Business Value Of Blogging 2007

If there’s one thing companies have learned from the past decade of technical innovation, it’s to think twice before investing in anything new that comes along – especially when it’s not clear what the costs and benefits will be. The days of corporations spending money on new technology just because ‘it looks cool’ or ‘everybody else is doing it’ are definitely over (for now, at least). Of course, making such a cost-benefit analysis is always difficult, but most innovations can at least be compared to their predecessors – making it easier to paint a picture of the impact they might have. A new multifunctional printer, for instance, could lower your printing costs, make your brochures look nicer, offer extra capacity – but in the end it’s still a printer. It will very likely print and scan stuff, but the chances that it inadvertently influences your sales process are minimal.

Not so with blogs. They represent the first truly interactive, one-to-many communication channel that companies have ever possessed, touching on several different business processes at once. No one has experience with that kind of thing. Moreover, blogs come in different flavors, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Altogether, there are so many uncertainties involved that most companies that consider blogging often feel they’re about to run blindfold into a dense forest. Any decision on blogging should therefore start with an in-depth analysis of the business benefits that the various types of blogs might bring to a company, followed by an assessment of requirements for each of those blog types. These are the first two steps of the Four-Step Guide to Blogging. Once you’ve done that and determined which blog types are most suitable for your needs, it’s time to turn the question around and ask yourself if you could achieve the expected benefits in a different manner. Looking at the alternatives for blogging is step three. Lastly, you have to consider the factors involved in making a blog successful, many of which you have under your control. However, there are also several key success factors, both within and outside your company, that you cannot influence directly.
The fourth step involves looking at the noninfluenceable success factors for your own specific situation, and adjusting step 1 to 3 accordingly.

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