I'm a CEO - I Don't Have Time to Blog! Think Again

If you're waiting for another kick in the ass to get out there and start a corporate blog, check out the CEO of Marriott, Bill Marriott's blog. I love it! Check out his latest on Marriott's decision to ban smoking at all Marriott hotels - this guy sounds like a Texas gun slinger who cracks a mean whip and runs a tight ship. He basically says "If you don't like it, stay somewhere else". Only a blog can you get this personal with your audience.

Why this Corporate Blog works: Authenticity

To show you how sincere Bill Marriott is trying to be, he even records each blog post as podcasts! This adds to the authenticity of the blog because you can have people write for you but it would look really stupid if they had a voice over as well (I wouldn't put it past some companies).

Lastly, you can add comments to this blog- both good and bad (although they do moderate them). When I had a look at this blog, I remembered a few stories about hotels that I stayed at in Austin (which is a beautiful city). I had this terrible experience at a Holiday Inn that stuck me on a smoking floor even after my most heart-felt protests (the old mechanical lung that I received in 'Nam bit didn't work). I vowed never to go back. During my last visit I had a great experience when I just so happened to have stayed at a Marriott hotel downtown on 4th street. On my last afternoon there I felt like &*^# and stayed in bed to try and rest up. I called down to room service and the gentleman on the other end realized I sounded sick and sent up a plate of freshly cut up oranges with my soup order. It's this type of service that you remember and with a blog, you can easily leave comments that you know others will see (I tried to forget that afternoon but Bill's stories jogged my memory). You see that's just it with comments - people add them so they can have their say and have others see that they have written something and then tell others their story.

In any case Bill, keep up the good work and the great service.

Chad

PS - Here's an oldie but a goodie:My Top 10 List on the Positives of Corporate Blogging
PPS - In the post Drive Web Traffic or Drive Loyalty? I discussed the idea of making your customers feel special. Giving people a place to tell their story and provide their opinion is similar to this concept in many ways. That's one of the reasons that corporate blogs can succeed. How else can you get closer to a brand that you really love and show your appreciation other then purchasing or experiencing it in person?

Tags: Bill Marriott, Holiday Inn, Business Blogging, CEO blogs

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Does Your Business do Podcasts? It Should

I'll admit that I don't regularly download podcasts via an RSS feed but I do listen to them the odd time. It looks like I'm not the only one. eMarketer.com reports that in August of 2006, 17 million people had listened to a podcast which is 70% more then the number of people who downloaded a podcast from April 2006. Holy crap batman, it's time to get your recording devices out! But, before you do that you need a podcasting strategy.

Podcast Strategy: It's Time to get one

One of my favourite podcasting sites is by Brian Caroll on the topic of B2B Lead Generation. Yes, his topics focus around his book and his consulting services but he provides amazing content using engaging interviews as part of his podcast. It really works and I come away from the podcast with some better insight into the sales and marketing process. If you have plans to start using podcasts, have a goal in mind as to what you want to achieve. Here are some ideas:

• Create useful content to reinforce image as industry expert. This is sometimes referred to as thought leadership.
• Drive website traffic. Like blogs, podcasts can help you in the search rankings if the content provided contains relevant keywords.
• Educate potential buyers in the sales pipeline or existing customers on new offerings
• Generate new leads via a co-registration process. In this case, the podcast could involve interviews from multiple people representing different companies

There are many other high level goals that you may use podcasts for. Let me know if I've missed any.

"I Need Podcasts Like I Need a Hole in my Head"

I hear the Mr. Busy Marketer saying "OK, we already have those goals and we are achieving them through our existing initiatives. We already have a significant amount of content on our site. What more do we need?" This is typically coming from someone in marketing who has just enough time to complete their existing marketing initiatives let alone this new podcast schmodcast stuff. "What's the point?" is a typical response.

Well if you're into online marketing and you're down with web 2.0. you know that producing new content that is engaging and entertaining is critical to generating increased web traffic and conversions. Podcasts allow you to provide content that is easier to digest for a busy executive who doesn't have time to read a full case study, in a creative format that allows you to generate a more personal experience and all at a relatively low cost.

Think of it as starting a conversation with your customers or prospects. If you allow comments (which you bloody well should) then your listeners can respond and continue the conversation you started. In addition, you don't need a fancy-pants flash developer to engage your audience - you can create the podcast yourself. Take some Tylenol, grab a cup of something that is highly caffeinated and get your marketing team in a room to start brainstorming about what type of content you will be 'casting about.

What do we Podcast About?

If you're team can't come up with any ideas, here are a few to get them thinking:

• Interview a few of your customers regarding a specific challenge that they faced and how your service/product helped them overcome this. Let your customers do the product plug. What you're creating is a living and breathing case study that is much more enjoyable then reading marketing-speak. For your next case study, consider doing both a written and oral format. If you can't do an interview, consider just having someone record an oral version of it. Have you heard of books on tape? Do a case study on tape! Why not do this for a white paper as well. This was suggested recently by MarketingSherpa.
• Interview a few people in your company regarding a new product that was developed. Besides the obvious announcement and description of a new feature , this type of podcast serves a couple of purposes. Because this podcast gets published on a live website, you're giving one of your team members some recognition for helping to develop a new product. If you're a developer, you typically get zero recognition outside of your department. This type of podcast can create some pride and well needed moral. Who better then to evangelize a new product then someone who actually helped build it (well, this can depend on their communication skills but you know what I mean). Prospects and clients also get some insight into the quality and expertise of the people that are working at your company. It may give them further incentive to work with you. If you didn't realize it, this podcast idea was like a press release but one that makes your company come alive in the minds of your customers and prospects.
• Create testimonial podcasts. If you go to a typical business website, you have a client testimonial section. Instead of having written quotes, why not record sound bites and create a podcast. Nothing sells a message like an actual voice rather then just a written quote. You could also do a conversation type of a format where you're asking your clients questions.
• Transform your existing webcasts. Here's a potentially easy one. If you have done some webcasts already that don't require that the person have access to the power point slides, turn this into a podcast. Why would you do this? If you're doing a real podcast in which you have an RSS feed, new content increases your web traffic. Some companies post an audio file on their site and call it a Podcast. Remember, it's nota true podcast unless it's accessible via RSS.

The first thing you may want to do is ask your team which podcasts they like and why. This gives you an ideas to who is doing their homework on the latest marketing and/or industry trends. You can then ask them to forward on their favourite feed or podcast to the group so that everyone can have a listen. There's also plenty of experts out there who can provide you with podcasts they like (for example, have a look at Pete Lerma's article on ClickZ).

Here's the bottom line: Get you're thinking caps on and think of ways that you can exploit this new format before your competitors do.

Before you go, let me know if there are any podcast feeds that you recommend and why. In addition, are there other ways that you have used podcasts effectively?

Chad H.

PS - Yes, I myself have yet to create a podcast but who knows what will happen in 2007.

Tags: lead generation, creating podcasts, podcast rss feeds, interviews, web 2.0., B2B podcasting, business blogs

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