no ROI.

By: Mack Collier

Mack Collier — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:29:59 +0000

Good stuff Scott. I also think it’s important to stress that blogging gives you a better understanding of your customers, which leads to more efficient (read: cheaper) marketing.
But your main point is very valid, you have to blogging in ‘bottom line dollars’ terms for many companies.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:09:14 +0000

These are good thoughts. We develop web sites for clients and do encourage them to consider blogging. While we realize that blogging in the conventional sense may not be the top priority or even a nessisity right now we are building blogging or at least RSS capability and features into our current projects. A lot of companies may not always have the time to write in-depth thought provoking articles but using “blogging” software can be used to add calendar events, press releases, etc. which is much better than have a static page plus you have the advantage of giving site visitors the option to subscribe to the information via RSS and getting the information in a more timely manner than if they just happened to think about visiting a site. Sometimes I think the term blog is often being used in the wrong ways or misunderstood. I guess you can say I am a little more concerned that clients take advantage of “RSS” as opposed to the traditional concept of “blogging.”