Use Blogs for Market Awareness
Blogging Is Here to Stay and Provides Word-of-mouth Marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing is a great tool for creating "buzz". It is far easier to believe a real person than a contrived advertisement! One of the greatest changes in the last 10 years has been the creation of a "blogosphere" - where word-of-mouth by individuals is readily accessible and prolific.
Here are some ways you can use the blogosphere, and word-of-mouth marketing, in your marketing efforts:
1) Create Your Own Corporate or Product Blog Many high-tech companies are doing this quite successfully, and their customers watch their blogs for information regarding new product launches or added features. Check out the Microsoft and Apple blogs!
2) Hire Evangelists "Evangelists" are extensions of your marketing team who can either comment on popular blogs for you, or write to popular bloggers and ask them to feature your product or service on their blog. An Evangelist can be paid by the hour, or by the comment or post.
3) Use a Paid Blogging Service Although blog sites such as Techcrunch have publically criticized paid blogging services as degrading the integrity of the blog, the fact is that marketers have paid for product endorsements for many years without incident. These services bring together bloggers looking to monetize their blog with advertisers looking for endorsements. As long as the blogger somehow discloses to his or her audience that the post is paid, there should be no integrity issues. Two of the most popular sites to use are www.payperpost.com and www.smorty.com.
4) Comment on Blog Sites for Related Topics One word of caution on this, it is very important to make sure that you comment on RELEVANT blogs, and keep the comments relevant to the topic at hand. There is a lot of blog spam, and you don't want to be flagged as a spammer or removed by a spam removal tool. If you keep it relevant and make sure that your comment is well written, this is a good way to get some recognition and even an ongoing discussion.
5) Advertise on Popular Blogs You can create an ad and either approach the blog site directly or go through an affiliate program where affiliates get paid a percentage commission per sale. The most popular affiliate company is Commission Junction.
Blogging and the blogosphere have created an entirely new form of media, and one that provides many opportunities for the astute marketer! These are only some of the ways to use blogs and blogging as a tool, but present a good start.
