Blogs: You'll love the marketing potential
By Jim Fisher, President of IdeaStar Inc.
The Internet revolution is responsible for two of the dumbest
names in business. The first is the "Web." Try telling your
grandmother what you do for a living with that name. The next is
the "blog." Most people have heard about blogs (short for Web
logs). There are millions of them - most with little commercial
value, but many with significant social, political or cultural
merit.
However, that is changing. The business community is beginning
to embrace blogs for their marketing and commercial potential.
Business blogs that are well-written, focused on topics relevant
to customers, employees, and interest groups are becoming the
new company "voice."
Blogs offer a new way to communicate with clients, potential
clients, and any interested parties. Popular forms of business
communication include press releases, newsletters and
e-newsletters, Web sites and mailings. But these are all one-way
communications. Blogs offer the opportunity to interact and
create a dialogue about a product or service.
Recently, e-mail newsletters helped "push" a business message to
an "opt-in" audience. But spam filters, which battle increased
junk e-mailings, may prevent a message from reaching its
intended target. Today, people come directly to blogs for
information. There is a twist. They subscribe to RSS (Real
Simple Syndication) feeds, which notify a subscriber's news
aggregator (like Bloglines) that the blog has new posts.
Business blogs can be simple, light-hearted stories,
straightforward informational articles or brief commentaries
about news and issues. Each opens an opportunity for discussion
about your product or service.
Blogs also serve as sources for journalists who cover particular
markets, such as insurance, the automotive industry, or consumer
goods. Using blog aggregators, they can track your blog and
quickly browse your posts for story ideas. Wouldn't it be great
to get a call from the Wall Street Journal for your expert
opinion? More and more, journalists are finding the uninhibited,
self-expression of blog writers as better sources than the
hand-picked and prepped "experts" provided by public relations
agencies.
I've become a blog "evangelist" at IdeaStar, encouraging the
creation of two new blogs - IdeaStar: The Flipside and
InsuraTech. The "voice" of a blog is very important - who is
speaking and what is the message? We decided the "voice" for the
IdeaStar blog should be in the third person reporting on the
humorous, quirky and personal side of our company. Through the
blog, our clients, prospects and business associates can get to
know us personally. This is important for service companies like
IdeaStar. We leave the more formal stuff for our Web site and
e-newsletter.
The other blog, InsuraTech, is written in the first person. Mike
Wise, IdeaStar Vice President of Insurance Technologies,
presents his thoughts, real-world observations, and examples -
good and bad - regarding the use of Internet technology in the
insurance industry. IdeaStar built a national reputation in the
insurance community for its excellence in Web-enabling services.
The blog helps to establish Mike as an expert and opinion
leader. As the number of posts grow, we expect a dialogue to
begin within the market.
I began my own blog in earnest over a year ago. It is a personal
blog. I post photography, reviews of music or gadgets, and some
social commentary. But most important, my blog serves as a way
for me to understand this new tool from a user's perspective.
For example, I posted some pictures I took of the Cleveland
Cavaliers. As usual, I captioned each shot, including one of
Lebron James. That particular photo was captioned, "This would
make a great wallpaper." Within a couple days, my blog was in
the top ten on Google for Lebron James wallpaper. That is
fantastic from a marketer's perspective. (But not from a
personal one. I took the picture down the next day.)
Like the Internet itself 10 years ago, blogs are here to stay.
Figuring out how to produce an effective blog takes practice. It
is better to get your hands around this new technology now and
see what it does rather than wait. If you don't there will be
the next climatic technology revolution with a silly name for us
to learn.
About the author:
Jim Fisher is president of IdeaStar, Inc. which designs,
develops, manages and promotes leading-edge Web sites.
http://www.ideastar.com http://www.insurance-technologies.com
http://wazopia.blogspot.com http://ideastar.blogspot.com
http://insuratech.blogsot.com
The Internet revolution is responsible for two of the dumbest
names in business. The first is the "Web." Try telling your
grandmother what you do for a living with that name. The next is
the "blog." Most people have heard about blogs (short for Web
logs). There are millions of them - most with little commercial
value, but many with significant social, political or cultural
merit.
However, that is changing. The business community is beginning
to embrace blogs for their marketing and commercial potential.
Business blogs that are well-written, focused on topics relevant
to customers, employees, and interest groups are becoming the
new company "voice."
Blogs offer a new way to communicate with clients, potential
clients, and any interested parties. Popular forms of business
communication include press releases, newsletters and
e-newsletters, Web sites and mailings. But these are all one-way
communications. Blogs offer the opportunity to interact and
create a dialogue about a product or service.
Recently, e-mail newsletters helped "push" a business message to
an "opt-in" audience. But spam filters, which battle increased
junk e-mailings, may prevent a message from reaching its
intended target. Today, people come directly to blogs for
information. There is a twist. They subscribe to RSS (Real
Simple Syndication) feeds, which notify a subscriber's news
aggregator (like Bloglines) that the blog has new posts.
Business blogs can be simple, light-hearted stories,
straightforward informational articles or brief commentaries
about news and issues. Each opens an opportunity for discussion
about your product or service.
Blogs also serve as sources for journalists who cover particular
markets, such as insurance, the automotive industry, or consumer
goods. Using blog aggregators, they can track your blog and
quickly browse your posts for story ideas. Wouldn't it be great
to get a call from the Wall Street Journal for your expert
opinion? More and more, journalists are finding the uninhibited,
self-expression of blog writers as better sources than the
hand-picked and prepped "experts" provided by public relations
agencies.
I've become a blog "evangelist" at IdeaStar, encouraging the
creation of two new blogs - IdeaStar: The Flipside and
InsuraTech. The "voice" of a blog is very important - who is
speaking and what is the message? We decided the "voice" for the
IdeaStar blog should be in the third person reporting on the
humorous, quirky and personal side of our company. Through the
blog, our clients, prospects and business associates can get to
know us personally. This is important for service companies like
IdeaStar. We leave the more formal stuff for our Web site and
e-newsletter.
The other blog, InsuraTech, is written in the first person. Mike
Wise, IdeaStar Vice President of Insurance Technologies,
presents his thoughts, real-world observations, and examples -
good and bad - regarding the use of Internet technology in the
insurance industry. IdeaStar built a national reputation in the
insurance community for its excellence in Web-enabling services.
The blog helps to establish Mike as an expert and opinion
leader. As the number of posts grow, we expect a dialogue to
begin within the market.
I began my own blog in earnest over a year ago. It is a personal
blog. I post photography, reviews of music or gadgets, and some
social commentary. But most important, my blog serves as a way
for me to understand this new tool from a user's perspective.
For example, I posted some pictures I took of the Cleveland
Cavaliers. As usual, I captioned each shot, including one of
Lebron James. That particular photo was captioned, "This would
make a great wallpaper." Within a couple days, my blog was in
the top ten on Google for Lebron James wallpaper. That is
fantastic from a marketer's perspective. (But not from a
personal one. I took the picture down the next day.)
Like the Internet itself 10 years ago, blogs are here to stay.
Figuring out how to produce an effective blog takes practice. It
is better to get your hands around this new technology now and
see what it does rather than wait. If you don't there will be
the next climatic technology revolution with a silly name for us
to learn.
About the author:
Jim Fisher is president of IdeaStar, Inc. which designs,
develops, manages and promotes leading-edge Web sites.
http://www.ideastar.com http://www.insurance-technologies.com
http://wazopia.blogspot.com http://ideastar.blogspot.com
http://insuratech.blogsot.com
posted by Nabil Chaouche at 5:21 AM
<< Home