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January 2007 online newsletter Yes it’s 2007. What better way to ring in the new year than by expanding your company’s online presence, using the Internet as a medium to tear down communications barriers and reach your prospective clients one-on-one? You have a lot to offer. Your services are professional, competitive and your business is slowly emerging as one of the most respected companies in its field. Your customers rave about your ability to both meet and surpass their expectations. So how do you harness that momentum? How can you use it to show all the undecideds out there what you’ve got? The answer may be just a few keystrokes away. It might be time for you to consider launching your own corporate blog. So what is a blog? The word “blog” is a technical term that slowly evolved as computer wizards began combining the words “web” and “log”. Those two words provide an apt description of just what a blog is: it’s a log – or journal, if you will – that is posted on the Web. Those who post blogs (often referred to as “bloggers”) come from various walks of life. Musicians blog about their favorite musical styles. Respected authors blog about the plots of their next bestsellers. Political candidates blog about the policies they hope to enact should the voters swing their way. Blogging has slowly garnered respect as an effective communications tool in recent years. Bloggers like Salaam Pax, an anonymous Baghdad resident who posted real-time accounts of the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, have demonstrated that blogging can be effectively used to provide the reader with critical first-hand information. Quick to recognize the advantages blogging has to offer, businesses have begun to embrace the technology. Companies like Midwest Airlines, McDonald’s, General Motors and Nokia have all launched their own blogs, lauding the many advantages of their products and services. So what can a blog do for your company? The benefits can be summarized in three ways:
Advantage #1: Establishing Notoriety and Expertise Name recognition: it should be a primary goal of any successful marketing campaign. How can prospective clients purchase your services if they don’t even know you exist? The blog can be used as a hook to grab an unsuspecting prospect’s attention. Consider the following example: You’re the president of your own home health care agency and you’re actively seeking new clients. Ann is a 45-year-old housewife who is faced with the uncomfortable prospect of placing her mother in a nursing home. One evening, as Ann surfs the Web to find more information on geriatric care, she inadvertently stumbles into your blog: specifically, an entry in which you criticize a recent piece of legislation that negatively impacts the care of the elderly. Intrigued, Ann scrolls through other entries, each of them containing your own thoughts and musings on other topics related to geriatric care. Impressed with what she sees, Ann comes to regard you as an expert in the field. When she discovers that you own a business that provides in-home caregivers, Ann is only too happy to give you a call. In this case, your blog entries – though not directly related to your business itself – established credibility with Ann. You were able to convey your philosophy, your sense of mission and your compassion for the elderly through your own personal musings. That’s something no simple advertisement could ever do!
Advantage #2: Showing Off Your Products or Services By providing a personalized view of things, a blog can spotlight the unique advantages of a product in a way that is both humane and inspiring. It can be much more effective – and more fun to read – than even a positive newspaper article. Which of these opening lines sounds more interesting? The first line of a newspaper advertisement: The first line of an online blog written by the CEO of ACME, Inc: You probably think the second example was more gripping. Why? It was personal. It offered that firsthand approach, instead of adopting the cold, detached tone of the newspaper advertisement. When you pass ACME flu medication in the pharmacy, you’re much more likely to remember that smiling young mother, rather than the survey.
Advantage #3: Creating a Forum for Communication Perhaps the most significant difference between a blog and a conventional advertisement is the potential for feedback. Most blogs include a section where readers can respond to an entry with their own comments. In many cases the comments must be approved by the blogger before they are posted, thus giving the blogger complete control and enabling her to block any inappropriate or unprofessional posts. This feedback with clients and prospective clients is invaluable: it helps you identify the top selling points of your product, while also showing you areas where the product can improve. More importantly, it gives prospective clients an opportunity to hear from satisfied customers. The discussion doesn’t have to always be focused on the product or service. Some bloggers hold contests, posing a question about the industry and asking readers to comment. A blog for a sporting goods store might ask readers to describe the most amazing hiking experience they’ve ever had. People like to be published. They like to be read. If your site gives them that opportunity, they just may want to come back.
A word to the wise… You’re set. It’s time to take that first step into the blogosphere and write your first blog entry. Grab that keyboard, fill up a mug of roasting hot Columbian coffee and get to work! While you’re at it, remember these simple blogging tips:
For more information on how corecubed can help you create and maintain a blog, visit us online at www.corecubed.com, contact us at 1-800-370-6580, x2 or email us at info@corecubed.com. We can help make your experts invaluable sources to the media, and bring your company the recognition that will help increase your business. Plus, with our integrated approach to marketing, your company can start the process of branding, and PR is a great addition to that process! Happy blogging!
corecubed.com
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