| Message from Peter |
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Dear Friends,
You work, you stretch, you learn, you grow – after years of effort you look back and realize you’ve changed. Time has turned exuberance into resolve and experience provides perspective. From where you stand now, there are things you’d do differently, things you repeat as often as you can and things you now know you really want to do.
If I sound more than a bit philosophical, that’s because I dropped my third oldest son off at college this fall and I’m so glad that I did. Instead of dumping him out at the curb in front of his dorm with a promise to keep the money coming, I had the chance to stay a day or so, meet the room mates and even go rent ATVs for us to ride on the sand dunes not far from campus. It’s a memory I’ll cherish.
What has this got to do with Carabiner? Simple, all of our Carabiner executives are doing what they want to be doing at this stage in their lives – whether it’s pursuing a dream through continuing education courses or spending quality time with their children – they’re senior marketing and PR people who’ve done the 9 – 5 and are now finding personal and professional balance in their lives, while also remaining dedicated to bringing their experience and excitement for marketing to our clients.
If you’ve got a marketing question or need advice on a new communications strategy – clip us in – we have 80+ years and many new resources to tap into!
Regards,
Peter Baron
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To Blog or Not to Blog?
Carabiner Tips on Using Blogs as a Marketing Tool
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Just a little over a decade ago, typical PR interns found themselves searching through online and print publications, assembling clips for a client or company’s coverage. In 2005, that’s changed. Companies today use Internet resources to monitor their own coverage and industry trends via RSS feeds and blog searches, just to name a few. Some companies are even hiring entry-level bloggers to monitor the blogosphere (world of blogs).
Given the technology’s emergence from the late ‘90s as an informal web diary for many bloggers to its current use as a research tool and lead source for stories by prominent publications like the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, smart communications professionals will take blogs into significant consideration when integrating public relations, marketing and advertising programs.
What Is a Blog?
Blog is short for weblogs (which is short for web dialogues) and best thought of as a way to present information to the world or to a select group. Typically, a blog is written in the form of an online diary and includes the writer’s thoughts on a subject and links to interesting and related information. The blog is usually updated frequently and without much of an editorial review or filter. If there’s a topic out there, chances are there will be a blog to cover it.
Blogs: Relevant Forms of Media?
Claims that support blogs as relevant mediums of communication are debatable. Since less than eight percent of Internet users blog and the demographic age is teen-through-30’s, one may think not. However, when create-your-own blog software became available in ’99, within three years, it had an estimated nearly one million users.
Also, there are many free blog hosting services available on the web. One of the first major blog breakthroughs occurred in December ’02: Senator Trent Lott made comments construed as racist at Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday celebration; mainstream media didn’t run the story – but blogs did – and kept it alive until Lott was forced to resign. Then, the 2004 presidential election led to the explosion of blogs, by citizens and accredited members of the media as well. It was the event that moved blogs into the mainstream.
Blogs As Marketing Tools
Blogs can be optimized by companies as marketing tools in two strategic ways. The monitoring of blogs can provide insightful marketing research. Secondly, a company can create its own blog or launch a campaign to get coverage on relevant topical blogs to promote a new service, product, or its stand on particular issues.
Blogs as Research Tools
First and foremost, blogs are excellent research tools to collect information on what’s being discussed on the Internet. If your company’s running an advertising or PR campaign, one way to measure its impact is through blogs. If more than just a few blogs are discussing your product or topics surrounding it, you’ll know the message has been received because it’s being actively discussed. The fastest way to obtain updated information covered on the web is via RSS feeds directly to your desktop. You can also monitor blogs via specialized search engines that catalog the blogosphere. Top engines include www.feedster.com, www.technorati.com and www.google.com/blogsearch.
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| Volume 2, Fall 2005 |
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Greetings from the
sand dunes of Idaho!
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Creating a Company Blog
Companies from enterprises to small businesses are questioning whether their organizations need an official blog. Blogs can serve as integral parts to comprehensive internet marketing campaigns, and are beneficial for search engine prioritization. However, not all organizations need blogs.
The main question to ask that will determine whether a company needs a blog is how the target audience gets its information on that particular industry. If the majority of the audiences researches its information from online resources and makes purchase decisions based on that research, the company should have a blog.
If the majority of an organization’s marketing demographic is small, highly targeted, or in a tight vertical market, it may not benefit from having a blog. An organization like that may benefit more from an integrated marketing campaign that communicates its messages to the audience via webinars, direct mail, advertising in trade publications or reinforcing its credibility via bylined articles and speaking engagements.
If an organization’s target audience is a broader market or focuses on a sector of the consumer market, having an online marketing campaign that includes a blog makes sense. If it’s a consumer campaign, a fun blog could be created and publicized through pop media and company ads. Incentives could be given for visiting the blog.
Companies appealing to a specific industry’s audience with a blog should consider partnering with a medium like a trade magazine to help target and retain visitors in its industry. Partnering with an established third-party and objective organization (like a publication or institute) can also help to substantiate the company blog as a trusted source for information. This could be done by having the company’s blog linked as an expert resource on a publication’s website, or via a banner ad.
Links to the company blog could also be promoted in the company’s other marketing materials. For example, if the company’s PR campaign places company-written articles in trade publications, a link to the blog could be listed in the author’s bio, as well as in advertisements, white papers and brochures. An important factor to remember in creating a company blog is to make it clear and apparent to visitors that the blog is sponsored or created by the company.
Apply Traditional PR Strategies to Negative Blog Coverage
Since the large majority of blogs have opinion-based editorial, many companies worry about whether the blog coverage on their organization or product may be negative. Many companies may lack the knowledge to fight a negative firestorm of bloggers. For this reason, PR professionals should utilize traditional strategies like damage control to combat a growing PR nightmare. Negative discussion on blogs can be just as impactful as a negative news story in a national publication – it reaches a large audience of your constituents and requires an immediate crisis communications plan to take back control of the company’s message and brand. And, since many media pick up stories or leads from blogs, it’s especially important to pay attention to what bloggers are saying.
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Carabiner Awarded Certificate of Excellence in 2005 PRSA Phoenix Awards Competition
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 The Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America awarded Carabiner Communications a Certificate of Excellence for the 2005 PRSA Phoenix Award Competition for collateral concepted and written for client Think2020. Carabiner leveraged the Think2020 founder’s ability to solve the Rubik’s Cube and concepted a creative, cube-shaped trade show brochure that invited attendees to visit Think2020’s booth to see the founder solve the cube in less than 30 seconds. Phoenix Awards is an awards competition designed by the Public Relations Society of Georgia to recognize projects and programs that demonstrate excellence in the public relations profession in Georgia.
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