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
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Any CEO should consider a)blogging and b) making news announcements through their blog.
WHy? It encourages growth of a community around the blog, drives traffic to the blog, and gives the company a human face, rather than a black and white text press release.
A news announcement via a blog can also of course help with SEO as bloggers link to the blog post - it makes sense to do this and it surprises me that more CEOs don’t employ this tactic!
Thank you for offer The New Rules of Business Blogs. It’s a great resource, timely and invaluable to me.
Kind regards
Elisabeth
PS I am originally from Austria