Blog for Business

Deepak Chopra is a highly respected physician who lectures and writes on the topic of human development. I happened to stumble upon his most recent program on PBS tonight. Brilliant guy who brings a uniquely informed perspective to thoughts on how to live life peacefully, joyfully, "effectively." I put quotes around that because we in business are so often focused on effectiveness instead of authenticity. Effective has to do with results; authenticity has to do with principles and emotion.

It's wondrous to hear a high-profile scientist of this type talk about the absolutely pivotal role our emotions play in the successful living of every day life. We love our bottom lines, that's for sure, but he's telling us the other stuff--how we feel, how our employees feel, how our customers feel--is at least as important, if not more.

Imagine. Another powerful reason to use your true voice and communicate in newsletters and blogs.

We are spending more on advertising, according to industry experts cited in today's New York Times online. And they're singing hopeful tunes, especially about the second half of 2004.

But it's interesting that they admit the "quadrennial effect" is at work--huge spending that takes place during political campaigns and to herald the upcoming Summer Olympics. The main legitimate business source of increase is clearly advertising on the Internet.

That trend is the biggest vote of confidence you could ever have in the value of starting your business blog now. Where the money goes is where the attention of business owners is going. You need to be there, too. But you need to be there in a fresh, compelling, original and honest way--if you're going to stand out from the crowd.

A new e-book will be available on this site soon entitled: "Blog for Business--How to Attract Loyal, Profitable Customers--and Hold onto Them." Every step of setting up your business blog process explained in simple, easy language.

Email here and let us know you'd like to reserve your copy.

In Northeast Ohio we've had some passionate carrying on over the last year or so about "to build or not to build" a new convention center. Violent arguments on both sides have virtually canceled each other out, and the courageous final decision of cit government was not to proceed.

Discussion still rages in some quarters, though. In a popular Cleveland-based blog portal (BFD...and no, it's not what you think), people are still being quoted on the subject. So here's what I decided to write--because it really relates to the topic of this site: the power of blogging for business.

"A convention center seems an outmoded idea for building a city, since the trend appears to be towards fewer and fewer trade shows.

With the power of webcasting and other interactive technologies and the growing understanding of how to implement well-managed communication campaigns (including corporate blogs), the need to allocate precious resources towards huge generalized industry gatherings is fading. The point of those was to introduce people to each other who might never otherwise have found each other. We now have far less resource-intensive, less stressful and less expensive ways to do that."

Want prospects to find you? Do a strong, relevant, honest blog--and they will.

Starting with the state of Texas, WalMart is demanding that suppliers put RFID (radio frequency ID) tags on pallets of merchandise. Like the tracking systems that let shippers and buyers know exactly where the trucks carrying their orders are, now they're doing the same for the t-shirts and shoes and bottled pop IN the trucks. Complete visibility for all interested parties (shippers, buyers, truckers, store personnel, etc.).

Video and web conferencing for real-time meetings without anyone having to leave their own offices. Person-to-person presence awareness (okay, yeah, it sounds pretty corporate-speak, but it just means systems and machines that can tell whether you're there or not when someone wants to call you or send you an Instant Message. All of this is reported in a recent issue of Information Week.

Talk about paring down the time needed to put people and products together! Tighter inventory controls and less time wasted searching for materials or people, even in far-flung locations. Money and time saved exchanging information and solving problems.

How does blogging fit into this picture of instant, real-time communication? Well, sometimes you're not quite ready to have a virtual meeting, or you're not in your office for the 'presence awareness' function to detect you, or maybe you just want to be left alone a while. Either way you undoubtedly still have thoughts about the topic at hand that others would find it useful to know. Because we all know some of our best ideas occur to us in the shower, or the car, or the bed.

Sharing your thoughts in a blog--perhaps on an intranet for internal matters--as you work through your research and prepare for the real-time meeting, lets everyone get the benefit of each others' thoughts before the meeting. Of course, there may be some reason you want to surprise everyone with your ideas--hopefully not because you're trying to score a political coup.

But it only makes sense that sharing with each other ahead of time will make the meeting more productive when it happens. Who knows? It might even eliminate the need for some of those meetings...

I don't know about you, but it sounds like a win-win to me

Microsoft has taken strides towards actually sharing more of its technology according to an article in the New York Times online by Steve Lohr.

"...more royalty-free licensing, especially to industry groups setting software standards for machine-to-machine communication and data sharing, known as Web services...essential building blocks for the further development and growth of Internet commerce."

Whether Microsoft is being opportunistic about this or not is not the point. This giant corporation has finally decided there is value in sharing knowledge. I don't know about you, but to me this has the earmarks of a huge breakthrough.

Next step: Microsoft executives blogging about their technology. What do you think?

The Quill, a quasi-scholarly publication of the Society of Professional Journalists, has been arriving in my mailbox for the last few months because I became a member of that well-respected group this year. I glance through it, but much of their content is related to traditional journalistic discussions rather than to the concerns of business. Some business writers have been known sometimes to find that approach a tiny bit self-important.

Imagine my surprise, then, to see two articles in this month's edition ("Hard News versus Narrative") that deal with the struggle of a few veteran journalists to convince the denizens of their world that they ought to be telling stories instead of rigidly following the 5-W format (who, what, where, when, why) for their reporting.

One high-profile journalist, Tom Hallman, Jr., laments his inability to keep up with requests from young journalists about how to tell stories in warm, personal terms. Call me crazy, but I see this as the tail following the dog...the dog being the trend that has spawned the phenomenon of blogging--the need to take a simple, honest, individual-voice approach to writing--even for "news" stories.

The point is--you want people to read what you write! And because the competition for people's attention (just like for your business) has multiplied exponentially with every improvement in the Internet, you just aren't as likely to get what you want with the old-fashioned marketing approaches.

People do not have time to read pre-digested, uninspired, impersonal stuff. Write as if you were telling your friend about whatever you are frustrated, angry or overjoyed about.

People want to read writing that's from the heart. How close to your heart is your business? So, write!

Well, this answer doesn't actually get rid of spam; instead it cleverly bypasses the problem.

As you build your communications program with your prospects, customers and vendors, you will naturally be using email. Is there a danger of getting lost in the spam? Some, yes. But it's not critical, because they already know you and trust you, right?

But suppose they don't (know you and trust you)? How do you cut through the spam clutter to reach someone by email? It's truly a tough assignment. Legislation is being considered that will make it even tougher. According to an article in this week's "eWeek" magazine, spam will spread even more as wireless becomes ubiquitous. Get this: Spam on wireless phones has already become a gigantic issue in China and Japan. Imagine: A hundred bogus phone calls on a cell phone...

What's a CEO or marketing executive to do?

One powerful approach: blog. When you create and maintain a blog full of valuable content and honest communication, your readers automatically begin introducing you to other people who want and need your products and services.

Soon your emails (if well written and full of value--like your blog) will become golden treasures to your prospects and customers. Because your blog is a place of comfort they can come when they need information about your service. No pressure. Come as you are. Reliable. Honest.

You will be playing the Ace of viral marketing to build your credibility and create the trusted relationships that attract loyal, profitable customers.

It is with jubilation that we announce the release of another Blog-for-Business case study. Anita Campbell, a former CEO of an e-commerce division of Bell & Howell, is also a keen observer of the business and technology scene.

She doesn't miss much and she sure hasn't missed out on the blogging for business trend. Here's her blog. Now check out the case study.

Several months ago I canceled my cable--because of Joe Dominguez who, in his wonderful book from the 70s Your Money or Your Life, pointed out that how we spend--our money, our time, our resources--should reflect our real values in life. I thought about the 40 bucks for the cable and realized I didn't value it that much.

(By the way, the numbers in Joe's book are dated, but the methodology he explains is still just as valuable for evaluating your spending.)

Having no cable was strange at first. But after a few weeks I rediscovered an incredibly rich resource, PBS, and discovered a new source for very high quality entertainment: Oh! (Oxygen). Besides the excellent movies--high quality acting in stories that consistently educate and inspire as they entertain--for the first time I got to see the gazillionly-rich-unbelievably-famous Oprah Winfrey on her "Oprah After The Show" show--a half hour segment of free-flowing thought exchange she does with her audience and guests after the filming of the regular program.

And this morning, I realized something else: that show is an animated-3D-plus-audio version of blogging. "Unscripted, unrehearsed" is the way they describe it. Well, well, just like a good blog. Check it out sometime.

Did you know that Information Week recently reported results of a survey that said besides security execs, managers who supply "content" (read: websites, blogs, newsletters) would receive the highest raises in corporate America?

If you like what this new tool does for you and you find your staff members are getting too busy to do it properly, assign a piece of your budget to hiring a professional. You need to keep doing what works...

Next: Who can help? What to look for in a professional.

By the way, blessings and good wishes for a Thanksgiving day full of gratitude and appreciation for all that you have and all that you are and all that you have to give.