Robert Scoble and Shel Israel in their book, Naked Conversations, believe blogging has become a revolution in the way businesses communicate. They claim, "blogging is not just wise for businesses wising to be closer with their customers, but essential"(1). The old forms of PR are not working; sending out mail and cold calling is not only expensive for the company, but annoying for the customer. Not to mention that these methods are only effective in 2% of the population. Blogs are the lowest-cost communications channel, "you can reach thousands, perhaps millions of people for an investment of a few cents and some personal time" (27). Nothing can boost your search engine standing better than links in a regularly updated blog (29). The authors call this way to boost search engine rankings"Google Juice"(29).
The blogging revolution has begun to decentralize corporations enabling simple conversations between people. I like to hear the phenomena referred to as corner grocery marketing. It is what the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker used to do (97). It creates relationships and in turn loyalty. Scoble and Israel identify official spokespeople using a refined scripted language as "corpspeak" (4). Corpspeakers raise a suspicion that there is nothing human about the company; they speak whether you want to listen or not.
The authors use Microsoft as an example of what a blog can do for a company. Microsoft has been thought of as the evil empire. When Lenn Pryor joined the company in 1998 he created a company blog that could personalize what seemed like a monolith without a soul. His idea was "to share our lives with people and then they'll see we're human and they'll trust us" (15). He created Channel 9 which became a way of video blogging, "an interactive video of real people talking about their work with customers" (17). Blogging helped change the face of Microsoft giving it a human touch and credibility.
In today's society in order to stay on top you have to be creative and innovative. In short, you have to make yourself something remarkable. Seth Godin, in his new book, "Purple Cows" talks about the remarkable and the boring. Purple Cows (as opposed to brown cows) are ideas that spread, and a product that the marketplace has deemed remarkable. The audience that blogs appeal to are those who are listening, waiting for the next big thing.
The blog gives access to what people want, conversations. Yossi Vardi, one of Israel's high-tech computer entrepreneurs says, " the world's second favorite entertainment is story telling, but the top is conversations" (43). The blog provides just that, it is like "word of mouth on steroids" (43). Two essentials for blogging success is that they are both transparent and authentic" (51). The two most fundamental rules for blogging according to Bob Luts, a Fortune 10 boardroom executive, are "passion and authority" (51). It is important that the blog is not a marketplace--blogging was "born in an environment of anti-pitch sentiment" (79). They are a place to foster trust "a better place to market your reputation than sell your goods, and in the end that will prove more valuable" (84).
The blog allows marketing to become something conversational and in turn creates a relationship between company and constituency. The blog is what gives a company credibility and honesty.
The blogging revolution has begun to decentralize corporations enabling simple conversations between people. I like to hear the phenomena referred to as corner grocery marketing. It is what the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker used to do (97). It creates relationships and in turn loyalty. Scoble and Israel identify official spokespeople using a refined scripted language as "corpspeak" (4). Corpspeakers raise a suspicion that there is nothing human about the company; they speak whether you want to listen or not.
The authors use Microsoft as an example of what a blog can do for a company. Microsoft has been thought of as the evil empire. When Lenn Pryor joined the company in 1998 he created a company blog that could personalize what seemed like a monolith without a soul. His idea was "to share our lives with people and then they'll see we're human and they'll trust us" (15). He created Channel 9 which became a way of video blogging, "an interactive video of real people talking about their work with customers" (17). Blogging helped change the face of Microsoft giving it a human touch and credibility.
In today's society in order to stay on top you have to be creative and innovative. In short, you have to make yourself something remarkable. Seth Godin, in his new book, "Purple Cows" talks about the remarkable and the boring. Purple Cows (as opposed to brown cows) are ideas that spread, and a product that the marketplace has deemed remarkable. The audience that blogs appeal to are those who are listening, waiting for the next big thing.
The blog gives access to what people want, conversations. Yossi Vardi, one of Israel's high-tech computer entrepreneurs says, " the world's second favorite entertainment is story telling, but the top is conversations" (43). The blog provides just that, it is like "word of mouth on steroids" (43). Two essentials for blogging success is that they are both transparent and authentic" (51). The two most fundamental rules for blogging according to Bob Luts, a Fortune 10 boardroom executive, are "passion and authority" (51). It is important that the blog is not a marketplace--blogging was "born in an environment of anti-pitch sentiment" (79). They are a place to foster trust "a better place to market your reputation than sell your goods, and in the end that will prove more valuable" (84).
The blog allows marketing to become something conversational and in turn creates a relationship between company and constituency. The blog is what gives a company credibility and honesty.
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