Blog Relations PR Survey - The Opportunity
Overall, a total of 82 percent of the PR PROs taking the survey agree that there are either "quite a few" or "many" businesses that could benefit from setting up their own blogs. (48 percent for "quite a few" and 34 percent for "many").
"Blogs represent an opportunity for firms to better communicate with their audience(s) either directly (via employee or corporate blogs) or indirectly (via pitching third party blogs)," says Tom Murphy, while
Joel Cere, vice president Hill and Knowlton in the UK, notes that “Blogs are instrumental for executive profiling, thought leadership and building a rapport with stakeholders."
Blogging is seen as opening up a dialogue with stakeholders and this is seen by many as the main benefit:
"If we take the time to properly understand the value of a two-way conversation that a blog-platform offers, they can become a tremendous asset," says Matthew Podboy, co-founder of Voce Communications in the USA. Morgan McLintic, Vice President of Lewis Global Public relations in the USA, adds,"You never know, you might even learn something from your audience - which is the beauty of blogging and true communication."
But blogs can be hard work. Katie Paine, CEO of KDPaine & Partners in the US, emphasises the commitment required by blogging: "Like other marketing efforts, blogs require time, talent and money", she says.
Some more words of warning: Siobhan Aalders, Director of APCO Europe, says that the main challenge for a company is to create "credibility" for the blog. Neil Boom of Gresham PR is scathing about companies that ‘pose’ as bloggers. "I think it’s dishonest,’ he says.
