The Blogging Boom

In the same way that we are (this very second) using weblog technology to present our thinking, marketers are recognizing the potential value of blogs as non-traditional media channels. Blogs are web "diaries" that allow users to post their own messages or respond to others. Viral marketing at its best, marketers can use blogs to track trends and gauge consumer opinion on a particular issue, product or service. Blogs can serve as mini focus groups and provide new ways to capture demographic and psychographic data. This technology empowers anyone with a web connection and an opinion to become a journalist and marketers will soon be remiss to ignore this powerful avenue to reach consumers.

Hal Walker is Senior Vice President and Creative Director of Ketchum


Be prepared - and say so

The world changed in countless ways after September 11, 2001, and the meaning of the word "preparedness" is evidence of this. Government appropriated unprecedented amounts to fund preparedness for terror attacks, and the infrastructure to respond to terror grew exponentially. For American business, preparedness has come to mean not just how to do everything possible to ensure the safety of employees, but to have a plan in place to get back to "business as usual." As important as having that plan in place, is effectively communicating to employees, customers and the community at large, that such planning has occurred.

For more: www.dhs.gov (U.S. Department of Homeland Security)

Michael Greenwell is Senior Vice President/Healthcare & Social Marketing - Co-Chair, Homeland Security Practice Group of Fleishman-Hillard

Contenido de Council of Public Relations