WOMMA masters the new marketing mix: site, blog, RSS, podcast, e-newsletter, etc.

Not surprisingly, WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) has mastered the new marketing mix when it comes to promoting their next conference: a site, a blog, RSS feeds, podcasts, email updates and a companion e-newsletter all rolled up into one at www.womma.org/wombat/. Looks like the only thing missing is a wiki [added: and more women speakers!]

Word of Mouth Basic Training is Jan. 19 - 20, 2006 in Orlando, FL. Sounds fun and they've got some great speakers lined up.

Blogs a great marketing tool for small businesses

Nicely-written article in today's Chicago Tribune describes how useful blogs are as a low-cost marketing tool for small businesses. Quotes yours truly several times. Too bad the electronic version of this newspaper article doesn't provide a live link to any of the blogs mentioned.

Oh, if you're wondering why I haven't been posting, it's because I'm on an island off the coast of Maine with only intermittent access to the Internet (not to mention electricity). It's heaven... we've been swimming in the 59 degree water. OK dunking. We use sea soap and bathe in the water instead of taking a shower (really).

Staring down fear of blogging at IABC blog panel

Had a blast yesterday moderating IABC's blog panel here in D.C.

It was wonderful to meet several corporate bloggers face to face that I've been emailing and speaking with by phone: Paul Rosenfeld, Intuit's blogging evangelist and the force behind the QuickBooks Online Edition blog; GM's Bill Betts representing the Fastlane blog (Bill is Web Services Manager for GM's global corporate communications office in Detroit); and Kevin Holland (VP in charge of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America's ACCABuzz blog).

Paul flew in from Calif. for less than 24 hours (as did Bill) in order to participate. A huge thanks from me and from a filled-to-capacity and attentive audience. I'm sorry we couldn't get to every one of your questions.

After offering a brief overview of corporate blogging, I posed some (vaguely) provocative questions and then let the three panelists do most of the talking. I framed our discussion around "fear of blogging" and asked each panelist in turn: "Why aren't you afraid of blogging, why are you doing this and what results are you seeing?"

  Interestingly, Steve Broback, creator of the Blog Business Summit, is thinking of using the same theme ("getting past the fear of blogging") for his Aug. 17 - 19, 2005 conference in San Francisco. (This is a  great event if you're looking for a useful business blogging conference. I'll be there as a speaker.)

Some of my questions for the panelists:

• Are blogs a viable tool for corporate communications given the fact that blogging, by definition (open and transparent), is the opposite of what defines most corporate culture?
• If the majority of Americans don't know what a blog is (40 - 60% are not familiar with blogs, according to eMarketer's Business of Blogging report), then who is going to read corporate blogs?
• What's the first thing a company should do to start blogging? (This prompted an interesting point-counterpoint response from Intuit's Rosenfeld and GM's Betts. Said Betts, "Study, study, study the blogosphere first." Said Rosenfeld, "Just do it! Then go back and see what your results are."

Thanks to IABC conference blogger Jeremy Popper for his write up of our session.

Update on IABC blogging panel

I'm delighted to report that Gary Grates, VP Corporate Communications, North America for General Motors has accepted my invite to be the third panelist on IABC's corporate blogging panel on June 27, 2005. (Here is the description of the session, part of IABC's international annual conference in Washington DC.) Gary, who is known as a "thought leader" on change management and effective employee-management relations, is a regular contributor to GM's Fastlane blog. The other two panelists are Paul Rosenfeld, GM of Intuit's QuickBooks Online Edition and Kevin Holland, VP Communications of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America and the force behind ACCABuzz.

Moderating IABC blog panel on June 27, 2005

Cool news. I've been asked to moderate a panel on corporate blogging for IABC's annual conference in Washington D.C. on June 27, 2005. I've invited Paul Rosenfeld, GM of Intuit's QuickBooks Online Edition and the force behind QuickBooks Online blog, along with Kevin Holland, VP Communications of Air Conditioning Contractors of America and creator of the ACCABuzz blog to join me. To round out the panel I've invited one of the top-dog bloggers for GM's Fastlane blog (not Bob Lutz but someone who should be even better because of his inside perspective). Waiting to hear back.

Here's what IABC chairman Warren Bickford says  about our event in his new blog. He mentions it in the same breath as the announcement that Mark Hurd,  HP's new CEO, will be the plenary speaker. Hey, business blogging is going big time! More TK...

Blogs carve out business niche, according to Knight Ridder

Useful article from Knight Ridder news service: Blogs carve out niche in business. I'm quoted several times and there's a link back to this blog.

Blogs as big as the printing press, according to BusinessWeek

Blogs Will Change Your Business says the lastest issue of BusinessWeek. A great read (written in chronological blog format) with good  resources and links. Don't miss the sidebars: 6 Tips for Corporate Bloggers, Blogging: A Primer, and Stonyfield Farm's Blog Culture.

Dinner in Paris with blogging expert Guillaume du Gardier

Had a delightful dinner in Paris with Guillaume du Gardier.  He writes an intelligent blog, PR Thoughts, in French and English. He's even more impressive in person. He's established a niche for himself as the go-to guy in Paris for business blogging. He told us (all in French... !) that he invited SixApart.com's European head, Loïc Le Meur, to meet him for breakfast. By lunchtime, Guillaume's PR Planet had been hired to handle Six Apart's PR activities in Europe France. He's also one of the organizers of Les Blogs in Paris on April 25, 2005.

Here's Guillaume's write up of our dinner in a little brasserie on the Left Bank.

Meet the Mona Lisa of Blogging in Paris

Thanks to the always clever Seth Godin for suggesting that I brand myself the MonaLisaOfBlogging.com. That struck a chord somehow. Maybe because (like Mona Lisa) you never know what I'm really thinking. Until I force myself to write it down. Aussi, parce que je parle assez bien le francais. Blogging has its rewards, you know. One is that the more you write, the better you write. Anyway, I was lucky enough to spend five days in Paris recently. Here I am at the Louvre with the Mona Lisa herself. This is a poster in case you're wondering. It points the way to the huge new exhibition hall created especially for La Joconde, as the French call her. The real painting is a disappointingly small affair behind glass. Difficult to view because of the reflection and even more difficult to photograph.

Useful Link

This is cool... Mona Lisa Makeover Thanks to Sarah Lewis for the link.  And of course, here is the interactive Mona Lisa.

Branding in Paris with William Arruda

Had the pleasure of meeting branding guru William Arruda in Paris. (Here we are about an hour after I stepped off the plane.) Arruda is American but runs his consulting and speaking business from le Paris (the lucky dog). He's a former top marketing exec for Lotus. We're doing a teleseminar together Thursday April 21st on 7 Ways to Blog Your Brand. We'll cover:

• Do you have something to say?
• Good blogging is good writing
• How & why to combine a blog with your Web site
• How a blog can complement or replace an e-newsletter
• Basics of choosing blogging software & RSS

Register free for the teleseminar here. (Thursday April 21, 2005 - 12 noon Eastern)