Does your business need a blog?

Everybody’s doing it. Everybody. Seriously, have you seen all the blogs out there? I’m not sure when the Doogie Howser diary went from private to public, but blogging is here to stay. So, should you take your business to the blogosphere?

First, to be clear, this is probably the wrong question to ask. A blog is one tool of many in the business leader’s arsenal for dynamic online interaction. I recently spoke about this at a CHAMPS LINKS lunch. The topic there was Facebook for Business, but the principle is the same. One of the things Black Lab does is help businesses with online and social networking strategies. We start from a strategic perspective, asking: “What am I trying to achieve with my online strategy?” and move on from there. But I get asked specifically about blogging a lot, so here are a few things to consider if you’re mulling the addition of ‘amateur journalist’ to your resume:

– Who is your audience? An internal (employees) blog will have a different style and tone than an external (customers, vendors, etc.) blog. Be mindful of who you’re talking to.

– What do you want to say? Do you want to be informative, spark discussion, market your work? There are many possibilities to choose from, but choose something. Having a theme or focus helps build an audience.

– Who will do the writing? There is nothing worse than slogging through something that is not well written. In fact, because there are so many options, you’ll loose readers with rampant misspellings and awkward sentences. That being said, blogs are much less formal so the tone can be casual and small mistakes are tolerated. Just don’t forget that a blog is part of your brand, so take it seriously.

– Can you post regularly? This is one I’ve struggled with lately. Things get busy, so something has to slide and the past few weeks it has been my blog. If you want to build a significant readership, daily posting is optimal. However, I see a noticeable uptick when I post just three days a week. This isn’t as hard as it might sound. Blog entries are generally short (I try to stay under 500 words) so the time investment is manageable.

One idea I’ve seen used successfully is the pre-opening blog. If, for example, you’re a retailer working on your store build-out then a blog is a good way to let people know how things are moving along — introduce them to your store and get them involved in your progress. A good one I’ve seen is Hill’s Kitchen. The owner used Facebook to make short entries as she prepped her store for almost a year. Peregrine Espresso has a blog with far more content than their actual web page. A blog is a free or low cost way to experiment with content before spending several thousand dollars on a comprehensive website.

So, do you need a blog? Maybe. Definitely don’t be intimidated by the idea. Think about your online strategy and what you want to accomplish and, if the situation warrants it, dive in!

God Bless Ikea

There are many reasons to be thankful for Ikea: the Billy Bookcase, the resurgence of Swedish meatballs, and a complete kitchen that doesn’t require a second mortgage. And now a new reason to love them … advertising. Metro stations have been papered with the “Change is Coming” campaign, which was already cleaver. But our Swedish friends took it up a notch when I walked into Union Station yesterday and saw an Oval office, complete with secret service, decked out in Ikea finery.

I normally detest ads. Why? Because they’re either boring or the advertiser assumes I’m dumb. Ikea’s approach to retailing is different, and it shows in their advertising choices. Their model is built on experiential marketing — with the entire store set up as rooms, you get to settle in and see what its like to spend a little time on the Ektorp sofa in the glow of your Horup floor lamp. What they’ve done in Union Station is to take that idea and have fun with it. Hey, the Oval is a room like any other and it has needs too — a stylish rug, some zen accessories, affordable window treatments and some comfy throw pillows. But it isn’t just that they brought a room out of the store and put it in the train station, and it also isn’t just that the room happens to be the most important one in the whole country.

CSR Cred

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been coming into its own over the past several years. It’s getting more sophisticated — moving beyond matching donations to an employee’s favorite charity to more complex projects like sponsoring and developing primary and secondary school curriculum.  

Just to be clear, CSR projects should all have one thing in common:

Be Careful What You Market

You’ve probably seen Chevron’s latest ad campaign:  The Power of Human Energy. If you’ve been walking around with your eyes closed, here’s a pic of their ad saturation from Farragut North.

When I first saw the campaign, I liked it. Black gold turns green. Actually, I wanted to like it.