Blogs For Business
Blogs for business is a topic that can stir up a great deal of debate. Blog marketing has proven itself to be a substantial revenue earner when implemented with a well thought out campaign that consists, typically, a fusion of both old and new media. There are, however, some companies who continue to sit on the sidelines.
Business Blogging and Flame Wars
SearchCIO.com quotes Forrester analyst, G. Oliver Young:
“Strategic decision makers see adoption of blogs in the consumer world and they see the chaos that goes on,” said G. Oliver Young, a Forrester analyst. “They see the flame wars and so forth, and they question the validity of its business value.”
It’s business value, one might suggest, is in the handling of those “flame wars”. It is no different than putting out fires off line. Product failures occur. Unjustified lawsuits gain traction with the media. A disgruntled customer can start a website dedicated to badmouthing your company on their own and if you are not participating in the online conversation, you’ll simply be flamed without your knowledge. Where is damage control then?
Damage control is damage control. The distinct advantage obtained with a web presence is that damage control is executed where all can observe. Handled well, it is this transparent process that the “flamed” company can benefit from. The repository of stories about “flame wars” that ultimately benefited all parties are growing.
Business Bloggers Follow the Money
One cannot avoid the continually emerging data describing the sea change in how marketing is approached, nor the plight of newspapers or print media as the advertising dollar continues to shift online.
“And while blog networks are quickly gaining scale, even their most coveted offerings are cost-competitive. To make a back-of-the-napkin comparison based on rate cards: A start-up looking to get attention will grab a third-of-a-page color ad in a magazine with a rate base of 600,000 and might pay $27,300; or it can pay $21,000 for 600,000 impressions for its ads on TechCrunch–a site covering start-ups represented by Battelle’s Federated Media–assuming they take the priciest ad slot on one of tech’s hottest sites.
[..]
“Talk to blogger Matt Marshall. He walked away from covering venture capital at one of California’s biggest newspapers, the San Jose Mercury News, to run a venture capital Web site from the second bedroom of his Fremont, Calif., home. He has no employees. Federated Media handles the ad sales for a 40% cut. And Marshall says he now makes more than he did as a reporter. Meanwhile, the Mercury News laid off 31 of his former colleagues this month. “Where they can actually succeed is by taking a particular vertical and absolutely nailing it,” eMarketer’s Ramsey says of bloggers like Marshall.
(Source)
As they say, follow the money.
Tags: Blog Marketing, blogs, business-blogging, business_value, flame_wars, follow_the_money, marketing, start_a_website, substantial_revenue, transparency