Talk to your customers and let them talk to you

October 6th, 2004

My friend Paul May at Verista alerted me to this post.

How Five Industries Are Missing the Blog Boat by Ben Silverman.

Silverman references online/internet guru B.L. Ochman in an article: Ten Companies That Missed Great Blog Opportunities who says.

Ochman’s list is an interesting one, and includes automaker DaimlerChrysler, coffee giant Starbucks, and all-in-one industrial lubricant maker WD-40 Company. The article got me thinking, once again, about how companies are missing the blogging opportunity. To this end, I’ve come up with my own list of five industries that are not capitalizing on the opportunity presented by blogs. My hope is that my ideas for these industries will fire off the chemicals in your head that lead to intelligent thoughts, and perhaps help foster some creative thinking about how your company or clients can use blogs as effective PR

The list is

1. Satellite radio
2. Pet Supply Retailers
3. Brokerage Firms
4. Airlines
5. Colleges

To be honest having been exposed to the medium of blogging I think there are a lot more.

I worry, that in the UK this phenomenon is still looked at as best something to be tolerated and worst ignored. But companies such as the Big Blog Company based in the UK that also run Samizdata who have a weekly global audience of 56,000 unique visitors no less. Demonstrate, that this is not a US/ Californian fad.

My advice to marketers/CEO’s etc. is look at blogs, investigate and think deeply about how you can engage with your customers and your workforce.

Talk to your communities before they talk about YOU!

We know there are far more than five types of company or industry that could use blogging effectively. As the UK internet penetration increases, as it will. This tool will become not only useful, it will become necessary.

For SMLXL blogging is another component in the arsenal for creating and delivering assets for business and brands that could deliver the kiss-of-life differentiation that they are seeking. In the, no-holds-barred, free-for-all competition that is modern business life.

Additional reading: Blogging the Observer
Differentiate or die

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