New Venture Marketing

Sun Blogs

There's a very nice post round up on Sun Blogs on Constatin Bastureas's weblog which I recommend for those interested in hands on business blogging applications. 

Sun Blogs
Sun was one of the earliest companies to encourage corporate blogging or rather blogging by its employees, from CEO Johnathan Schwartz to product managers and engineers.  According the ComputerWorld, some 40 employees have signed up to publish their own blogs, and accoding to Sun they include:
    .  Jonathan Schwartz, President and CEO, an early CEO-blogger
    .  Tim Bray who is the Director of Web Technologies and who has been charged with leading the blogging effort
    .  John Gage, Sun's Chief Researcher and Director of its Science Office
    .  Piper Cole, VP, Global Governement & Community
    .  David Rivas, CTO, Client Systems Group
    .  Mary Smaragdis, Java Marketing Manager , who created a name for herself and her product             with her enthusiastic posts
Sun also provides a blog site, for employees who would just like to post an opinion, Planet Sun which is an aggregation of public weblogs written by Sun empoloyees, one blog to cover its JavaOne Conference and another to pull together the knowledge and opinions of those working on projects using Java.

Large Companies Who Blog
The company has been very effective at using the medium and provides an excellent example of how any company large -- or small might benefit from doing the same.  According to Bray, "Jonathan [Schwartz, its blogging CEO] is particularly concerned that we not forget our roots as a community-centered company."  In this instance Sun is using blogs to enable it to operate more like a small company with a personal connection and immediate connection to developpers and users.

Sun also uses blogs to push its point-of-view, to lobby Congress, the state legislatures and press, to educate users, and to test new ideas.  Best of all employees can start one without asking.  Sun has a policy on employees who blog on things that are confidential or proprietary and Sun uses employee blogs to sell a Sun point-of-view, but outside of that the company is remarkably open. 

Small Companies Who Blog
By the same token a smaller company can use blogs to look like a big company:  to build a brand and market presence, develop credibility and visibility for its products and expertise, educate its users and its channel, and communicate with the analysts and press -- anywhere in the world.  If in addition to that, a small company understands how blogs and search engine optimization are linked, their blogs can in a very real way drive users to their site.  Not bad for one small tool of communications.

MarketingProfs

MarketingProfs just published a piece I wrote on "The Tale of the Lowly Press Room" and I am delighted.  I so admire what Ann Handley and the others at MarketingProfs have done with their bright innovative marketing portal.  I think it's the one source I consistently read and whose seminars and articles I find myself coming back to.  It is the hands down best source for the marketing know how and information on the Internet and elsewhere, and I am honored to be a part of their community.

If you are not familiar with the site, I would highly recommend it. 

Business Blogging for High Tech Companies

I'll be speaking at the Software Developer's Forum, Monthly Marketing SIG on Monday, May 9th on "Business Blogging for High Tech Companies" and would like to invite anyone who is in the area to come. 

The presentation will include information on what blogs are, how you can use them, what is syndication and RSS is -- and why you should care, what to consider before you start a blog, resources, next steps, and examples of some of the best high tech blogs.

The meeting will be held at 6:30pm and be held at the Mitchell Park Community Center in Palo Alto.

Business Blogging: High Tech (1)

I'm compiling a list of business blogging for high tech companies and for what purpose the blogs are used.   For this list I'd like to define a high tech company as one that develops, builds or makes a product.  I realize that the definition of "high tech" is a bit elusive as is "product", but this is what I have so far.  I would welcome any additions or comments. 

Sun: many employee blogs & CEO, +JavaOne Conference & Java technology
IBM:  has some 2800 internal blogs & many for developers, product management and other
Microsoft: an enormous number of internal and external blogs on products, technology, communities, in addition to Microsoft Evangelist/Blogger Robert Scoble
Macromedia, 20+ blogs on products, for developers & customers
Google: both official (about search engine, tips etc) and unofficial (rumors, news, opinions)
Yahoo: employees on products, search etc
HP:  perhaps a dozen or so blogs on technical (for software developers) and executive blogs (worldwide marketing, services, alliances)
Cisco: one blog lobbying on public policy issues of concern to Cisco
Apple:  no company blogs on site, but some 20  employees blog and several unofficial ones
Red Hat: executive and developer blogs, they also had a blog on their roadshow, but it was taken down

from own research and some from Jeremy Wright's blog via Commoncraft

Macromedia: Blogging for Business

Several years ago, Macromedia, the company who makes Flash, Shockware, Dreamweaver and Cold Fusion, had its "community managers" create their own blogs to answer questions developers might raise in response to a great many new software offerings.  The belief was that the blogs would provide these managers with a way to discuss new product offerings and new features, answer questions, and ask for feedback.  Developers, in turn, could use the blogs to ask questions, exchange ideas and provide suggestions.  The experiment worked very well -- in just a few days and is being actively used to build relationships with customers as well as developers.

Macromedia has used blogs as a very powerful communications tool to build community and relationships.  It is an excellent example of the role blogs can play in business. Interestingly, the company now uses several other communications tools to reach its users: including a free self-guided search tool,Microchats, live, hour-long discussions with technical product people "geared to teaching customers new technical skills", Macromedia Blogs for daily thought and comments on various Macromedia products, all under a Community Section of the company's website.

 

Blogging for Business: Some Resources

There are a great many resources available today for those who would like to learn more about blogging for business.  Here are a few favorites to get you started:

.  "Blogging Basics", Technorati
.   How to Blog - 101 Series, T.L. Pakii
.  Your Guide to Corporate Blogging, Fredrik Wacka
.   Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies, Susannah Gardner, from the first chapter of her soon-to-be-published book of the same title
.   Weblogs:  Realigning Business, Technology & Communications, Kathleen Goodwin
.   Blogging for Business, BusinessWeek
.  Several excellent articles on blogs and blogging, MarketingProfs

Good PR and Good Case Stories

Ever since I have been blogging, I have been pitched by other PR people for products and companies. 

I must say it's quite an amazing turn of events to suddenly be on the receiving end of PR.  So far I have been asked to review a book, a very good one as it turns out, to speak with several possible client companies, even better, and to review several products and case stories, most of which were not particularly compelling.  This is not because the products or applications were inherently bad, or that the writer did not use proper "blogging etiquette", but rather that the person pitching didn't really understand what I write about -- a major PR mistake.

I love to receive well thought out pitches, especially those on applications that show the power of new digital technology.  Send me as many as you wish on your own or a client's company,  But don't expect me to write about them if they do not fit with what I write about -- or believe in.   After all, a writer and a PR person do very different things.

Favorite Blogs

It seems like everyone these days has been asking me about blogs, what they are, what's all the fuss, do I really think matter.  I do think they matter, as much for themselves as a new kind of communications media as I do for what they represent -- a fundamental change in how we market and communicate. 

But if you want to understand about blogs and new digital media, what they can do and represent, you need to read them for a while to get a feel for it.  In the marketing and communications world, these are my short list:

   .  Shel Holtz, a veteran PR guy with considerable depth in the Net and whose book, PR on the Net was a kind of bible. 

An Absence

I want to apologize for the absence.  I have two unusual parents who at the age of 90 and 80+ just returned from a maiden trip by boat to China -- good and sick. Being sick wasn't so unusual for their age, but their unbeatable desire to continue to try new things, perhaps, is. 

The trip was too much for them.  But what do you say to your dad who wrote his first book at age 85 and it was voted book of the year by the US Combat Correspondents Association . Or to your mom who just a few years ago gave lectures on France in lieu of boat passage for she and Dad .  What you say, after you express your doubts, is "have a good trip".  What you feel is a bit of a role reversal.

Luckily, they made it back and are hopefully on the mend.  But I am torn by my admiration for a "joie de vivre" which has marked their lives and my concern for their well being.  So I am going to attribute my break in writing to their sense of adventure.  But all told, I hope I can be just like them.