When a large company approaches us we always do whatever it takes to help them build their brand. Blog Branding is an essential ingredient to further develop who you are as a company in the blogosphere. However, large company marketing divisions that may consider blogging to further brand themselves is another individuals decision. I’ve been in that position before and know it can be extremely frustrating to be excited about a new venture ie..blog marketing, and not have the ability to make a decision. If branding is the most important aspect to your company, you need to unlock the handcuffs and embrace blogging. If your reputation means a lot to your company, there’s no other alternative.

Keep the number of monthly website clicks high and the cost needed to acquire those clicks as low as possible. This is the standard concept used by Marketing Directors and marketing teams that quite frankly……are going to be left behind and forced into catch up and scramble mode as New Media continues to take over Web Marketing 1.0.

Retail website owners and marketers have begun using New Media strategies such as blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds to give their website visitors an easier path to conversion. Others have simply ignored this evolution and continue to spend more and more dollars each month with sponsored ads on Google, Yahoo, MSN etc with Pay Per Click. As search algorithms revamp to include newer up to date content from New Media Channels, so are internet consumers changing their method of finding this content when they search for products to purchase.

Marketing Directors and marketing teams are in the drivers seat when it comes to changing their company’s presentation of it’s content. It’s a matter of changing the users experience when they visit your website and using additional mediums to bring them in. Transitioning from brand compatible content to actual brand-building encounters is where higher conversions will come from. Positioning your company’s brand, and distributing your content with a retail blog will definitely improve conversion rates.

Strategy is what separates winners from losers and adapters from slow movers.  Contact Retail Blog Marketing to learn more about our strategies for your business.

I have been hearing a lot recently about the concept of social media optimization or SMO. With the advent of social search engines like Digg and Del.icio.us it is only natural that retailers are looking to add this relatively new phenomenon to their marketing mix. Wikipedia describes Social Media Optimization as follows…”a way to optimize websites so they would be more easily connected or interlaced with online communities and community websites. For example allowing RSS feeds, easier linking, incorporation of third party community functionalities like Flickr photo slides and galleries or YouTube videos”.
Future articles will outline the ins and out of this new form of marketing, but one thing is very clear. Blogs, blog branding and blog marketing are a very large part of the picture.