Posted by the CEO
Learn to Use Blogs as a Marketing Tool
by Helen Langan

One of the hottest topics currently being debated in corporate marketing circles is how companies can harness the much-hyped power of blogs to achieve a marketing edge.

For the uninitiated, a Weblog, or blog, is an online Web journal that can chronicle anything the blog’s creator cares to discuss. One of the key features of a blog is that it allows readers to respond to the blogger—and to each other—with their own commentary on the topic. Bloggers themselves come from all backgrounds: Some have expertise on a given topic, others simply have strong opinions and some are just bored at work.

There are two ways Utah’s small businesses should utilize blogs in marketing strategies, says Alex Koritz, director of public relations for Sprout Marketing. First, companies can easily monitor happenings within their industry by monitoring related blogs. Second, they can host their own blog to strategically spread word of their company.

Keeping Watch

Business leaders should research and regularly read blogs that relate to the specific sector in which their business operates. “Absolutely be aware of blogging. Know that it’s out there—ignoring it could be dangerous,” cautions Koritz. He encourages his clients to closely monitor industry blogs as a means of keeping a finger on the pulse of the industry. Equally important is monitoring those blogs as means of tracking what others, from customers to competitors, are saying about your company in the blogosphere.

Monitoring blogs may seem unimportant to those who believe that only a small number of industry insiders are actually reading them; however, according to Koritz, “In certain sectors, blogs can rival traditional media outlets in terms of number of readers.” Because blogs are often the first place industry news is reported, many journalists have also begun monitoring blogs for story ideas they can cover in mainstream media outlets.

In addition to reading blogs, Koritz encourages companies to proactively approach industry bloggers about their products, although he cautions companies to be careful. “All companies should reach out to industry bloggers, but they don’t want to approach them in the same formal way they would a reporter. Instead, they should approach bloggers in a very casual way and strive to have more of a conversation with them.”

Marc Modersitzki, a veteran online marketer who has worked for many of the state’s top technology companies and marketing agencies, echoes this sentiment. “Bloggers don’t want to be marketed to; they want to participate in a conversation.”

As with traditional media, courting coverage can be a double-edged sword—you can’t control how the blogger will portray your products or services. But, says Koritz, “This is a great way to start building buzz and gaining awareness about your company within the community and communicating one-to-one with your customers without a third party standing between you.”

Spread the Word

The second way that companies should be thinking about blogs as a marketing tool, according to Kortiz and Modersitzki, is by considering the feasibility and practicality of hosting a corporate blog. With a corporate blog, an individual from the company, in many cases the CEO, blogs from the corporate website about a variety of relevant topics.

“This can be very effective in creating awareness for an organization,” says Koritz. Among other advantages, “A corporate blog can enhance a company’s brand, build thought leadership, deepen customer relationships by promoting conversations and put forth a human face to a large organization. A blog also provides fresh Web content, which gives you more online visibility, attracts search engines and drives more traffic.”

Companies should be very careful with their approach to this strategy, warns Modersitzki, because there are many potential pitfalls. “It’s tough for a company to successfully run their own blog, because the nature of blogging requires a higher degree of authenticity without the marking spin. It’s like saying, ‘Here’s a commercial, but I’m not advertising to you.’”

In order for a blog to be effective, it must be updated on a regular basis—at least once a week, says Modersitzki. He also warns against the practice of having someone ghost write a blog for the CEO, a temptation for many busy executives who are caught up in the details of running a business.

Koritz explains, “You can get really burned in the blog community; if you do anything that seems sneaky, they’ll tar and feather you.” Many of the same rules apply for hosting a corporate blog as for approaching industry bloggers. Koritz emphasizes that companies must “be authentic” with all of their blog-related marketing strategies.

Already feeling behind the curve? Blogging is an old phenomenon by Internet standards. New technologies, such as podcasting, social-networking sites and RSS feeds, are already changing the virtual marketing landscape.

Helen Langan is a Salt Lake-based freelance writer and public relations specialist.

Stand By Your Man! But Why?
By SUSAN CAMPBELL And WILLIAM WEIR
Hartford Courant
March 11, 2008

Why, oh why, do so many political wives stand behind their fallen husbands when they make public pronouncements of infidelity? Take Silda Wall Spitzer, Harvard Law-educated wife of a New York governor who was a client of a high-end prostitution ring.

Dina McGreevey, ex-wife of a former New Jersey governor who resigned after his gay affair with a man he had hired was made public, told CNN that political wives stand pat for ‘very personal reasons.’

According to public-relations experts, psychotherapists and educators, those reasons can include:

1. A desire for damage control. Paul Quinlan, psychology professor at American International College in Springfield, said wives’ concerns may extend first to ‘protecting the children from the acid fallout of a spouse’s infidelity.’

2. An acknowledgment that the family’s financial future is tied to the politician. California -based author and psychotherapist Tina B. Tessina says ‘a political spouse, if she’s a serious person, knows she has a responsibility to stand by her husband, at least in public. She’s protecting her financial status and her family by supporting him.’

3. A political wife also has an image to protect, says Debbie Mandel, author and radio host. ‘By supporting him, she demonstrates to the world that she is not an object of pity because he loves her,’ said Mandel.

4. Ultimately, the wife is trying to set the standard of behavior. If she can forgive, perhaps so should we. ‘They ultimately do this to save their spouse’s career,’ said Alex Kortiz of Utah -based Sprout Marketing. ‘If they’re standing behind their spouse and have forgiven them, then so can his/her constituents.’

Antonio Villaraigosa Democratic Mayor of Los Angeles Scandal: Had an affair with Mirthala Salinas, a television news reporter on a local Spanish-language TV station. Salinas was covering the mayor’s office at the time of the affair.

Did wife stand by him?: No. Corina Villaraigosa (above) filed for divorce last year.

Political fallout: He’s still in office but considered politically more vulnerable.

Quote: ‘Know that when you keep commitments to yourself, it’s easier to keep commitments to others,’ Corina Villaraigosa said at a fundraiser in her first public remarks since news of her husband’s affair broke.

Larry Craig Republican Idaho Senator Scandal: Pleaded guilty to lewd conduct after police officers said he tapped out a code for sexual liaisons in the stall of a men’s bathroom. Last month, the Senate Ethics Committee sent Craig a letter admonishing him for his conduct.

Did wife stand by him?: Yes, Suzanne Craig and her husband are still together. She also defended her husband in a much publicized interview with Matt Lauer.

Political fallout: He was going to resign (a poll showed 55 percent of voters wanted him to) but changed his mind. He says he won’t seek re-election this year.

Quote: ‘I don’t listen to other people’s rumors. I know what’s right,’ Suzanne Craig said.

Jim McGreevey Former Democratic Governor of New Jersey Scandal: He announced he was a ‘gay American,’ and resigned after acknowledging he had had an affair with a male employee.

Did wife stand by him?: Dina Matos stood by him at his announcement, but they separated shortly after, followed by a contentious divorce. She wrote a book and appeared on ‘Oprah.’

Political fallout: He left politics and went on to teach ethics at Kean University in New Jersey.

Quote: ‘I thought I had it all, I thought it was the American dream, and it turned out to be a nightmare,’ said Dina Matos Rudy Giuliani Former Republican mayor of New York Scandal: Began appearing in public with Judith Nathan (above) in 2000 while still married to his wife, Donna Hanover. Later that year, he publicly acknowledged that he and Nathan were in a romantic relationship.

Did wife stand by him?: Donna Hanover and Giuliani went through a rather ugly and public falling out. Giuliani’s son has also harshly criticized him.

Political fallout: His presidential campaign sputtered. His personal life, though, didn’t seem as much of a factor during the campaign as some had predicted.

Quote: ‘Today’s turn of events brings me great sadness. I had hoped to keep this marriage together,’ — Hanover told reporters in 2000.

Bill Clinton Democratic President Scandal: Monica Lewinsky Did wife stand by him?: Yes. Hillary Clinton also defended her husband in 1992 on ’60 Minutes,’ in which Bill Clinton denied having an affair with Gennifer Flowers. He did, however, acknoweldge ‘causing pain in my marriage.’ Years later, he admitted to having an affair with Flowers.

Political fallout: He left office with one of the highest approval ratings of any president. He was first considered an asset in his wife’s presidential campaign but was deemed more of a liability the more he talked.

A marketer’s budget can be as unpredictable as the weather.  Most small- to medium-sized companies have minimal marketing budgets that can only grow as fast as the company itself grows. After 20 years of creating budgets and implementing marketing strategies, here’s the approach I like to use with organizations that have small marketing budgets:

Attack your target market using a layered approach. This means, in effect, picking a cost-effective marketing vehicle to lead out with and driving that vehicle efficiently until your company’s revenue justifies the addition of another vehicle. This layered approach allows your marketing activities to grow along with your company’s revenue until all the proper marketing vehicles are deployed and working effectively.

Start with a cost-effective vehicle, such as public relations. PR requires minimal hard-costs and can be done through good strategic direction and old-fashioned manpower. A comprehensive, strategic PR program can help you successfully create leads, awareness and thought leadership. A solid and sustained PR effort will lead to press coverage within targeted print and broadcast media, generate analyst interest and commentary, secure speaking engagements, awards, and more. All with a moderate cost.

New media, which often falls under the PR umbrella, is another relatively inexpensive way to garner attention. Create a company blog or contribute to an industry-related blog. Look for a popular and highly trafficked blog within your industry and post interesting content that’s related to your business. Using blogs and podcasts is a great way to establish your brand, put a human face on your organization, build industry leadership, and reach opinion leaders and the media.

Web 2.0 technologies, such as RSS feeds, can offer visitors to your Web site or online news center a way to get continuous, relevant information. Every time new content goes up on the site, visitors who have subscribed to the feed are alerted and can link back to your site to read the new content.

In addition, keeping your website easily and readily searchable through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies costs little and can reap huge benefits in terms of increasing awareness for your company.

Involve Marketing in the Early Stages of Product Development

It is a familiar story.  A company has a great product idea. The engineers are working around the clock to get it ready to show customers. Management is in meeting after meeting building strategic relationships and figuring out how and when this product is going to generate revenues.  The one missing piece to this effort is the marketing team, albeit one person most of the time.  But when is the appropriate time to get marketing involved? If the product is still in the ideation stages of its life cycle, is it too early to involve marketing?  The marketing misconception is that marketing joins the effort when the product is ready to launch and customer collateral and materials are needed to sell the product.  Marketing should be involved when the idea pops into someone’s head.

As the idea formulates and takes shape, marketing folks can help give it parameters.  Using their skills in gathering voice of customer, marketers help the development team understand the articulated and unarticulated needs of the end-users.  Typically this customer data will dictate what the design should be and how the product must be packaged so it can be incorporated seamlessly into the workflow of the target audience.  Integrating voice of customer into product development creates an opportunity for a company to instantly resonant with their customers and speak to their needs.

Marketers also look at the market as a whole.  What is happening around us?  Who are the players—small and big?  What opportunities exist out there that are not being serviced and why?  This type of analysis allows everyone from R&D to management understand and familiarize themselves with the competitive landscape.  It identifies the areas to differentiate the company’s product offerings and itself.  Capturing this knowledge strengthens the company’s position as it enters into new territory or reinforces its planned strategies and tactics to capture more market share.

As products move along the development cycle, marketers should join the discussion to ensure the pipeline supports the brand and its promise.  Due to development and customer need constraints, products can move outside of or stretch the brand promise. Protecting brands is one of the most important jobs marketers have. Companies need to provide an environment for their marketers to achieve this responsibility.  Including them in early product development stages creates such an environment and helps marketing be better watchdogs for one of the company’s most essential assets.

Getting the marketing team involved early in product development also benefits your customers and other internal teams, i.e. the sales team, as the marketers collect and gather loads of information throughout the development process and turn it into relevant messaging that resonates instantly with the end-users.  Integral involvement allows marketers to know, understand, and experience the market and its customers, which is important when they translate key needs and benefits in marketing materials such as sales presentations, collateral, and advertising.
Involving marketing in the early stages of product development creates the opportunity for companies to have an immediate impact within their target audience. Marketers assist the product development teams to understand the competitive landscape, identify customer needs and wants, protect the brand, and wrap it all together as an end product for end-users. 

Without question the field of public relations is evolving. New technologies and communication vehicles have begun to change the way PR professionals’ work, but the same traditional principles apply. Organizations must continue to leverage what the media and other key influencers reveal about them through articles, broadcast and radio coverage, analyst comments, speaking engagements, newsletters, and so forth.

However; with the advent of new communication vehicles such as blogs, podcasting, RSS, and the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), PR practitioners are changing the way they communicate to their various publics. New school PR, sometimes called PR 2.0, utilizes these new vehicles as additional ways to reach target audiences.
PR 1.0 (old school PR) centered on pushing content out to get media attention.  Press releases, case studies, white papers, media pitches, VNRs, are examples of push-PR, a one-way broadcast for sharing your message.  While these vehicles are still very effective, there are new modes of communication that PR professionals can add to their arsenal. I’ve chosen to discuss one of these: SEO-PR.

SEO-PR
Combining SEO and PR will improve search engine ranking for key terms, increase the amount of qualified traffic to a site, generate more sales leads, and increase publicity. SEO-PR is optimizing PR content (press releases, case studies, newsletters, etc.) in order to be found by search engines. This drastically increases the potential to attract customers, the media, and investors or partners who are looking for a particular product or service your company offers.

If applying SEO to Public Relations is becoming increasingly important, why are most PR professionals slow to embrace it? The main reason is that traditional PR departments and agencies do not have SEO expertise. However; some savvy PR professions are bridging the gab and implementing SEO-PR strategies.  The five main elements of a SEO-PR strategy consist of the following:

Conduct key word research
Decide upon the words you’ll use to optimize your PR materials. If your company is relatively unknown, use search terms that are the most relevant to your offerings. The best search terms usually consist of two or three word phrases, too many websites will be relevant for one word. Also vary the search terms; this will make your website a relevant match for dozens of search terms.

Target Search Engines that generate the most referral traffic
There are five major search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, Ask Jeeves and AOL. According to the research firm Nielsen Netratings, there were 5.7 billion searches started by U.S. users in January of this year. The firm estimates that approximately 48.2% of all search requests were run through Google. Thus Google becomes the obvious target. Fortunately, Google publishes its guidelines. However; it’s vital that someone within your PR or marketing department understands them. You can find the guidelines at http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html.

Optimize PR Content
Make sure to include your key words in important spots on your website. This includes headlines in press releases, newsletters, and white papers. If not done properly, your website may end up being poorly ranked despite its relevant content.

Use Reciprocal links.
Every search engine uses link analysis as part of its ranking. This is because it’s very hard to fake good looks that are designed to spam search engines, so the link analysis tells the search engine what pages have good content. By building good links you can improve your website’s ranking in the link analysis system. Keep in mind that it’s not the quantity of links but quality; use links that link to good, relevant pages.

Track Optimization Results
Once your pages are listed in a search engine, you need to monitor them on a regular basis. Make sure links continue to work, that pages don’t disappear, and other problems. Continually change static content as much as possible to ensure that your pages are visited frequently by the search engine. Also, monitor and experiment with your key words until you’re satisfied with them.

Conclusion
Because of the overload of information available now, the media and other audiences have more choice and control over what they pay attention to. SEO-PR is great way to capture and pull them in order to deliver your messages.