Blogs offer word-of-mouth advertising for small business
Saturday 4:30 p.m.: "Honey, what in the world are you talking about?" vintner Miki Shafer asks as her steady hand pours me another glass of wine.
Since 1978, when Miki and Harvey Shafer opened Shafer Vineyard Cellars, the couple has purposely chosen to stay small. Winery guidebooks and word of mouth have helped the Shafers create a name for their business. Shafer does not advertise, and only has two distributors. But recently a new marketing tool that the Shafers have never touched is helping spread the word about their winery. This technology is called blogging.
Marketers say this is one resource every business should be aware of.
Blogs are frequent, chronological publications of personal thoughts and Web links, and are the latest technology. Blogs are a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide. Initially, these rambling journals gained notoriety for their political coverage, but today, blogs cover a wide range of topics.
Technorati, a blog search engine now tracks 6 million blogs, with over 12,000 added daily, and that's probably only half the total.
Companies large and small, young and old, should be aware of blogs and how useful they are. Sun Microsystems and GM use them to facilitate conversations among executives and customers. Marketers are learning to track comments about their companies on blogs, and to target influential bloggers the same way they target professional reporters. Furthermore, companies such as Google, which acquired the Blogger publishing tool, are exploiting blogs not only as a business opportunities, but for internal collaboration and communication as well.
Companies also should realize that beyond their own corporate-sponsored blogs, customers are using blogs to report on their products, like the customer of Shafer Vineyards. Consumers communicate with each other about which products they like, which products they don't, and provide reviews of products and services. Doing a simple web search reveals numerous blogs that provide a “review” of Oregon wineries and wines the blogger has visited and tasted. It appears that the current Oregon winery blogs are posted and maintained by customers, not by the wineries themselves.
Blogs can be used “to connect with potential customers."
Traditional media conglomerates, such as the Washington Post, report that few business bloggers can say how much their daily postings affect the firm's bottom line, but most assume that customers who check in regularly will be more likely to purchase a new product or be faithful users of the services offered. Marketing-oriented blogs enable enterprises to provide information and discussion about new products and about developments within the enterprise, which can have an impact on product positioning and perspectives.
This particular use of blogging may be interesting to the Shafers, and to the rest of the 314 winemakers in Oregon . Blogging may be a quick, inexpensive, and effective way for Oregon wineries to position and market themselves worldwide and differentiate themselves in the wine industry, especially in light of competition from California .
According to Dr L. Anne Clyde, Professor in the Library and Information Science Department at the University of Iceland , there is very little research related to enterprise blogging; the commercial applications of blogging are mostly unproven. There are, on the other hand, many articles and papers written by enthusiasts or early adopters. In January 2004, Computerworld, said blogs can benefit companies in the following ways:- They're quick and easy: Blogs aggregate information and make it relevant to their audiences in an easy-to-read format. Enterprise users can scan a customized blog and feel confident that they have a good sense of what's happening on their project, in their company or in their industry.
- They provide a central repository: Blogs put information in a central location, making it accessible to large groups of users. Information is archived in a searchable and sortable format for future reference. This becomes useful when a user needs to look up information from a previous month or wants to aggregate all information available about a particular company or trend.
- They create a knowledge community: Blogs let groups share, discuss, annotate and amend content. This interactive component highlights the value of the information and allows users to quickly and efficiently identify action items.
Clyde also suggests that blogging can also be used as a project management tool. For example, Basecamp is a new project management tool aimed at designers, consultants, and freelancers. It uses a "blog-like format" for recording and presenting content. It brings together material from a variety of sources including email, chat, PowerPoint presentations, web links, and feedback, and it is able to deliver information to the desktops of all who are involved in the project .
Clyde also states that blogs can be used as a competitive intelligence tool, particularly for carrying out research to support new business proposals or product development.
By the end of the decade, it is predicted that a billion people will have the ability to contribute text, photos and video instantly to the global virtual conversation. While hard data and results of using blogs in the business area are not yet quantified, the usefulness and benefits of blogging are becoming more apparent every day. Companies should take a closer look at blogging and consider using it for competitive advantage.