COMMUNICATIONS

A Blogging Marketer!
'…The emergence of blogs in providing low-cost, two-way communications with clients and customers will change the nature of online marketing as we know it. There will be less talking "at" and more talking "with"; less "buy my stuff" and more "how can we better serve your needs?" Marketers will have no choice but to drop the spin and communicate honestly with their customers. Customers won't tolerate anything less…'

This is the view of Andy Bourland, one of the most knowledgeable commentators on the Internet Marketing scene. His article appeared in the Technology Marketing Newsletter. Google, an organisation respected for its Internet savvy, thinks they are going to be important. They recently purchased Pyra, one the leading providing of Blogging facilities. Anita Roddick (founder of Body Shop) has got one, so has Seth Goodwin (author of Permission Marketing) - even Dick Stroud has got one.

So what is a blog, what can you do with them and why are they important to Marketing?

What is a blog?
Blog is the shortened name for a weblog. In the beginning, around 1998, the weblog was a web site that an individual would update with their personal thoughts, observations and web links. Something like an on-line diary the whole world could read.

The widely accepted definition of weblog is 'a web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual and is typically updated daily with content that is likely to reflect the personality of the author'. If you want to see the comprehensive definition of a weblog then look at the article 'what makes a weblog a weblog' (Harvard Law School).

Most people use the term blog, rather than weblog. Not only does it sound more fun but it reduces the confusion with the term 'web log', the report for showing the activity of a web site. During the last 5 years the blog world underwent rapid growth. There are now over half a million active blogs with another 1000 being created every day.

Initially each blog was a hand-crafted web site. Not surprisingly the content tended to be about technical subjects and somewhat geeky. This changed as companies like Pyra, Greymatter and Moveable Type launched blogging services and software that made it possible for the technically-challenged to create and maintain their own blogs. If you need to be convinced how simple it is, go to www.blogger.com and you will have a blog, up and running, within 5 minutes. And, it is free.

The development that propelled the blog from its geeky origins to the attention of the public is the way mainstream media makes use of them as sources of information. An individual who is focusing on a very narrow area of news is very likely to become aware of potential news stories before the traditional media. The unsavoury exploits of politicians, the vagaries of reporting the Israel-Palestine conflict and of course the last Iraq war have created news scoops on blogs that were then reported by the print and TV news services.

The blog software and service providers soon extended their functionality to enable groups of people to contribute their comments to the same blog. This solitary, rather self-indulgent communications tool is now a sophisticated means for groups of people to provide and receive information. At this point I could confuse you all by talking about a couple of other developments that are allied to the blog, the Wiki and RSS. Both of these are relevant to marketing, but I think they can wait for another article.

What can you do with them?
This is like trying to answer 'what can I do with a web site?' Answer, just about anything. As I have already said, most blogs have been used by individuals to tell the world about themselves, their views and observations.

Predictably, the blog is evolving as different groups, both personal and corporate, use it for their own purposes. The Eatonweb portal, a good source of blogs, has over 12,000 listed in different categories. Google has a facility to search its directory by keyword - there are over 300 listed under marketing.

Politicians are using them as a communications tool. Tom Watson (Labour MP) was an early adopter of blogs and has seen his Web visibility rise to become the top of the list when you search Google for the term 'Labour MP'. Eat your heart out Mr. Blair.

I am sure it is the business application of blogs that interests most of the WNIM readers. There are three things that happen when an idea comes of age. First it gets a special name. Business blogs are now known as b-blogs. They get their own discussion group. One has just started on the Adventive Web site. Finally, conferences are held about the subject. The first b-blog conference was held in June this year, hosted by ClickZ.

So let's have a look at how they can be used by marketers.

Why are they important to marketing?
It is still very early days for b-blogs and their marketing applications. That being said, there are obvious ways they can extend a company's communications reach.

Extending the scope of Newsletters. The first reaction to a b-blog is that it will do away with the need for e-newsletters. I think the opposite will occur. Let's take WNIM as an example. At the moment it appears monthly and provides 6-10 fixed length articles. It would be very easy to supplement the newsletter with a series of blogs from the contributing writers. The blogs could provide readers with a regular flow of thinking from the WNIM contributors that would satisfy a very different need to the monthly collection of articles.

Increasing the visibility of the company's specialist knowledge and skills. For many companies it is the skill and reputation of their knowledge experts that provides their competitive edge. They currently gain visibility by conference speaking, authoring 'white papers' and being quoted in the media. The b-blog provides a way for these experts to engage directly and regularly with the company's customers.

Dialogue with customers. We know the power of customers to influence prospective customers. The b-blog that has both customer and company contributors is potentially a very powerful tool. Of course there are potential dangers when you provide a voice for your customers. I guess it depends how confident you are in the positive views of your customers and if you can retain editorial control of the content!

Providing a 'personal voice' for the company. This use of the b-blog is particularly relevant to companies that compete on the excellence of their staff, for example professional services companies. As well as the corporate web site a company can display its professional excellence by also providing a b-blog where its staff can provide the personal commentary. Snark Hunting (produced by branding consultants at Igor International) and Jupiter Research Analysts (produced by the Jupiter Research's market forecasters) show this application in action.

Internal communications. Intranets are great for providing access to a company's information in a structured and hierarchical manner. They are not very good at enabling individuals, or groups of individuals, within the organisation to have their own voice. The b-blog format is ideally suited to this task. In a similar way to the previous point, it provides the company with a means of having a 'personal' as well as a corporate face.

I would like to acknowledge the excellent article by Kathleen Goodwin 'putting b-blogs into action' that first identified some of these applications.

Personal experience
Ten days ago I decided to create a blog to help support my interest in marketing to the 50+ consumer. These personal observations might be of interest to anybody thinking of using a blog.

I decided to take a 'fast start' approach and use one of the leading suppliers of blogging services, blogger.com. Their basic service is free and is easy to use. It is like creating a PowerPoint presentation using a standard template.

Now I have the basic blog I can adapt it and if I want combine it with my Web site.
Google, the owner of the company, has provided a superb feature on its Google Tool bar that enables me to view a web site and to then to 'cut and paste' its contents directly into my blog.

OK, enough about the technical side of things. What are the marketing advantages?
Already the site is the first item on Google for anybody searching on 50plus marketing. I have been able to quickly create a site that displays the interest and knowledge I have in this area of marketing.

I have been able to recruit 10 other people, interested in contributing their input.

I am creating a source of information that will be useful in my consultancy and training activities.

It has already generated leads for potential consultancy assignments.

This has cost me nothing other than my time. I suspect that it would do rather well if I were to calculate the ROI! There is an argument that says that blogs are a transitory phase of web site development. Maybe that is true. There can be no doubt that they are a new channel for communication that is orientated around the individual but with applications for the organisation. Happy blogging.

Links referenced in the article
Anita Roddick
Seth Godin
Dick Stroud
Technology Marketing Newsletter
Pyra (now owned by Google)
Moveable Type
GreyMatter
Weblogs at Harvard Law School
News and Discussion about Business weblogs
Tom Watson (Labour MP)
Eatonweb portal

Google Search only for web logs

Kathleen Goodwin 'putting b-blogs into action'

Snark Hunting

Jupiter Research Analyst blogs

About the Author
Dick Stroud is a CIM training course director, specialising in Internet marketing. He also teaches at the London Business School. His consultancy helps companies use technology to improve their marketing effectiveness. He can be contacted at dick@internet-strategies.co.uk