Fear of Commitment & Comments
I've done more than my share of consulting with business large and small about the values, benefits, and pitfalls of blogging are. In some cases, I was brought in specifically to assist in the migration/creation process and other times I simply injected their viability since they were a natural mechanism.
Most recently, I've been talking, and now working, with people from the trade show/meeting and association industries. As many have noted, and I am sure I will affirm many times to come over the next few months, this is not an industry that tends to jump on the technology bandwagon.
A variety of people have recently hit on a number of the objections that I have encountered/countered and it seems like a great moment to highlight them now.
It Just Doesn't Fit My Audience
Ironically enough, this is pretty close to the most true of them all, but loads of people that use this to reject blogging are probably wrong. When this excuse comes up, generally, they are making an informed guesstimate that 1) their audience doesn't use "technology" a lot and 2) blogging is the safehave for teenagers and technophiles. Granted, we do have lots of those but...
In truth, all audiences, customer bases, and marketplaces are in flux. Newer, younger, more tech-savvy individuals are entering the marketplace and many many people from the previous generations are turning to it. As one person from the conference, who is now evaluating our products, explained to me, "Sure our members aren't the most technologically advanced, but they all have grandkids and they've all got a computer sitting somewhere in their house." I commended him on seeing that then, and I'm doing it again now.
Today, Dave Taylor posted an interview with Donna Tocci of Kryptonite Locks. It's well worth the read. One of the nuggets Dave has goes like this:
Another important point. In the big picture the negative publicity that Kryptonite received in the blogosphere hasn't adversely affected the company in the long term. Much of that is due to the savvy response of the Kryptonite team, but it's also a mark of the limits of the influence of the blogosphere. We're an influential bunch, but blogs haven't completely obsoleted other forms of market communication by any means.
Dave's right. However, managing the expectations and deliverables from the blog itself is key to measuring success or failure.
We Just Don't Have The Staff
Well, well, well. In reality, this is a very salient point. It's actually, what my conversations have found, what most people mean by the first excuse. When they evaluate the effectiveness, they are comparing the input to the output. Their expectations are quite high on the input side, which makes the output side seem smaller.
There are many, many misconceptions that I've heard. In reality, they're closer to half truths. Here are just a few:
- You have to be a good writer (nice to have, but conversation is great regardless)
- You have to write a lot (not required, but good to be regular)
- You have to have real expertise (see Squidoo, everyone's an expert, remember?
All that being said, it's true that resources are indeed required. There are lots of ways to re-purpose the other collateral generated by your business into useful blog content. In some cases, simply reacting to the news you hear can be enough. In a recent podcast by FuelDog and , this is definitely identified as one of the largest cost centers when launching blogs for events. Give it a listen.
People Will Make Negative Comments About Us
And they can't now? As the old saying goes, "Fight fire with fire." Certainly I am not proposing that you make negative comments about them in return, but that you engage their comments in the same medium. Consumers, especially angy, dissatisfied ones, are even more empowered with a variety of outlets for voicing their frustrations (and other sentiments) with the world at large.
I've been fond of telling business folk that the customers that are on the edges, either the good or bad, are the ones that will always be the most vocal. I'm either super excited about the treatment I received or completely irate and need to make sure no one ever works with you again. If the service was mediocre, so will be my desire/willingness to spread word of it.
Toby Bloomberg, by way of Kevin Holland, has a great post explaining what she's been encountering and her advice to the worried:
The #1 concern I'm hearing from organizations interested in exploring blogs to support marketing strategies is, "But what about the negative comments? How do we control people posting bad things about our brand or our company or our toilet paper?" Well...perhaps not TP but one never knows.
People. People. People. Marketing has changed. The world has changed. It changed while you were not looking. It changed when the internet and email made it easy for anyone to talk to the anyone in the world. Fifty years ago, my grandma's front piazza (porch) was where her world congregated to kibbutz. Now even 80-year old divas are on-line and writing blogs.
[...]
Since we're friends, I'll let you in a little secret. Understanding that companies no longer control the message (influence yes. control no.) and that customers have more power than ever before in "helping sell your product", you gain a huge advantage over your competition - those that are trying to swim upstream against the current. It's an exciting, new world. Don't be afraid to become apart of it.
Source: The Diva Marketing Blog, "5 Ways To Combat Negative Blog Comments"