Blogging

Blogs still remain unidentified territory for many corporate marketing departments — as well they should. In today’s blog mania, the medium’s strongest assets are getting lost amongst a wave of marketing hype.

A media dream and nightmare all in one, blogs provide some of the most timely communication on the Internet. Those with comment options or obvious "contact me" links are an open forum for feedback and they can help foster in-depth and personal relationships with your real consumers, if they’re used effectively. However, the surge of blogs as personal opinion journals, blogs as lead generation tactics and blogs without relevant information has left marketing gurus struggling to find a niche for these web-based business-to-consumer touchpoints.

So what to do? First of all, do not employ a blog to attract customers to your site or product/service. Nine times out of ten it will be ineffective. Do employ a blog to communicate with your current customers. Give them a place to respond, ask questions, share experiences. In doing this, you will foster the personal relationships that every marketer salivates for.

Next, do not make promises you cannot keep. If you tell your customers that they can expect feedback to their questions within 24 hours, make sure they get feedback within 24 hours. Otherwise that personal relationship you’re after will turn into something ugly indeed, with customer defecting with a negative impression to tell all their friends.

And its not just your own corporate blog that can be utilized. Advertising is expanding into RSS feeds, a move that will be huge once you figure out which blogs your target market is subscribing to. How to find out? Ask your current customers.

In time, bandwagon marketers will learn that corporate blog success cannot be measured in leads and clickthroughs, but in relationship building and brand loyalty. And that kind of success isn’t the type to fade with the hype.