Web 2.0: Have Voice, Will Blog
These days, not having a blog is akin to not having a logo, a brand voice, print collateral or a website. .Think is a valuable and viable instrument in Brainstorm’s suite of marketing tools. It’s a dynamic venue in which we purvey and convey information of value to our clients and the world at-large.
So what was our rationale for building and publishing a blog? Initially, it was borne of a simple concept: The more blogs we developed and launched for our clients, the sillier it was that we didn’t have one of our own. However, that premise quickly led to more rational queries, like: Who, what, when, where and why? Assessing why we should build a blog was the easy part. Determining what our blog should convey required a bit more discussion.
As with any other worthwhile endeavor, we initiated a process and asked a lot of questions.
First we looked at the cost. Development and maintenance of a blog necessitates a certain dedication of resources. Obviously, the set up of back-end technologies and integration isn’t an issue for us, but just like anyone else, we had to establish purpose, direction, ongoing editorial procedures and practices.
.Think is an extension of our brand, so we had to determine how to make it a useful repository of information for our audience. But who exactly is our audience? Our client base runs the gamut from healthcare to consumer electronics, social networking sites to foundations and higher education. And who writes and posts entries, how often, and about what?
That introspection spawned a number of blog objectives. It must function more like a news source than a promotion piece—not a self-gratuitous news source, but a destination of exchanged thought. We already have printed promotional materials and a website that conveys news and demonstrates our capabilities.
So, .Think conveys something beyond all that. It serves as a relevant, timely voice of Brainstorm, individually and collectively. Structurally, the pages are easy to read, visually appealing and in line with our overarching brand. And it is well-written; we are a communication firm, after all. Our blog is fresh and frequently updated by a variety of people with different perspectives. As a business, we employ some editorial oversight, but not too much. Our goal is for the blog to educate, challenge, inspire and inform as well as entertain. Essentially, it is an online vehicle for collaboration and the exchange of ideas, the same interaction we enjoy face-to-face with our clients.
As for audience and relative messaging, we certainly don’t aspire to supplant our customer’s industry trade journals. And we can’t address all those industries specifically—at least not all at once. But hopefully, our readers will benefit from our branding, design and communication expertise across an array of industries in a changing and technologically advanced landscape.
Most of all, we want our audience to view .Think as a watering hole. A place to visit us, relax, learn a little something, have some fun and engage in some small way in the art of online social networking with Brainstorm.
