When it comes to "blogs as marketing tool for small business," I have to admit that I don't really understand what all the excitement is about.
As a journalistic alternative to the media powers that be? Absolutely. As a neat way to hear what's on the minds of industry gurus from Seth Godin to Mark Cuban to Tom Peters? I'm on board. But marketing tool for small business? I remain unconvinced. I guess you could say I'm a blognostic.
Granted, I'm an E-Newsletter consultant, so I may just be so enamored of my old approach that I'm blind to this new one. That said, here's my problem with blogs:
In terms of what I'm told they offer -- puts a human face on the company; allows two-way interaction with the customer; easily published without needing a web master by your side -- I've already got all that with an E-Newsletter. What's the blog incremental value?
On the down side, one thing keep gnawing at me: getting around to it. I work with my clients to help them publish one newsletter each month. It's only because we have an absolute, inflexible publication schedule that I can get them to take time away from their full time jobs as attorneys, financial planners, recruiters, etc., and write something. As a group, these people dislike writing almost as much as they dislike marketing, and it's the once a month schedule that provides the necessary framework. If instead they had the "freedom" to drop in and post a thought whenever it came to them, I'm not sure it would ever happen past the first couple of posts.
So that's where I'm at with blogs -- waiting for the big "a-ha." Right now, I think of them the way I do chain saws: cool technology, I'm just not sure I need one.
Learn more about Michael Katz.
Your down side is my salvation. A blog lets me write a bit at a time and get it out there immediately. I would dread having to stop everything and cough up a coherent e-newsletter every month.
It can also be argued that a blog offers more immediate and open two-way interaction than an e-newsletter does. The reader of a blog can usually make a comment that's immediately published to all other blog readers. The reader of an e-newsletter can only write the equivalent of a letter to the editor, which may or may not appear in public.
Supposedly, another advantage a blog has over an e-newsletter is that search engines love blogs. However, I'm not convinced that lots of good prospects surf in to a blog. For example, my blog is about using an authentic voice in business writing, yet my visitors are people who have searched on terms like "devil voice," "dumb British people," and "cherry pitter."
Posted by: Cathy Moore | March 10, 2005 at 05:59 PM