...it's blogs like this




In chapter 5 of 'The New Rules of Marketing and PR' - Scott explores the vast world of Blogs: Tapping millions of evangelists to tell your story.


I like the use of the word 'evangelists' in his heading - for the world of conferences, we use terms like 'prospects', 'customers', and 'advocates' - I think the word 'evangelist' takes this to a higher level, imagine if you had people evangelising about your business....


So I've outlined below some of the most interesting parts of this chapter, as we continue learning about the new rules of marketing and pr...


- Your blog will most certainly serve you as a valueable creative outlet
- Only about 20-30% of marketing/pr professionals read blogs....and less than 10% write them (i'm in a minority!)
- Blogs are written because someone is passionate about a subject and wants to tell the world about his/her area of expertise
- Sometimes blogs are misperceived by people who don't read them. Journalists as well as PR people are quick to dismiss the importance of blogs because they often compare them to magazines, and newspapers, with which they are comfortable!


My favourite quote about web-as-a-city...

"The woman next to you at the bar may not be a journalist, but she sure knows something, and you can choose to believe her or not. Incidentally, seeing the Web as a city also helps make sense of other aspects of online life. Craigslist is like the bulletin board at the corner store, eBay, a garage sale; Amazon, a bookstore replete with patrons anxious to give you their book tips. You've even got the wrong side of the tracks spots via the web's adult-entertainment underbelly...."

So the FOUR uses of Blogs for Marketing and PR

1. To easily monitor what millions of people are saying about you, the market you sell into, your organization, and its products
2. To participate in those conversations by commenting on other people's blogs
3. To work with bloggers who write about your industry, company, or products *this one is central to what we do here @ IQPC
4. To begin to shape those conversations by creating and writing your own blog


The best example this chapter gives is how the Obama campaign used blogging and social media to connect with the public of the United States. The author says "...I am absolutely convinced that Obama won the U.S presidential election because he was the candidate who most strongly embraced social media...".
People were excited to be interacting so closely with officials from the national campaign pages as well as their opinions posted - they felt 'heard'.


So I guess my question is - how long does it take for people to stand up and listen? Are you listening? Can you hear me? Then talk.


Until next time,
Chris Archer