Corporate blogs are the new black. Direct communication with customers; the ability to engage in dialogue with and among consumers; low implementation costs. Sounds great. Yet blogs are no holy grail. They’re not right for every brand – and you better know what you’re getting into (and why) before you launch one.
Corporate blogs turn the traditional marketing communication model on its head. Far from the monolithic and closely held brand voice of most traditional vehicles, blogs work best with a more individualized approach, offering an “independent” perspective that requires of a company’s message a bit more elasticity. Of course, breaking down the formalities of communication makes companies and brands more accessible, yet this also creates a whole new set of customer expectations and risks.
For B–to–B and B–to–C brands alike, a blog can become a fascinating, engaging platform to promote dialogue about your brand, your products, your market, a lifestyle, etc. — all presented within the context and environment of your brand. While the brand benefits can be great, blogs are not a frivolous undertaking. Here are some key principles to help ensure that your blog becomes an asset to your brand, not a liability.
1. Understand the goals of your blog. The most important question you can ask before you blog: Why? A blog can quickly become a highly visible marketing and communications initiative. Build an action plan driven by a goal – to drive sales, to support customer issues, to evidence thought leadership, to create a forum for market discussion, etc. The proper goal(s) will help to dictate everything from the content itself to its presence on your website to where it “lives” in the organization.
2. Make sure you can deliver on the customer expectations set up by your blog. What are you promising with respect to feedback, insight into products and services, timeliness of blog entries, etc? Have you considered the resources necessary to meet these expectations? A blog is a beast that needs constant feeding. It may take only a matter of days for a blog to feel stale – and a stale blog on your website is far worse than no blog at all. Merely assigning someone to blog duty is not enough if you don’t give them the time and the resources to turn your blog into a compelling, inviting experience.
3. Consider the byline. Who’s writing the corporate blog? Whose voice does the blog speak in? Is this the brand speaking, or is this just one expert’s opinion? Or, multiple expert opinions? The trend in corporate blogs today is individual bylines, not necessarily reflective of any corporate position. This obviously makes the lawyers happy, yet how much rope does this person have in truly touting their opinion?
4. Establish editorial parameters. If the writer is to be a trusted voice, some candor is required — yet how far can he go in knocking an internal underperformer or touting a competitive product? The answer will differ company–to–company and industry–to–industry. A brand with the courage to invite employees (and external audiences) to think and write critically about its offerings is a nice aspiration, yet the sales director or CEO or executive committee may well think otherwise. Consider such issues carefully beforehand to avoid editorial conflicts with your blog resource down the road.
5. Make sure the writer has the knowledge (or access to the knowledge) necessary to make your blog compelling for customers. You certainly don’t want your blog coming off as uninformed. Does the writer (or writers) truly know your business, your customers and your market? This is not a job for the summer intern.
6. Try to instill broad internal ownership over the blog, encouraging participation internally and enabling greater access to intellectual capital resources. Ideally this can be done informally, fueled by a corporate culture that invites and inspires ideas and thought leadership. But the hectic realities of day–to–day business may require a more formal approach, leading to individual performance metrics around blog participation.
7. Be flexible. Go in with your eyes open, expecting some (hopefully minor) surprises and having the ability to adapt accordingly. Finding the right balance between the voice and tone of your brand and your blog is as much art as science.
8. Keep a watchful eye. Like your Web site and corporate brochure, your blog is a communication vehicle that should — at least at a high level — comply with your brand’s voice, tone, strategy and style. However, as a developing medium freed from the filters and scrutiny of a more traditional marketing tool, the blog can quickly evolve away from some of the core attributes of your brand. Keep an eye on content, so the blog stays in line with parameters you have established. Yet, be sure not to sacrifice the dynamic, time–sensitive nature of the medium.
9. Monitor external participation and usage. The visibility your blog gets among key audiences — customers, partners, analysts, employees — is an important consideration point when contemplating evolving goals and addressing the issues that do arise. No need to over–regulate what may be a discrete concern (i.e. avoid mountains from molehills). And, conversely, if your blog seems to resonate strongly with a particular group — say, prospects — it might make sense to consider a more aggressive link between the blog and advertising, or some other additional direct contact. In absolute numbers, a corporate blog may have a small audience. But this can be a disproportionately significant audience with an outsize ability to impact perceptions of your brand.
10. Determine metrics for success. If you’ve got resources tied up in your blog, you better know if it’s doing what it’s supposed to. Looking back to your goals, how do you measure success? Traffic? Level of involvement by a dedicated internal or external group? Emergence of a new brand ambassador? Recognition of thought leadership? Know what you want and establish metrics to make sure you are achieving it. The corporate blog is not a flavor of the month. The broadcast–only model of one–way brand communication is gone. As blogs and other peer–to–peer communications vehicles — moblogs, vlogs, podcasts, etc. — expand beyond early–adopter consumer roots into corporate applications, companies need to think proactively about an expanding communications toolkit. To turn a blind eye to the blog and its peer vehicles is to miss a range of opportunities to facilitate and streamline communications with key stakeholders throughout the food chain. And, to just jump in to the blog game reflexively while permitting internal corporate blog activity to proliferate unabated puts your brand at risk. Maximize the blog opportunity and avoid the pitfalls that can cause problems. It just requires a bit of forethought, planning and 10 simple principles.
© Business Marketing Association