Traditionally, companies had personal relationships with their customers, but this gave way to cold and impersonal management information systems. In the last few years, with the growing competition, decreasing customer interaction and changing customer attitudes, businesses have begun to realize the importance of restoring a human face to their companies.
This is precisely the reason why so many companies these days establish an online presence. Out of all the marketing strategies available for businesses, blogging is being claimed as a paradigm shift in the way companies connect to existing as well as future customers. A cover story on an issue of BusinessWeek as far back as 2005 reads, “Blogs will change your business.”
Corporate blogs are created by companies to meet their goals and marketing objectives in the most efficient manner possible. Blogs allow the initiation of an ongoing and honest communication with the market, thus getting the customers involved and creating trust. The company enters into a conversation with an unlimited audience openly, in full view of everyone including its competitors. Companies can fulfill customer needs as opposed to hard selling, which is an indirect way of turning them into customers.
Corporate blogs are usually of two types: Internal and external. While internal blogs are those that are generally used by the employees to improve employee participation and discussion; external blogs are places where the company representatives post content and share their views with their audience.
Let’s look at what external corporate blogs offer companies:
Open Forum for Public Criticism
There are many corporate blogs that have high numbers of subscribers. For example, the official Google blog is among the top blogs worldwide. Corporate blogs provide a platform for people to discuss, applaud or criticize anything related to the company openly. This open nature of blogs gives visitors a secure feeling that there is no hidden agenda and they get what they see. Over a period of time, this builds trust and increases the number of potential customers.
Window to Company Culture and Policies
Although, a corporate blog tries to accomplish the same goals as press releases do, this is done in the most informal manner. This informal nature of the blogs allows companies to reveal the company culture and any changes in policies through their posts which are read by everyone that visits their blog. These messages also spread through word-of-mouth or through back linking which is an integral part of blogging, and ensures company news reaches far.
This is precisely the reason why so many companies these days establish an online presence. Out of all the marketing strategies available for businesses, blogging is being claimed as a paradigm shift in the way companies connect to existing as well as future customers. A cover story on an issue of BusinessWeek as far back as 2005 reads, “Blogs will change your business.”
Corporate blogs are created by companies to meet their goals and marketing objectives in the most efficient manner possible. Blogs allow the initiation of an ongoing and honest communication with the market, thus getting the customers involved and creating trust. The company enters into a conversation with an unlimited audience openly, in full view of everyone including its competitors. Companies can fulfill customer needs as opposed to hard selling, which is an indirect way of turning them into customers.
Corporate blogs are usually of two types: Internal and external. While internal blogs are those that are generally used by the employees to improve employee participation and discussion; external blogs are places where the company representatives post content and share their views with their audience.
Let’s look at what external corporate blogs offer companies:
Open Forum for Public Criticism
There are many corporate blogs that have high numbers of subscribers. For example, the official Google blog is among the top blogs worldwide. Corporate blogs provide a platform for people to discuss, applaud or criticize anything related to the company openly. This open nature of blogs gives visitors a secure feeling that there is no hidden agenda and they get what they see. Over a period of time, this builds trust and increases the number of potential customers.
Window to Company Culture and Policies
Although, a corporate blog tries to accomplish the same goals as press releases do, this is done in the most informal manner. This informal nature of the blogs allows companies to reveal the company culture and any changes in policies through their posts which are read by everyone that visits their blog. These messages also spread through word-of-mouth or through back linking which is an integral part of blogging, and ensures company news reaches far.
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