Be warned - there is no escaping the BLOG
Ok, so I just had a bad B-movie moment - think the BLOB - "The Blob" is about a huge gunk of alien matter that attacks a small town and destroys everything in its way. Many folks in traditional media are starting to view the blog in a similar vain.
According to a FORTUNE article - "Freewheeling bloggers can boost your product—or destroy it. Either way, they've become a force business can't afford to ignore."
As with any new medium, the boundaries of blogging are being tested. Employers are firing bloggers for writing about their companies and such, rather than learning how to utilize this potentially powerful tool.
While Corporate America scratches its head, savvy marketers are running with the ball. The blog—short for weblog—can indeed be, as Scoble and Gates say, fabulous for relationships. But it can also be much more: a company's worst PR nightmare, its best chance to talk with new and old customers, an ideal way to send out information, and the hardest way to control it. Blogs are challenging the media and changing how people in advertising, marketing, and public relations do their jobs.
Smart companies like Microsoft are working to figure out how to work with the blogging world. But many others companies are simply ignoring it. I will argue this is the "bury your head in the sand" approach.
While you sit back to wait for the proverbial blog dust to settle - your competitor maybe taking the time to figure it out. As blogs become more mainstream; you will be that much further behind in the learning curve. Don't get me wrong - this isn’t going to be a slam dunk. It's getting pretty crowded out there. According to blog search-engine and measurement firm Technorati, 23,000 new weblogs are created every day—or about one every three seconds. What does that mean to you? As with any other business venture you will need to find a means to differentiate yourself from the pack.
So before you launch blog #23,001 - remember the basics: Who is your customer? What do they want from you? How is this tool going to address that need?
According to a FORTUNE article - "Freewheeling bloggers can boost your product—or destroy it. Either way, they've become a force business can't afford to ignore."
As with any new medium, the boundaries of blogging are being tested. Employers are firing bloggers for writing about their companies and such, rather than learning how to utilize this potentially powerful tool.
While Corporate America scratches its head, savvy marketers are running with the ball. The blog—short for weblog—can indeed be, as Scoble and Gates say, fabulous for relationships. But it can also be much more: a company's worst PR nightmare, its best chance to talk with new and old customers, an ideal way to send out information, and the hardest way to control it. Blogs are challenging the media and changing how people in advertising, marketing, and public relations do their jobs.
Smart companies like Microsoft are working to figure out how to work with the blogging world. But many others companies are simply ignoring it. I will argue this is the "bury your head in the sand" approach.
While you sit back to wait for the proverbial blog dust to settle - your competitor maybe taking the time to figure it out. As blogs become more mainstream; you will be that much further behind in the learning curve. Don't get me wrong - this isn’t going to be a slam dunk. It's getting pretty crowded out there. According to blog search-engine and measurement firm Technorati, 23,000 new weblogs are created every day—or about one every three seconds. What does that mean to you? As with any other business venture you will need to find a means to differentiate yourself from the pack.
So before you launch blog #23,001 - remember the basics: Who is your customer? What do they want from you? How is this tool going to address that need?
posted by Mike Doherty at
5:48 PM
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