Marketing with Corporate Blogs:
Customers are willing to talk if you are
willing to listen
John Cass,
Director of Marketing,
ideaLaunch

Today’s Agenda

Today’s Agenda

Today’s Agenda

Baby Boomers
• 78 million
• 25% (Nov, 2008).
• Changed the landscape.
• Born – 1946 – 1964.

Generation X
• 62 million
• 20% (Nov, 2008)
• Shadow of Baby
Boomers.
• Born – 1965 – 1979.

Generation Y
• 92 million
• 30% (Nov, 2008)
• Changing the
landscape.
• Born – 1980 – 2001.

Digital Natives
People access news online and
local TV news.
Ball State University Center for Media Design “A Day in the Life: An
Ethnographic Study of Media Consumption”

Group Conversation

Cut Through The Clutter
• Need to filter incredible amount of information.
• Advertising noise, seen as an interruption.
• Distrust of corporate messages.
• Consumer desire for greater control and
engagement.

To connect with Gen Y
online…

Strategy to reach them is Content Marketing and
social media engagement…

Develop compelling content that people
want to read.

What Makes Compelling Blog Content?
• Culture
 Foster culture of openness.
• Transparency
 Be open about who you are, and reveal any connections.
• Time
 Understand the level of commitment needed.
• Dialogue
• Key to building trust through authenticity.
• Entertaining writing style and personalization
• Humor and personality do bring back readers.

Use that content to engage your
Gen Y audience.
Digital Natives

Non Digital Natives
Also how the web works for Gen
X and Boomers.

Why Blog?
Blogging is a content marketing strategy
that combines both SEO & Social
Media

A little about the SEO side of things

Google Sponsored & Organic

Keywords Your Audience
Uses

Indexable Site

Links From Sites With Keywords
Your Audience Uses

Blogs Are Perfect For How The
Eco-System Of the Web Works

Blogs Are Not Just About
Compelling Content

Blogging Infrastructure

• Build a blogging plan
– Goals
– Comments, who, when, what
– Measurement
• Blogging Assessment
– Research list of keywords
– Build list of blogs
– Tools for research and monitoring
– Help determine how much you need to blog in your community
– Enable you to develop a content strategy
• Understand Company Capabilities
– Culture? People? Resources? Time?
– Will your community provide the benefits you seek?

PR Blogging Community

Nokia N90 Blogger Relations Blog

Dell Hell

Blood, Sweat, and a Couple of Spreadsheets
• March 2006 customer outreach
• August 2006 sentiment monitoring 49% to 22%
• New model for customer outreach – Sentiment
• New tools for monitoring & customer engagement

Blogger Relations Tactics
• Media relations is not blogger relations.
• But it can be….
• Blogging conversation is the key, monitor the
community, post articles and comment on other
blogs.
• To be successful you have to engage people on
your blog and across social media communities.

Sustain Evangelists, Sustain the Community
Blog
Twitter

Blogger Relations Tactics

Seize the Opportunity
of the next decade!
1) Build a social media
engagement strategy.
2) Include a blog in the
strategy.
3) Listen to put your company
in context.
4) Learn how to market to Gen
Y even if you don’t sell to
Gen Y as Gen Y changes
society.
* Image courtesy of Dietmar Temps, via Flickr

Connect
– LinkedIn: John Cass
– Facebook: John Cass
– Twitter: @johncass
– Cell: 339-368-1955