HamiltonBerchman recently completed work on a microsite with PULL Inc for the Affinity Group brand Woodall’s.

Affinity Group is a leading publisher of recreational outdoor enthusiast magazines. One of its hallmark brands is Woodall’s, North America’s best known publisher of RV and Family Camping travel directories in print and online. Woodall’s Campground Directories are a highly dependable and accurate resource for people who are passionate about the RV lifestyle.

We worked with PULL’s expert brand development leadership. PULL provided guidance to Woodall’s marketing team in developing the true line “Everywhere RVers go” as the cornerstone of a new communication initiative to reinforce the brands competitive advantage. HamiltonBerchman brought the communications to life on the Internet with the development of the microsite and an email communications initiative.

The microsite was lauched in the first quarter 2009 to rave reviews by Woodall’s North American sales organization.

This is part 3 of a 6 part series.

Blogging or, what I am going to focus on here, business blogging has been written about a countless number of times and does not need to be entirely re-hashed here. So, this may be brief but that is best. I will distill the core essentials of all that I have read and reviewed.

1. Ask yourself the question, “Why Blog?”
   What is its purpose? What is the objective? Here are a few examples
   1. Sell. Sell. Sell.
      You can directly promote products and services to people who may want and need them
   2. Customer Relations
      Build more and better relationships with customers. Foster open and honest communication with customers and prospects
   3. Research and Development
      Promote ideas and solicit feedback from clients and customers
   4. Educate and Inform
      Share information with customers on how to use a product or service. Share content that customers don’t know they don’t know
   5. Internal Communications
      A password protected blog can be used for staff training, communication, resource sharing, etc.
   6. Community Development
      Build a community blog around a product, idea, or service
   7. Public Relations
      Manage crisis situations, promote company vision, communicate company news, etc. From these examples it should be simple to find a way to use a blog for your business. Many times a single blog can serve more that one objective listed above and some companies will create more than one blog to keep the objectives separate
2. Propaganda
   Watch out for the propaganda trap. Be wary of using the business’ blog as a space to spin a one-dimensional PR message. The blogosphere can smell the spin from a mile away and the business can run the risk of having weaknesses exposed unless blogging is done in a transparent way. Businesses need to be able to highlight strengths but also failings where improvement can happen.
3. Blogs are Interactive Spaces
   Blogs are, like it or not, inherently interactive spaces for a give and take of ideas. Typically business websites allow simple interactivity with a “contact us” page, or a form to submit your questions. Blogs offer a comments section where readers have the freedom to share their ideas on what the blogger, or business, has to say. Some companies are scared or feel threatened by this idea and is a reason why many companies do not have a blog. Some businesses blog without allowing comments. But this, in my opinion, defeats the core purpose of a blog-interacting with opinions and ideas. Besides, other people with blogs may be talking about your business already and people could be commenting on what is being written. Instead of ignoring the space it is better to have a presence and get your business’ perspective published. Don’t be silent.
4. Helps Your Business Get Found
   A blog, and the frequency at which you publish, will help your business get found. This happens a couple of ways. First more content on your blog means more opportunities that you are going to be speaking to someones needs. When people search the Internet, they are looking to get their problems solved. Second, the frequency you publish will also help. Websites whose content does not change are seen as ‘dead’ by search engines. The more dynamic a website, the more active and in the eyes of search engines a place of ‘life.’ 
5. Leadership Through Blogging
   By blogging you and your company are speaking out and taking a position on topics that matter to people. You may receive compliments or criticism and that is the point. To engage people in discussing the topics you cover will help raise you and your companies profile.
   
6. Blogging Takes Time
   You need time to write, time to read what is happening in the blogosphere within your industry, time to comment on other blogs, time to reply to comments on your blog, etc. However, this should not deter you. You do need to put aside some time to get your blog going and it does get easier over time. Treat a blog as you would any other company communication, with thought and care.
   Additionally it will take time for your blog to gain traction. At first you may be the only person reading it. You need to let people know that you have a blog by putting it in your email signature or just telling them about it.
7. Don’t Wait.
   Thinking about it will not make it happen. Get started.

There is great potential for a company willing to blog. You need to see it as another tool in your marketing arsenal and make it fit within your entire marketing mix. Opening up, allowing interaction with customers, fans, and potential customers can provide untold benefits.

A Good Visual Explanation

To help understand blogs a bit more, here is a video from the great folks at CommonCraft, Blogs in Plain English.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI[/youtube]

I would love to know what you think. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

I’ve begun reading the The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual and it struck me, “is anybody out there?” I’m looking for you—the person reading these words right now. I’m interested in knowing what you think. I’m looking for interaction, conversation, feedback. I send this email every month but haven’t heard from you lately.

The power of the Internet is that we all have the ability to communicate with one another on a one-to-one basis, or in groups. We have the power of our voices. The Internet is really not about marketing or commerce although it is very convenient to research and buy things. We can have conversations, share ideas, debate the merits of one thing over another. The power is in the communication and that is a 2 way street. The Internet is about expressing ideas, sharing knowledge, and having conversations and relationships with real people. And that is what I am doing with my company blog and my e-newsletter.

What I love to do is help people find the best way to use the Internet to communicate. Not everyone is trying to say the same thing and everyone listening is not necessarily doing it the same way.

So, the format of my e-newsletters has changed to find out what you think.

All my previous e-newsletter issues were sent to you in their entirety. Sometimes they were weighty emails. Now my e-newsletter provides you with a table of contents and then each piece of content takes you over here to my website to read more and allow you to engage in the conversation. Please share your ideas and opinions… I want to hear what you think!

What is the most powerful thing you ‘get’ from the Internet?

• Information?
• Communication?
• Relationships?
• Business?

I want to know, comment below.