Blogs Are a Force to Be Reckoned With

Attending BlogHer 08 reinforced what I already knew. Bloggers are the up-and-coming channels for media messages. At my marketing company, Egg Marketing & Public Relations, pitching press releases and product reviews is part of our process. A lot of my clients are still stuck on the idea that their news will make the Wall Street Journal or the Oprah Show. While anything is possible, I tell them they will get the bigger bang for their buck with bloggers.

And it’s not just about sending messages to bloggers. Now corporations are joining the blog world. Here’s a great example. Editor-in-Chief of Redbook Magazine, Stacey Morrison, has taken Hearst Publications by storm with her preposterous idea to develop Redbook’s website and, gasp, can you believe it? Add blogs to the mix. Now Redbook has an arsenal of blogs about sex, family, decorating, fashion and life. And people are treating them like any other blog, and not ostracizing them just because they’re corporate. Which means Redbook is finding a new way to reach people with its message and products.

In case you haven’t gotten the message on this blog: OLD SCHOOL MARKETING IS DEAD. You simply won’t reach your future clients with advertising and a fancy Flash website. There are frontiers yet to be reached in blogs, podcasting, videocasting, i-don’t-know-yet-casting. The biggest mistake you can make is to wait until everyone’s on the bandwagon. Embrace your inner marketing demons and forge a few of your own frontiers before someone else does.

• Look at what your competition is doing in marketing. Figure out what you can do to one-up them (not copy them)
• Read blogs online. Go to YouTube. See what’s out there.
• Talk to your audience. How are they receiving their messages?