As business blogs will become mainstream, the question is how it will change PR business. Reality seems not so bright for traditional, stubborn PR agencies who deny web 2.0 reality and still live in web 1.0 world.

Today news are announced by sending a press release to media. Will it be enough in the future to post a post in a business blog announcing the news?

I don’t know. It’s hard to predict the future.

The best way to announce news

Today the best way to announce news is to post a post in a business blog and also to send a usual press release to media. Chances are big that media are not subscribing to your business blog feeds, so a press release is necessary.

But a post about news in a business blog is necessary too, because it will be read by your customers, by your brand fans and the news have much more chances to spread across the world than by just sending a press release.

Why miss the chance to inform your customers directly? If you want an example how some smart companies are doing it, please check one of my favorite business blogs from Lenovo, Inside the Box. Just look, how they wrote about the news, how readers responded, how conversations are developing, how many valuable suggestions Lenovo is receiving from readers and worshipers.

One more reason to have a business blog

There is one more reason to have a business blog. It helps to spread the news across the globe.

But… But your business blog should be well established, with thoughtful posts valued by your customers.

The more useful to your industry your business blog is, the more chances are that it will be read by your industry journalists.

In this case, even if you don’t bother to send a press release, journalists will find your post and may be interested to write a story about you.

A well-known business blog is an advantage

In some cases, if you have a respectable and well-known business blog, if your news are closely related to your business and to your community it can be enough to only post a post in your business blog.

Sure, sending a good written press release never hurts, but in this case is it worth your time and money?

So, dear CEO, why not to start a business blog today?

Tags: PR, PR agencies, web 2.0, web 1.0, Lenovo, Inside the Box, press release, business blog, CEO

How to increase the visual appeal of women’s basketball and how to market it using web 2.0 tools - these are the issues that are very actual today in women’s basketball and highly need to be solved.

What to do?

What general managers of women’s basketball teams should do?

The new e-book The 2 Marketing Steps Every Women’s Basketball Team Should Make covers all the answers.

The e-book consists of two parts. The first part, where the major contribution is from my co-author Valentinas Navikauskas, is about how to increase the visual appeal of women’s basketball.

The second part (where my ideas are expressed) consists of defining the winning marketing strategy of women’s basketball and the tactics of how to make the strategy work using the web 2.0 tools.

This e-book’s purpose is to show to clubs and national team managers the missed opportunities in promotion of women’s basketball and to prompt to action to exploit them. These actions lie not in expensive promotions, but on the contrary, they will help to earn more money - money from advertisers, sponsors, from selling more tickets.

The point is when you will start the changes in your team’s marketing. Teams, that started these changes right now in the next season can have the first results. Teams, waiting a couple of years, will achieve the results couple years later. Or even more later, because first movers will have the biggest attention of media, fans, sponsors.

In fact, this e-book can be also useful to all other women’s sports managers. And some ideas, especially from the second part could be applied by men’s sports as well.

We hope that it will be a useful handbook and that at least one idea of this plan will be implemented by club or national team. So, press on the link of The 2 Marketing Steps Every Women’s Basketball Team Should Make, download and read it. Do not forget to write a review here! Thank you!

1. No person.

A business blog is a PERSONAL blog of a company CEO or founder or other high-ranking executive. Do not let the committee to decide what you must write there and do not hire writers to write posts instead of you.

Be personal, include your real photo, bio, let your business blog be the extention of your personality.

2. Too much person.

Another extreme of personality – too much of your person – is as bad as the first one. Remember, this is your BUSINESS blog, not personal diary and all stories about your family, kids, pets, hobbies, political issues are needless except when they are the part of your story about business.

Finding the right balance between anonimity and irrelevance to your business personality is art, but you must master it.

3. Business blog does not fit to the marketing strategy.

Your business blog should spread ideas that express your worldview, your companys difference from competitors, your uniqueness. All marketing strategy should be built around this uniqueness, so your business blog must confirm this one more time.

When you write a post for your business blog, think not about short-term result, but long-term impact on your business. Your marketing strategy is about long-term success, right? So, your business blog is about long-term impact to your readers.

4. Hard selling in your business blog.

Business blog is about information, relationship with audience, knowledge but not about the hard sell of your products. For hard sell you have your company’s site, please leave the business blog for the expression of your wordview.

It’s OK to have some banners and links in your blog pointing to your commercial pages where hard sell occurs, but please, do not even think about writing a post consisting of hard sell of your products.

A better idea is to sell your worldview, your thinking, your values and find prospects who think like you. But pushing hard just throws away your readers and you will not benefit from that.

Your business blog is your idea spreading channel, not the sales channel. Don’t try to sell, share knowledge, promote your wordview instead. Blogging is about sharing, not selling.

5. Censorship of readers comments.

Sure, you should moderate comments and prevent your blog from spam, rudity, personal assaults to you or commentators but you must leave negative comments.

Negative comments are part of your business blog and they are not necessary the bad thing. One reader of my Lithuanian blog once said to me ”when I was reading these negative comments I was convinced of your rightness”.

If negativeness is about your product quality, maybe your readers are right and you must pay more attention to your products? To service staff?

Just answer correctly and take action, negative comments can be as valuable as positive. Do not change comments, change your standpoint to them!

6. Posting in the sake of posting.

This flaw arises because of so popular believe that ”you must post frequently”. No, you don’t. Don’t write a post because you feel that you must post something on your blog. Write only when you have something useful to your readers, to your brand.

7. Hiring an advertising agency to launch and manage your business blog.

Sorry, but usual advertising agencies don’t understand web 2.0 world. One-way communication is so ingrained in their thinking. Two-way conversation in web 2.0 age makes them so unsecure. When it comes to internet, advertising agencies still live in 1.0 world and focuse on esthetics, flash, animation, programming features and pay so little attention to the main feature of web 2.0 – conversation, the two-way communication. Accustomed to advertising world, they still live in advertising age, not web 2.0 age. Sorry, but the old rules don’t work in here.

Tags: business blog, marketing strategy, Censorship, top 7, top 7 flaws, moderation

If you are a CEO, you must start a blog.

A personal blog is about your company’s difference from competitors. About your brand’s difference from competitors brands.

All your marketing messages must reinforce the difference, stated in your blog.

If you are a CEO of big company, your blog must be a guide for your marketing department.

Your PR agency must create messages that reinforce your difference from competitors. The difference expressed in your blog. If not – fire this agency.

Your advertising agency must read your blog and create commercials, that reinforce the message of your blog. If not – fire this agency.

Your sales force must sell, using promise, expressed in your blog. If not…

Your production manager must act, following your brand difference, expressed in your blog.

Your R&D team must concentrate in areas that reinforce your brand difference, expressed in your blog.

Throw out mission and vision statements, company mantra, beliefs, core value, brand promise and all other corpstuff, filled with corptalk. Now you have a blog with sincerely written personal posts.

Letter to shareholders? Forget it. Now you have the blog. Attention! Even this post must dramatize difference from the competitors brands.

Not differences, but difference. The same main difference, why your customers are buying from you not from your competitors.

You are a CEO?

If you are a CEO, you must start a blog.

Tags: CEO, marketing, start a blog

In my consulting practice CEOs often have a fear to start a business blog.

That’s understandable.

We all have a fear of things which we don’t understand, we fear actions we don’t know how to do, where to start.

Business blogging is a new tool for managers, so they feel uncomfortable with this idea. They simply have too little information how to start, about how to run a business blog.

For those managers who want to start a business blog but are uncertain about their actions, there are top 7 things to do before starting a business blog. Let’s check them.

1. Decide what internet domain you will use. You have at least two choices – use your company’s domain (for example, www.yourcompany.com/blog) or register a different domain. Both have pros and cons.

You must have your own domain name, not free alternative from WordPress or Google or other provider. The address is your property and you should build business on your property, not others.

2. Decide whether it will be your solo blog or there will be occasional guests from your company. Mostly it depends on business of your company. Tom Peters does a nice job by letting his employees to post on his business blog.

3. Choose a publishing platform of your blog. I recommend WordPress, because it is powerful and free. Others also may be good and it can be OK to choose a different one, just check the possibility to create a blog on your own domain.

4. Find a blog coach and (if you feel a need) an editor. Most managers fear to start writing, so a good blog coach is welcome. Just find a person you are comfortable to discuss with, who doesn’t hesitate to say all the truth about your writing, who is a believer of your efforts.

5. Write down your blog topic in one sentence. If you are a founder, an owner, a CEO or General Manager – this must be the answer, why your customers must buy from you instead of competitors. If your sentence is different, double check it. Maybe your blog doesn’t fit your marketing strategy. More about it you can read in my e-book The New Rules of Business Blogs in the chapter about strategy.

6. Write the first post like a manifesto. Explain to early readers what they can expect to find here. Usually it is hard to decide with what topic to start and such manifesto often is the best solution.

7. Start to write not too perfect posts. You must start to write. Especially at the beginning, it is far better to write an average post than not to write any post at all. You must start practicing and not to worry about perfection. Perfection will come with your experience in blogging.

Bonus tip. Start reading a lot of other business blogs. Start leaving comments on other blogs. By reading you will better understand blogging and web 2.0 environment. By leaving comments you will shape your writing.

For most questions to be answered correctly I recommend to hire an experienced consultant of this area. Not a PR or worse – advertising agency, but a consultant who specializes in business blogging. You will save a lot of money if you avoid mistakes in this process. I am not saying that your company depends on it, but frequently there is a big stake and better to have a pro on your side. Trust me, it pays off.

In future I will post Top 7 flaws of business blogs and Top 7 improper excuses for not having a business blog. If you don’t want to miss them, subscribe to this blog via RSS or e-mail.

Have any more tips? Leave them in the comment section!

Tags: business blog, Business blogging, blog, blog coach, web 2.0, The New Rules of Business Blogs, Tom Peters, Tips, Top 7, blog editor

Marketing 2.0 is not a hard push of advertising to national TV. Too big noise, shrinking audience, skeptic society makes old-school marketers less and less relevant.

The old-school marketing tactics was simple – create a 30 second spot, buy time on national TV and you are the king.

Not true anymore.

The old way of communication when companies spoke through ads or, at the best case, through PR department, are loosing efficiency.

Change from advertising to conversation

Nature of communication between companies and customers are changing. Today customers are skeptic, they have a huge amount of information between their fingertips, they are googling your company, your products, your services. And they end up listening to the third party sources and are reading references of your past buyers.

New social media tools are gaining populiarity and even Consumer Reports are facing huge competition with forums or blogs.

The best what you can expect – that your potential customers when they make a decision will come to read blogs, written by your employees. Not your ads, because they don’t trust them anymore, but your blogs.

In most cases it will look like the conversation between people who happen to work in your company with people who happen to be your customers.

No matter how conversation happens, what counts is the customers belief that the people who are blogging or posting in forums, or twittering or talking in any other place are the experts in their fields and are fairly neutral and honest.

That’s why in most businesses social things are so valuable.

A CEO must lead the company’s conversation with customers

Sure, the most common social thing in the new web 2.0 age – a blog.

A blog from your company’s employee with an expertise in his field is one of the most valuable marketing tools today.

The best case is the business blog from the CEO of the company. The highest authority tends to be the most listened and the most reliable source by customers and prospects.

But this business blog must be a business blog, written by the CEO, not by the PR or advertising department. Yes, a CEO can have a blog editor, or a blog coach, but all posts should be written by himself personaly.

Because this is not the company’s communication to customers, this is people’s who happen to be the CEOs of the company conversation with people who happen to read the CEO’s blog and happen to be the customers.

The role of CEOs are changing from managing to influencing

Little by little the time of brutual advertising campaigns are passing away.

The time of conversation, honesty, experience, expertise has started.

Today a CEO must stand in the front of that.

Many smart and most successful CEOs are already taking conversations with customers.

In previous times, when conversation was impossible due to technological issues, the most successful CEOs spoke to customers through media. It helped them to build a company and brand.

Now CEOs have a huge opportunity to bypass media and to stand in the forefront of this conversation. And that’s the biggest challenge and opportunity for a CEO.

Because, like Seth Godin said, “People don’t listen to companies, they listen to people”.

Dear CEOs, are you ready?

Tags: Marketing 2.0, old-school marketing, communication, business blog, Seth Godin

No doubt, in the future most of CEOs of successful companies will have a business blog.

But before that they must come up with the biggest problem in conglomerate’s world – megabranding.

If you have two brands, for which you will stand for? I mean, for which you will create a personal business blog? What if you have three brands? Four? Five?

OK, if these brands are well-connected like Apple and iPod. Because they are well-connected, complementary and non-competitive brands, Steve Jobs can stay with both. And both of them can be winners.

But if you are a CEO of General Motors, for which brand you must stand? For which brand you must create a business blog?

The megaproblem of megabranding

That’s a problem. Big problem. Big problem of megabranding.

Even Steve Jobs soon can fall in trouble with this.

For what brand he stands now? MacBook, iPod, iTunes, iPhone? Never mind about QuickTime players, Mac OS, regular Mac computers and… (what have I missed?).

You can’t give a lot of attention for so many brands. And it is harder and harder to stay with the uniqueness of all these brands as a number of them increases.

For what brand you will create a business blog?

The most confusing question is „For which brand I must start a business blog?“.

Again, OK, if your brands are well-connected. MacBook, iPod, iPhone share the same focus on ”easy usable cool product”, so Steve jobs can easily write about any of them in his business blog. He is perceived as the ”father” of all these products, as the creator of them. If he will start a business blog for all these products, there will be no confusion and a lot of good marketing for Apple.

But imagine a business blog by Rick Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors. About what common feature of General Motor’s cars he can write? About bankruptcy? But wait, is it a reason to buy anything from General Motors?

The key to success is the passion to be focused

A successful spokesperson of the company stands for one idea, like Steve Jobs stands for ”easy usable coolness”.

Contrary to a typical CEO of a conglomerate of brands and megabrands who mostly speaks about irrelevant to buyer random topic. No doubt, most of those messages give little or no reason at all to buy from such megabrands as Rick Wagoner doesn’t give any believable reason to buy from General Motors.
The best place to collect all messages from a CEO is a business blog.

But in this case different brands with different reasons to buy must be presented by a different spokesperson in different business blogs.

General Motor’s spokesperson must be not Rick Wagoner, but the General Managers of Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Hummer, and, at least, GMC. All these brands must be different and all of them must have a different spokesperson. And all spokespersons (preferably, the CEOs of those brands) must start a business blog.

Blogging for a CEO helps to think about strategy

If you stand for a megabrand, like General Motors, you are in trouble. In megatrouble. The only solution in this mess is to separate these brands to different entities. And for those smaller entities to focus on the real difference from competitors. Be a specialist, focus on the authentic message for the market about your brand specialization and be passionate about it.

Like Steve Jobs is passionate about coolness and ease of use in computer world.

If you have a ”multibranding” strategy, just start a business blog. I am sure, soon you will come up with big problems about what to write, how to write and I hope that you will understand that these problems are very similar to your marketing problems – what to market, with what difference, with what reason to buy.

As I like to say ”at first, a business blog is not a sales tool. It is the best helper for a CEO to think about strategy. As sales and marketing tool he becomes a little bit later.”

Tags: Apple, iPod, Steve Jobs, CEO, General Motors, megaproblem, megabranding, iTunes, iPhone, brand, Rick Wagoner, megabrand, strategy, General manager

One of the good reasons to start a business blog is because it helps to think about strategy.

But recently I was convinced that it helps not only to think about strategy but also helps to keep strategy unchanged. Unchanged from short term marketing fallacies.

There is a story.

Strategies of the two legendary laptop makers
The two makers of notebook computers have a huge and extremely loyal fan base.

First, it is Apple’s Mac.

No doubt, Mac has the biggest and the most devoted number of fans. Nobody can compare with them in loyalty.

The second brand is ThinkPad, the former brand of IBM, now purchased by Chinese computer giant Lenovo.

IBM has done excellent strategy with ThinkPad notebooks. They did not imitate Apple, did not start compete on price, but acted opposite to Apple:

If Mac focused on consumer, ThinkPad mostly sold to corporate buyers.

If Mac is white and (almost) only white, ThinkPad is black and only black.

If Mac has touchpad mouse, ThinkPad has legendary trackpoint mouse.

If Mac is fashion machine, ThinkPad – functional and rugged.

Mac has a glossy screen – because of better looking, ThinkPad – mat, because it is better for the eyes when working long hours.

If Mac is for an extrovert who wants to express himself, who wants to shout “I am different”, ThinkPad is for “serious” users – businesses managers, executives, serious computer lovers or similar. That’s why Apple is the most popular between designers and ThinkPad – between business customers.

Mac is famous for one things, ThinkPad – for the opposite. This strategy allowed IBM to form the second biggest group of very loyal laptop users and advocates of this brand.

Actions of marketing leaders and marketing communication are also very different: while Mac counts on the self-loving founder and CEO Steve Jobs, ThinkPad launches modest but very informative business blogs.

One of the best examples of business blog – Design Matters from Lenovo
Lenovo’s Design Matters is one of the best business blogs on the earth. I even featured it in my e-book The New Rules of Business Blogs. Hatt off for David Hill, Vice President of Lenovo, who hosts this blog. I really encourage all of you who want to start a business blog go to Design Matters and check out how a business blog should look like.

All things are best here – focus on topic, passion, writing style, feedback, authority – all things are perfect.

David runs mini pools there and I am sure that it helps him and his team to come up with better design of ThinkPads.

Lenovo shifts ThinkPad strategy
Recently Lenovo introduced a new series of ThinkPad laptop – ThinkPad SL.

David Hill posted a post about it – ThinkPad SL Series.

And then something happens in the comment section of his business blog. The new ThinkPad was bombed by loyal ThinkPad users.

Why?

Because the new ThinkPad violates almost all mentioned strategic differences.

Lenovo tried to sell ThinkPad not only to serious corporate buyers, who seek durability and functionality, but also to flashy trend seekers, typical customers of other notebook brands.

This new philosophy is best described in this paragraph of David’s post:

“It now features a unique red LED embedded into the ThinkPad signature replacing the typical red dot over the letter i. When powered up it glows constantly reminding everyone who has the ThinkPad in the room. It also cleverly communicates overall system status. When the lid is closed and the ThinkPad goes into standby the LED begins to slowly pulse like a human heart. We spent a lot of time on this feature working with both development and marketing. It’s not easy squeezing a LED into the display cover. In the end I think it adds value and richens the brand experience.”

Do you hear the typical Steve Jobs talk manner? Talk about “cool features” in his newest computer or software?

This new strategy is a mistake. A huge mistake. And fans reacted. Reacted fast.

Disappointment comments from loyal customers
There were a lot of comments from loyal ThinkPad owners. Comments like this:

“…true ThinkPad is always noticed with or without a Red LED - I can spot a ThinkPad in an airport lounge or a conference room from quite a distance instantly, The R61i/e are not systems I would choose but they are still distinctly ThinkPads. This is another example of Lenovo Marketing simply not understanding their own brand - just like the Lenovo logo on the lids.”

And like this:

“Does not deserve the ThinkPad name.”

“I want a computer, not an advertisement for Lenovo.”

“Overall, I would not buy this model.”

“New SL series is a Thinkpad parody.”

And one customer summarizes the disappointment best of all:

”Bravo!

First you’ve got rid of IPS LCDs, then of 4:3 format, stereo input and now you’ve messed up the keyboard.

I’ve owned nothing but a ThinkPad in my life, and have gone through very many of them, but this truly is the end of all ends.

Thanks for sending me into “ThinkPad rehab” with this re-vamped 3000 series that has yet to decide whether it wants to be an S30/31 (not in this life) or a Shiny Black Mac…

I’ll stick to my old ThinkPads and won’t be buying any new ones…”

And so on and so on and so on…

Loyal ThinkPad owners were disappointed, sometimes even insulted from such violation of the core values of these legendary machines.

What Lenovo should do now?
No doubt, if Lenovo wants to save the ThinkPad brand, they must react properly.

First, they must admit the mistake for diluting such iconic brand like ThinkPad.

Second, the CEO of Lenovo must write a post in the David’s business blog announcing that it was a mistake to name this model as ThinkPad and then apologize all the loyal customers for this nonsense. Apologize and after that announce the steps they are doing to recover from this mistake.

The announcement must sound similar like “we will get rid off the legendary ThinkPad name from this computer and in the future we will never consider any other compromise with ThinkPad core values. The ThinkPad name will be removed from this model and the notebook will be renamed as the new Lenovo SM series model, redesigning it according to Lenovo notebooks standarts and will continue selling by the new name”.

Just look how David Neeleman, the CEO of JetBlue reacted to similar client’s anger. The CEO of Lenovo should act accordingly.

Better be bombed in a business blog than dilute a valuable brand
For a wise CEO such a customer’s reaction in a business blog is invaluable.

Loyal customers understand the key parts of a brand.

If we think more deeply, we will find out that not a corporation owns a brand. The brand is owned by customers, the brand lives in customers mind.

If you are destroying a perception about a brand in customers mind, you are destroying the brand.

If you accidentally make a mistake and do some moves towards brand destruction, your fans will notice. And a business blog is simply the best place to keep conversation with your customers, with your loyal fans, with your prospects.

If you have done a mistake, it is better to be bombed in a business blog and then take actions to correct the situation than in the long run silently dilute your brand.

You must start a business blog
Design Matters remains one of my favorite business blogs and it’s interesting to see how responses influence the decisions of the CEO of Lenovo.

I encourage all my readers to download my free e-book The New Rules of Business Blogs, check the Design Matters and start theyr own business blog. It helps not only to market your product or service, not only to think about strategy, but to stay on chosen strategy too. Each of this three components alone is worth starting a business blog. But there you can have all three in one!

Dear CEO, let’s go and start a business blog!

Disclosure: I am a huge ThinkPad fan too. All my notebooks were only ThinkPads. My heart goes bloody when I see dilution of such a great brand.

Tags: business blog, strategy, marketing fallacies, laptop, Mac, ThinkPad, Lenovo, IBM, Apple, marketing, Steve Jobs, Design Matters, David Hill, ThinkPad SL, cool features, mistake, CEO, David Neeleman

In my consulting practice I am working with high-level managers, often CEOs on marketing strategy issues in web 2.0 age. One of the main consequences of my consulting is establishing of a business blog. (What is the difference between business blog and other kind of blogs? The answer is in my free e-book ”The New Rules of Business Blogs”).

English is not my first language. In fact, it is only the third language I speak. I make mistakes when I write. I remember my troubles when I was seeking for a proofreader. Many thanks go to my assistant Sigita, who now keeps all my proofreading work at this blog. (You are welcome to write comments about our English to info [at] positioningstrategy.com. Thank you!)

Many of my clients are not from English speaking countries too. To maintain high standarts of a business blog they need a proofreader. To be more comfortable with writing they also need a blog coach.

Proofreaders and blog coaches are needed!

So, I need resources for my existing and future clients from where they can choose a blog coach or a proofreader.

Following the ethics of commenting in blogs, advertising of your business is prohibited. Such comments are considered as spam. But in this case proofreaders and blog coaches are welcome to leave their contact information in the comment section of this post.

When my clients will need a blog coach or a proofreader I want to be able simply to direct to this post and say ”look at the comment section and choose one from the list”. As simply as that. I don’t want any commission or any fee for your being on this list. Sure, I will be thankful if you in your blog or website will place a link to my post about blog coaches. Also you are welcome to leave comments about blog coaches and proofreaders in my post about blog coaching.

In business blogging the primary language is English. But we need proofreaders in other languages too. I worked with clients who write to German speaking audience, also to French, Italian, Spanish, British, Scandinavian readers and it is possible that in future blog coaches and proofreaders will be needed in every other language. So, if your first language is not English, then please leave information about your proofreading or blog coaching business too.

Leave information about your proofreading or blog coaching service in the comment section

For faster and better finding, please leave messages about yourself and your business in the comment section according to some rules. Please keep with the following order in writing about your services:

Word ”Proofreader” or ”Blog coach” (according your service). What is a blog coach you can find in my post about blog coaches.

Language or languages in which you can provide services. If you are a proofreader, I encourage you to write what is your first language.

Your name, your blog or website.

Contact info – e-mail address and (or) phone. Also you can add Skype name or other appropriate ways to contact you, but please do not abuse adding three or more phones or e-mails. One or two of each please.

Area, where you are especially experienced (for example, cooking, sportswear, banking or laser technology), where you can from a few words understand about client’s topic, where you know specific business’s words (slang). Shortly – area, which you are familiar with, or even an insider.

Short description about your difference and specialization. Please, especially turn attention to your uniqueness. We all believe that you are providing only quality services, but what are other real differences? Please, help the potential clients to choose you and after choosing to stay exceptionally happy for their choice.

That’s all. Fees, other business and legal issues are the issues of agreement between you and your client.

I do not guarantee leads from this post, but I hope this list will be useful not only to my clients but to other CEOs and all other persons who want to establish a business blog too. Please feel free to use it!
Thank you for cooperation!

P.S. I keep the right for myself to delete entries with incorrect data, if my clients or readers report very poor service, unreachability by provided addresses or phone, in other cases when it misleads my clients or other readers of this blog.

Tags: business blog, proofreading, writing, resources, proofreaders, blog coaches, blog coach, proofreader, language, The New Rules of Business Blogs, not first language

I am sure that in the future most CEOs will have a blog. A business blog.

More, I am sure that for a number of companies blogging will be mandatory for a daily job of a CEO or a General Manager.

To run a business blog – it will be a standard requirement in hiring a CEO.

Yes, today standard requirement for a CEO is the capability to understand financial schemes, ability to satisfy the Wall Street.

But it is a wrong emphasis searching for a perfect CEO.

For most companies the crucial point is to build a powerful brand. A company that focuses on brand building always wins compared with the company that focuses on quarter-to-quarter financial management.

Is financial management necessary for a company?

Sure it is.

But while financial management is necessary, building strong brand is crucial for a long-term success.
In web 2.0 era a business blog from a CEO is the first place where brand building begins. Because the authority of a CEO, customers, press, partners will consider all news from business blog as reliable. It will replace mandatory announcements for stockholders, Wall Street, maybe it will replace some press releases as well.

In web 2.0 age brand building happens not with advertising, but with conversation. The easiest and most effective place for conversation – the web. Brands will be launched in the web, news about brands will flow in the web, disasters will start and end in the web. The web will become the most important place for starting a brand building process.

The web will become the most important place for brand building and maintaining. Can a CEO ignore that? Can a CEO ignore the conversation with buyers through his business blog in the coming web 2.0 age?

It’s unlikely.

A CEO from a successful company in the future will have a business blog. And the future is approaching rapidly. It is better to jump to that wagon and start a business blog sooner than later, because the first mover has enormous advantage.

In the near future maintaining a business blog will be a standard requirement for every CEO of successful company. As simple as that. So, you must start learning business blogging rules right now.

If you are a CEO, you must start a business blog right now. Start it by downloading my free e-book ”The New Rules of Business Blogs” and go ahead by creating your own business blog.

Let’s go!

Tags: business blog, requirement for a CEO, perfect CEO, web 2.0, brand building, Linas Simonis, The New Rules of Business Blogs