Blogs as Excellent Public Relations Tools
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By writing about your industry, reviewing products, providing company news, and commenting on various business and economics issues, your blog is a ready source of news stories. By writing in a style that reflects your personality, along with your expertise in the industry, journalists will consider you to be an industry expert.
As competition for available media coverage tightens in a sea of press releases and attention stealing publicity stunts, it is harder than ever for a business to gain much needed publicity. A business person is often at a complete loss as to how to get media coverage of a worthwhile business story.
Getting someone to hear the message is half the battle. Having the members of the media consider it newsworthy is the other half. Somewhere, there must be another vehicle that can gain the attention of an already swamped news editor. Help for the publicity seeking business person has arrived in the form of the blog.
A growing number of journalists and news editors are reading blogs on a daily basis to find new and interesting story ideas. Often faster and more efficient than reading press releases, blog entries are likely to yield targeted short and feature article material. When teamed with an RSS news feed, which employs the same technology as stock market and weather forecasts, a blog can provide an instant pipeline directly to interested media outlets.
Blogs provide a unique and personal way to communicate with current and prospective customers. By talking to people, in a conversational manner, a blog puts a human face on a company, that is difficult to duplicate in any other way.
The more casual and comparatively unfiltered voice of the blogger creates the image of a business as being composed of real people like you. Instead of being a nameless and faceless corporation, the blog helps the people in the company to come alive in their posts.
Should a disaster happen either to the business or its customers, a business blog provides an immediate and personalized vehicle to discuss the issue with the public. Instead of the "spin" usually associated with public relations, the blog can serve as an honest and concerned pipeline directly to the public.
By addressing the issues openly and honestly, the business can regain and even increase the public's trust. Concerned customers and the general public will view the blog as giving the straight answers. Such trust will only help enhance the business's reputation, both in the short and long run.
Next: The Value of Personalization >>
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