Blogging business

Astrong online presence is important for businesses in today's high-speed and

highly competitive world. Blogs have already become the new buzzword in the

marketing arena. Businesses and marketers are extensively blogging for

organisations, products, ideas and for other organisational goals, and they are

achieving results.





This has not started happening in Pakistan yet. An overwhelming majority of

local consumers who do not (or cannot) use the internet and even marketing

professionals still ask puzzled as to what a blog is.





A business blog is a published by or with the support of an organisation to

reach out and achieve organisational goals - customer relationships, media

relations, internal collaboration, knowledge management, recruitment, test ideas

or products and rank high in search engines. In external communications, the

potential benefits include strengthened relationships with important target

groups and the positioning of the publishing organisation as industry experts.

Within the organisation, blogs are referred to as tools for collaboration and

knowledge management.





Marketing guru and blogger Jeremy Pepper writes in a Wall Street Journal

article, "To me, this is how a company should use a blog: as a complimentary

communications tool to comment on your industry, post-case study synopses, have

an open dialogue, post-company news and address any and all issues raised by

readers, and internally." This, I think, can be best done by freelance outside

bloggers.





Blogs can drive visitors to existing websites and help find new customers and

engage those that the organisations already have. They are prevailing and

cost-effective marketing tools. As far as business is concerned, there are

clients and potential clients. A blog will create a dialogue between the

business, present client base, and potential buyers. Communication has never

been easier and user friendly before.





Once a company has a blog, it offers immediate and high impact interaction with

its target audience. As more people have online access, they will want more than

the standard online newsletter or typical public relation response Gone are the

old days when companies simply used to feed information to their customers. Now

everyone asks and looks for a dialogue - a meaningful exchange of information.

People also want to know that the organisations are listening to them and paying

heed to what is being suggested, and blogs allow just that - responding quickly

and openly.





From a business point of view, there are several potential reasons to blog,

particularly in a less connected country like India. But it depends on what a

business wants. Blogs are different from channels like video, print, audio,

presentations and even word of mouth marketing. They all deliver results but of

varying kind. The kind anyone can expect from blogs is mainly about stronger

relations with important target groups.





One way to introduce blogging in the local business scenario would be to include

blogging as a subject in business schools and other higher education

institutions. Blogging is already being taught in prestigious universities as a

part of business and mass communication curriculum in the developed world. Not

only are the business graduates working with blogs during their studies and

benefiting, but they are also bringing along blogging skills when they join the

practical world in whatever they happen to be doing. Which is why it is not

unusual for CEOs and Chairmen to blog personally.





Who should blog for the businesses when CEOs and chairmen are busy doing other

important things? Ideally, front-line people who know the business in and out

should blog about it. Marketing professionals should also use this powerful

tool. An organisation can hire professional writers and freelance bloggers to

blog for them under company's name or blog under their own, there are lost of

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Depending upon the information provided by the organisation and feedback by the

audience, a blogger from outside can develop the ability to write in his or her

own voice and create content for business blogs. Similarly, freelance bloggers,

can view business with an objective eye and offer fresh marketing ideas and

strategies.





These bloggers can study the company's marketing materials, reports, other

collateral information and meet key people in the organisation to learn about

the activities of the organisation, and how best to market its products through

blogging.





Bloggers can post material written in an editorial style and voice, updating at

least once a day, three-to-five days a week. The content may also include

company news, events, and information about new products and services relevant

to your business. "Blog writers will need to hold back their own self and avoid

having their blog entries read like press releases, which may be easier said

than done," says  Moen, Manager, Marketing of a Indian-based international

concern.





Earlier, online marketing and websites never picked up in Pakistan because of

the obvious "digital divide that exists due to individual disparities in levels

of income, education standards, psychological reasons, age, gender, rural-urban

divide, and quality of life or collective deprivations like lack of physical

infrastructure." Now, things seem to be different. Telephone density has

increased manifold in Pakistan in the past few years. Internet access is also

available at more places and its use is continuously growing. Pakistani

businesses can target specific segments, more so when they want to market

globally.