Right after the latest edition of The BV Beat was delivered to subscribers' email boxes, a customer emailed to ask if they should start a blog to improve their Web site. Being in the business of building, promoting and maintaining a company's online presence, my gut reaction was to reply, "Of course!" as that would have translated into a revenue opportunity for BannerView.com. Knowing that advising our customers on the best long term strategy for their e-business operations has consistently paid more dividends for both them and our company, I wasn't so quick to respond with a definitive "yes" and diverted the conversation toward gathering more information.

Obviously, I've been warming up to idea of blogging and there continues to be a proliferation of both personal and professional blogs. Therefore, a "yes" answer to the customer's question would certainly seem reasonable. Wait! Not so fast. Even though receipt of positive feedback has certainly helped my warming process to blogging, I can't yet say it has generated direct business for the company. It's only been a few weeks since I launched my blog so time will tell, but my expectation is that this blog will not result in direct sales for the company. That statement may seem hypocritical of my first blog entry as I mentioned that the primary goal of this blog is to generate new business opportunities for BannerView.com. That goal still holds true, but my expectation is that those business opportunities will be more indirectly achieved, not from me hawking our company's wares directly from this blog.

Blogging should be viewed as a form of public relations (PR) and branding, not marketing and advertising. Understanding the differences between those types of promotion is key to understanding how to use blogging to generate business for your company. I found the following illustration posted in a blog entry on Ads of the World that serves as a great example of explaining the differences between PR, branding, marketing & advertising:

As you can see from the illustration, PR and branding are indirect forms of getting people to buy your products and services, whereas marketing & advertising are more direct forms. So why should blogging be viewed as PR & branding? Since you probably already have an entire Web site devoted to telling people why you are the greatest company in the world (marketing & advertising), why clutter your blog with more of the same propaganda? Your blog is a great way to position yourself as an expert in a particular field by providing unique and valuable content to which others can refer. If you're simply regurgitating the same self-promotion that's contained on your Web site you'll have a hard time getting people to follow your blog.

For the best chance of success, the various methods of promoting your products and services need to be examined prior to embarking on a promotional campaign. Many companies immediately look to marketing and advertising as it appears to be easier and faster to implement, but the costs are usually high and the effects short lived. PR and branding can take much longer and be more difficult to implement, but the effects are lasting and it increases the likelihood of success of your marketing and advertising efforts.

So the answer to the customer's question of whether or not they should start a blog to improve their Web site really raises additional questions. Are you going to take the time to implement a PR and branding campaign of which a blog can be a valuable tool or are you more interested in a quick promotional hit via marketing & advertising for which a different tool may be better equipped? This blog is a leg of a bigger PR and branding strategy and for it to have a chance at success, the proper time and effort must be given to it. If you are ready to devote the resources necessary to make your blog a success, then yes, let's get you started!