Are Corporate Blogs Becoming the Modern Day Newsletter?

Company newsletters are and have always been a well-known, effective way to distribute information to your customers and stakeholders. Whether you want to share news about a new product or service or simply want to inform your readers about upcoming events or promotions, this tried-and-true communication tool is a solid way of sharing information and building brand loyalty. But would you get more focused, quality readership and participation if you just bypassed the newsletter mailings and simply created a corporate blog with an RSS feed?

It’s not a simple yes or no answer. Both communication outlets have their time and place. Newsletter designs, objectives and audiences can run the gamut from employee-targeted messages to prospective customer outreach and promotion announcements. A steady stream of newsletters, whether issued monthly or quarterly, maintains your company’s visibility with a targeted group of folks who opt-in to receive your news, and is also a fairly cheap compliment to any marketing program.

So, what about a corporate blog? Has this become the must-have modern day newsletter? With more and more Fortune 100 companies taking the cue from the proliferation of influential bloggers and social media networks, successful companies such as Cisco have realized the importance of establishing an online voice and open dialogue with their clients. A blog is a simple channel to create and maintain a conversation with your customers and stakeholders, while also building thought leadership and credibility. Where a newsletter can be seen as more of a formal news and marketing outlet.

However, although more informal, good corporate blogs take time to build, so be patient and don’t expect to see the ROI overnight. They require a long-term commitment, with dedicated contributors, interesting topics and audience engagement. Share company and product news, but also open up the dialogue on interesting industry trends, competitor moves and solicit customer feedback. Also, once your blog is off the ground, an RSS feed provides seamless contact with your audience.

I’d say the corporate blog is quickly becoming a must-have part of successful business marketing and PR strategies, but it doesn’t replace the corporate newsletter, rather it compliments it. And every company has an individualized approach and objective for each communication tool which can’t possibly be covered here, but will make for some interesting subsequent posts.

Generally speaking, a corporate blog is a daily dose of coffee meant to jump-start the brain, invoke interest and immediate reaction, whereas the newsletter provides a full menu of the company’s latest happenings and long-term business opportunities.

Subscribe to a great corporate blog or newsletter? Share it with us in the comments.

What Two Years Has Done for Public Relations

It’s been two years since I started at Concept Communications and it’s just remarkable to think about how much the public relations profession has changed. Web 2.0 and the social Web have driven a significant shift in PR, taking our jobs way beyond press releases and traditional media relations.

The burgeoning use of social media tools by major media outlets, brands and business professionals, coupled with the necessity to leverage networks like Twitter and Facebook to reach customers, read news and form active communities – I’d say PR has taken on a new, hybrid role. We now support elements of business development, customer relations, marketing and community management. It’s exciting, it’s challenging and it presents new potentials every day for our clients.

Blogs, social networks, video/photo sharing sites, and social bookmarking are no longer trends or a nice-to-do-if-time-permits as they once were a couple years back. They are now an essential part of any effective communications plan and most organizations are starting to realize this. For instance, I can’t seem to watch a TV commercial or news broadcast these days without a Twitter or Facebook URL popping up on the bottom of the screen! And when I griped about an over sweetened vanilla latte from Starbucks on Twitter, I was promptly answered with an apologetic tweet and coupon. The social Web is no longer a novel idea that start-ups and entrepreneurs are using to promote their businesses on a guerilla marketing budget. It’s how brands, businesses, individuals and the news media are sharing content, influencing audiences and affecting behavior.

With all of these social tools at our disposal, it has become essential to be on the “front lines” listening to our clients’ existing and potential customers’ needs. Also, establishing trust in online communities through consistent engagement allows customers to turn to us as a knowledgeable resource and has become a key part of our jobs. The social Web has also made it very easy to stay current by following journalists and publications that report on our clients’ various industries.

So, when you think about it, our fundamental responsibility of fostering relationships and managing communications for clients hasn’t changed, but the way in which we develop and maintain those relations has dramatically changed. We now have so many different avenues to engage in conversations for our clients, reach new audiences and communicate our messages through fun, immediate channels that can spread from one to millions in a matter of minutes.

Truth in Public Relations

A couple of weeks ago I attended a cocktail party in downtown San Francisco, hosted by one of our newer clients, real estate search engine Roost.  The party featured fabulous wine from Peay Vinyards, poured by vineyard co-founder Andy Peay himself.  Before the party started Andy and I were chatting about the fact that they’ve focused on Pinots from the very beginning, even when they weren’t trendy.  When I remarked how interesting it is that all industries go through their trends and people scamper to take advantage of them – be it wine, fashion, publishing, technology – Andy simply said, “That’s why it’s so important to be true to yourself.  Then, you build an audience based on your core beliefs.”

And then, you never need to waver from them.

My partner Samantha and I have been reflecting on our core beliefs as we celebrate a milestone anniversary for Concept. It was this week five years ago that she and I had a summit at her house in Seattle, out of which came the agency as we know it today. And in the past five years, many PR tactics and agency philosophies have come in and out of fashion. Yet despite working in an industry renowned for taking liberties with the truth, we’ve always remained true to our clients, to the media, to each other, to our employees, and to ourselves – as people and as a company. Our reporter friends appreciate it, and so do our clients.

We believe our principles have guided us to do our best work – isn’t that what your principles should do? —  and why we appeal most to clients who subscribe to our core principles of Integration, Integrity, and Imagination.  It’s also why we’ve had a continuously strong business that has thrived during boom years and is weathering the current economic downturn, and why great clients like Gracenote and ARCHOS have been working with us for years. 

To everyone who has supported us over the past five years, we thank you for believing in us.

Veronica Skelton
Co-Founder and Managing Director – San Francisco Office
Concept Communications