Johnnie Moore is a marketing consultant and facilitator based in London. As well as 20 years of marketing experience he's trained in psychotherapy, NLP and Improv. Find out more at his blog.
Andrew Lark's more than 18 years experience of all facets of marketing, branding, sales and communications spans technology, Internet, telecommunications and consumer sectors. There he has led award-winning programs and teams for brands such as Dell, Sony, SBC, IDSoftware, Nortel, Microsoft and Sun. He is a thought leader and innovator on the convergence of brands, communications and social networking technologies. Find out more at his blog.
Jennifer Rice is a strategist and evangelist for relationship-centric brands. She brings 15 years experience in brand strategy, customer insight and marketing communications, and has worked with companies such as Microsoft, Verizon, Alcatel and Corning. Her current passion is exploring how brands are being impacted by blogs and other social technologies. Her company blog is What's Your Brand Mantra?
John Winsor is the author of Beyond the Brand: Why Listening to the Right Customers is Essential to Winning in Business and the Founder/CEO of Radar Communications, a consumer-centric consultancy. You can find out more about him at Beyond the Brand.
About this Insider
BrandShift explores key trends in branding such as customer
experiences, market conversations and social technologies. Our goal is to
help executives and brand managers evolve their brands to thrive in the new
customer-driven marketplace.
Just Released the 2008 Tribalization of Business study - an in-depth look at how 140+ organizations are managing and measuring online communities
Since blogs became the next big thing, an increasing number of companies have come to see them as the next great public relations vehicle -- a way for executives to demonstrate their casual, interactive side.
But, of course, the executives do nothing of the sort. Their attempts at hip, guerrilla-style blogging are often pained -- and painful. By Amy Joyce, Washington Post Staff Writer, Saturday, March 19, 2005; Page A01.
While it's a subject for a much longer post, I've long held the view that Execs can benefit from thinking of themselves as brands, and managing themselves as such. That doesn't mean they are brands - although some argue that a person is as much a brand as a product, especially one so much in the public eye as a Steve Jobs. There's no question in my mind that blogs (depending on execution) can either enhance or detract from the Executive's brand. She gives a couple of good examples of how in one instance the communications appears painful, and in another, hip, cool and wired.
Plenty of quotes from Jonathan Schwartz, COO, Sun Microsystems. He gets at the core issue of communicating via blogs - and in fact, of building any brand - authenticity. "Authenticity is fundamental," he said in an interview. "Blogs get pretty dull if you just blog your products. There has to be something personal."
As brand communicators work with Execs on their entry into the blogosphere, they should focus on authenticity. While the Exec is communicating on behalf of the company, it's them doing the communicating. Their blog can't be a marketing vehicle or alternate news distribution mechanism to PR Newswire. It's a place for them to engage in conversations with the market, and for us all to get a better feel for who they are and what they care about.
Blogs are arguably the most potent communications vehicle out there for the Exec to build their brand in a deep and personal way. And when done right, enhance the company's brand as well. That's a win-win.
Jennifer Rice
Andy Lark
Johnnie Moore
John Winsor
