Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies

Blogging means a communication tool, a marketing technique, a listening device and a way to interact directly with customers one-to-one on a global scale. The business world is undergoing profound changes, redefining marketing, public relations, and customer communications. Traditional marketing tools like focus groups or CRM is no longer adequate enough to get real feedback from customers in the fast-changing complex and competitive market place.

The reasons for corporate blogging becomes a new marketing communication tool for companies.

1)Customers nowadays do not want to be talked at, they want to be talked with.

2)For big businesses to talk one-to-one with customers, and small businesses to gain visibility by using what they know to create big-business style opportunities and growth.

3)Experiences, relationships, and trust-all tangible assets- are the single largest source of value for business brand

4)It is the potential customers that cannot be reached that are best target for future growth, and dynamic, engaging, and informative business blogs are an amazing avenue for reaching them in a way that has never been possible with other channels. This can be done by passionate message, constant follow up to gain trust and culture of valuing blogs.

5)The challenge that today’s companies face is one of mindshare. Mindshare is all about how many people are aware of product. Creating spaces where customers can consistently engage in dialogue with and places that are meaningful to customers, only then will the mindshare grow.

Some successful companies are using blogs to extend their brands, interact directly with customers, and get real feedback on their company and products. They are as follow:
1) GM runs new concepts by customers and invites feedback on their popular FastLane blog—one of today’s top 500 blogs.
2) The Disney Channel uses blogs to streamline internal communication and increase their engineering team’s efficiency.
3) Microsoft product development teams look for blog feedback before making significant changes to applications.
4) Boeing used blogs to gather customer feedback while developing the new 787 Dream liner.

Considering Boeing, a leading aircraft and aerospace manufacturer, which began ramping up the production and marketing of its new plane, the 787 Dream liner. The company used the traditional transmission-style marketing: press release, launch parties, media tours, interviews with engineers, and the like. However, Boeing also allowed Randy Baseler, Vice president of marketing, to blog(www.boeing.com/randy). Through his blog, Baseler was able to extend the message into a dialogue that included information about a Boeing competitor’s offering, the Airbus A380.Baseler responds to posts on other blogs, discusses what other blogs are talking about, and reads a vast cross-section of flight and aviation blogs. This blog allows Boeing to use a transmission-style message, which is great for getting the cold hard facts out to the world, as well as personal dialogue, which is great for communication passion, having a conversation, and listening to what customers and aviation enthusiasts think.