Businesses Embrace Blogging

Well it’s no secret that we at the Email Yogi are blog fans, the approach is a great way to build your brand, increase your natural search and incorporate user generated content into your marketing mix. We also realize that the first step into the blog-isphere can be a difficult one – for many companies.

According to an article by Rich Karpinski in the June 9 edition of BtoB Magazine, only about 12% of Fortune 500 companies are running a corporate blog. The article went on to discuss more than numbers, there was a great deal of insight on best practices, the evolution and importance of the medium and how to measure successes.

We echo Karpinski’s best practices approach (listed in the print edition):

• Start Small – Start with monitoring conversations from customers/ prospects.
• Make a True Dialogue – You need a two-way conversation, not just a repository for your existing marketing materials.
• Find the right Mix – Dedicate a “chief blogger” and incorporate subject matter experts, executives etc. as needed.
• Maintain your Blog – Respond quickly to comments.
• Have fun – This ties back with the dialogue needed, state your POV.
• Don’t Stop – There may be more to enhance your blog – video, wikis etc. Keep adding as necessary to fit with your marketing needs.

In addition, we recommend monitoring other blogs to help you find your style and approach. Get out there and good luck.

Yogi makes 300

Today is an exciting day for those the behind the scenes crew at the Email Yogi Blog, you are reading our 300th post.

We began this journey in November 2006 and since then have brought you insightful tips, invitations to events, the occasional spunky story and passed along a great deal of praise for campaigns, practices and articles we admire. We’d like to share some of our must reads, the top five articles that can catch you up to speed on the past 299 posts contained here:

Don't Do This! Here are a few tips to employ when establishing your eMarketing mantra (om… om... om...)

Thou Shalt... read this article for advice on constructing a strong subscription page.

Survey Insight is just a click away, learn how to ask the right questions and get the most useful information to leverage in future communications.

My Customers, My Fans… if you’re looking for loyalty, start with your customers. This post tells you how best to turn your loyal customers into raving fans.

… and who can forget the infamous Rick Stroud, here’s a link to one of his most enjoyed contributions CustomerPower named in the Mitchell Report. This is just a little glimpse into the cast of characters we have based in Columbia.

Thank you to all our readers, hopefully you’ll be on board of the next 300.

M2.0: Blogs

I finish my Teradata User Group presentation with a “How To” application – specifically highlighting the use of blogs into your marketing mix. My belief is that a blog is the easiest way to enter into the M2.0 realm – it’s an extension of your website and can be home for your YouTube video links, links to Social Networking sites and/ or your Twitter block.

For this section, I highlight 1154 LILL Studio – because I’m a bag-a-holic and because I have killer props. I also get to highlight their recent contest, Where has your LILL bag been? a contest that I served as model.

For those of you familiar will 1154 LILL, you know they offer custom handbags through their website, four boutiques and LILL-on-Location reps. I highlight their blog, because I think they’ve done a great job translating their in store experience in an online channel. They feature team members, fashion trends, refreshment recipes for LILL-on-Location parties and even contests – hopefully, I get extra props for touring my bag around Melbourne this week.

What the heck is M 2.0?

If you were to open a business, you need to let people know that you are in business. In the “good ole days” all you did was call the phone company and you were in the book. Some people went the extra mile and registered with the Better Business Bureau, hosted a grand opening or did a little advertising. These still apply but given the challenges and opportunities today, it’s fascinating what David can accomplish with all the Goliaths out there.

Here are a few (Web 2.0) things to consider to enhance your presence:
1. Your website – This is your imprint for the online world and an absolute to let people find you. Keep it simple and current, and try to engage people – but don't stop there.

2. Your email list – Ask people to sign up, ask them for preferences, communicate with them on a regular basis. Overstock.com, Paul Fredrick Menstyle and King Arthur Flour are three companies that do an outstanding job in getting people to sign up.

3. Your blog – Keep this current; incorporate customer feedback, product information, testimonials, email campaign information and editorials – all written with a passion to keep users engaged. The Craving Anthropologie blog is a masterpiece; Stave Puzzles and Duncraft also have great special interest blogs. An up-and-comer in this space is the blog of 1154 LILL Studio’s.

4. Your MySpace & Facebook Page – Set up an online profile about your company, feature key people within your company. If you are a financial institution – feature your reps, if you are a consumer products company – feature some of the personas that you market to, if you are a B2B company – feature the difference you are making in society, if you are selling a city – market it and so on. This is how the new generation will find you, and we better learn to be connected.

5. Twitter – Remember the Dell Dude? People enjoyed looking for him – now people track their favorites on Twitter – just remember to keep it brief.

6. Flickr a little – Why not put images up so people can find them, if people can see a delicious desert on Facebook with a note that it was put together with the finest ingredients from King Arthur Flour – odds are they will visit the site to learn a little more.

7. YouTube is cool – This weekend, we enjoyed watching two hours worth of clips with the kids – all different kinds of videos. A couple of months ago Britton’s of Columbia posted a video on how to tie a bow tie; the Masai shoe is so aptly displayed in a video from Herrington Catalog (part of their site). Of course you may have already heard the story of BlendTec. The point is that we should look for ways to engage the user through infomercials, as well as testimonial videos – linking all of it back.

8. Surveys are vital – we always want to know what our customers are thinking and how we can help them even more. Design Toscano does a great job in engaging their users for feedback. The key point is that you should always look for reasons to ask questions and try to leverage this information for future communiqués.

9. Podcasts are effective too – Why not record customer testimonials and play them on your site. Same thing for a bank – have someone provide a daily update on the rates and the market performance, trends, etc. Set these up on your site so people can come and be entertained as well as engaged.

10. Mashups are good way to integrate – think of it as a site cocktail, for instance you can combine mapping sites (Google or Yahoo!) and overlay apartment listings or traffic information. There are a couple sites that make it possible – visit Popfly or Yahoo! Pipes

So how do you use these Web 2.0 techniques? Yogis define M2.0 as new era marketing, in a recent seminar on M2.0 in Woodstock, VT, Reagan Taylor defined M2.0 as a strategy and tactics that leverage Web 2.0 technologies. The beauty of M2.0 according to Taylor is that all of this can be done on a minimum budget. Look for future seminars on M2.0 – we’re planning on in Atlanta soon.

Great Blogs!

Here are a couple of great blogs by some retailers we know:

Ibex Buzz - Ibex's blog does a great job of showing customer feedback as well as reason why their wool performance clothing is the best. This goes a long way into promoting them as the experts they are, and to showcase their new products and site design.

Duncraft's Wild Bird Blog - Duncraft sells birdfeeders and other supplies for animal watchers. Their blog does a fantastic job of feeding into their customer base's interest in wildlife and birds. They also use the blog to effectively engage their readers with fun surveys, like voting on their favorite bathing beauty.

Phil the Cable Guy - An oldie but a goodie, Time Warner Cable's blog highlights all the best in new shows and channels that will be featured on Time Warner Cable.

If you've been thinking about doing a blog for your brand, take a look at what these folks are doing, and see what things you like about their blogs that you would like to add to your own site.

Blogs of Note

Here are a few marketing and tech blogs for you to look at over the weekend:

MySCIMA Blog - The blog of the South Carolina Interactive Marketers Association.
Internet Marketing for Local and Small Business - A great blog for basics on eMarketing.
Yahoo Tech Blogs - a good blog for keeping up on the cutting edge.
Geek Sugar - great blog for the tech geek in you.

Maybe you'll add these to your regular reading list too.

Inspect for what you Expect

In a former job-life I was part of the insurance industry, working for a very wise man who ultimately sold his company to “one of the nation's leading diversified healthcare benefits companies.” He was always spouting one-liners, one of which was “Inspect for what you Expect.” I can only imagine that would be one of his comments after reading about Google’s recent mishap.

Yesterday’s Computerworld article reported how Google mistook it’s own blog for SPAM and then deleted it. Their Custom Search Blog offers tips for users of their Custom Search Engine software, apparently Blogger’s SPAM classifier misidentified this blog. From there a matter of timing and a joke post led to the disabling of the blog. The blog is currently up and running without issue – but serves as a lesson to all of us, be sure to pay attention and test, test, test!

Engaging Customers with a Blog

We've talked in the past about engaging your customers with your blog. Duncraft Bird Feeders has done an excellent job with their blog to do this. They ran a photo contest from their blog recently; and today's post revealed the winner, as voted on by customers.

In addition, they pointed readers of their email newsletter to the blog, announcing these contest winners, thus making this a true multichannel effort, and really engaging their customers as a result.

An excellent example for those looking for ways to use a blog to interact with their customer base.

Twitter - Part 2

A month or so ago, we talked about Twitter, the new social media/blog tool/Instant Messenger application that allows users to post 140 character messages via the web, instant messenger, Cell Phone or even browser plug in. Users can also choose to have the updates to those they choose to follow pushed to their phones via text message, to an RSS feed, to Instant Messenger, or other apps.

Since we've talked about the service, we've come across other businesses that are using Twitter to reach their customers:

Amazon is using the service to push out daily deals on clearance items from their store.

JetBlue is now using Twitter to push out special flight deals, as information on things like their new in-flight magazine, contests, and more.

Wine Enthusiast is sending out updates on new products that have been added to their site, along with links to the new products.

The thing to keep in mind here is that these companies are using a totally opt in technology to send customers who are actively engaged in their message. The service is free to sign up for an use. Why not try it?

Tomorrow, the World!

Compared to others on the team I’m a blog-novice; however, today’s Computerworld shows there’s hope for all of us.

One of their articles, entitled Corporate Blogs Take On an Edge, details how some large companies are entering the blog space in some unconventional ways – including blog topics on school district cases/ rulings and expanding the world wide web into outer space (we’ll have to include Mars on the ESP Target list!)

Take a look at Heather Havenstein’s article and consider how you may be able to use this medium for your company; need additional help, visit the SCIMA website for a copy of Phil’s Ready, Set, Blog presentation.

Reminder - MySCIMA Meeting today!

Just another reminder that today's MySCIMA meeting will be today at 4pm at the SC State Museum. Today's meeting will be about how to get started with your very own blog. If you're in the South Carolina or North Carolina area, please come by - it's absolutely free!

Also, check out the new MySCIMA Blog!

Ode to SCIMA Speaker

Our Tuesday SCIMA meeting will feature Philip Looney – AKA Phil the Cable Guy, AKA Chief Yogi Blogger.

I met Philip three years ago, when he was an online marketing manager at Time Warner Cable. I found him to be very attentive and analytical; we often brainstormed about where the web was headed. One such conversation included Phil’s idea to kick off a blog – Phil the Cable Guy – a site that has become the defacto blog in cable; with many others coping his style.

I invited Philip to join a team of marketers (Panel of Peers) and then ultimately join our team. Today, Phil mentors others about the importance of blogs and how this medium is an interesting way to get their message out; he has even helped many companies and individuals get their blogs started.

Here are some of his tips with my own Yogi-spin:

1. Keep it personal – anecdotes can go a long way in relaying your message
2. Set a regular schedule (if possible keep it going more than once a day)
3. Create a sense of awareness about your blog
4. Short bursts of information can be as beneficial as longer articles
5. Make it an interactive conversation – keep asking for feedback; you can create new articles based on the type of feedback received.

Have a blog you want to improve, want help getting your blog started or simply want to learn more? Join us tomorrow for our July SCIMA Meeting at the State Museum; we begin at 4:00.

MySCIMA - July 24!

Just a heads up to all locals; the next MySCIMA meeting will be on Tuesday July 24 from 4 - 5:30pm. This month's meeting will be held at the SC State Museum.

This month's topic will be "How to get Blogging", and will be presented by yours truly. We hope you can make it out!

For more details, click here.

AND - Check out these photos from last month's event!