Online Retailers Discovering, Testing Blogs
Online retailers are starting to test blogs to give their stores more personality - and their customers a reason to visit even when they're not buying - reports the New York Times. But blogs are so different from typical retail tasks that they're taking a bit of work to use effectively. Still, the biggest draw seems to be that blogs allow retailers to project their unique identities. "It lets us pull back the curtain and show how we're a company of hobbyists who love participating in the things they're buyers for," says a chief exec of a hobbyist site. "It humanizes us."
Similarly, for a retailer of premium coffees, blogs are an online weapon of choice for differentiating itself from Starbucks, writes Internet Retailer. Stone Creek Coffee's primary objective is to express the voice of the company, which a blog allows to do quickly and in a timely way. The company's bloggers will receive guidelines on what can be posted. The marketing and technology director will review the blog posts when they go live and make adjustments if necessary.
Executives at Bluefly.com, the discount apparel e-tailer, credit their blog (Flypaper.bluefly.com) with bringing in new customers, writes the Times. Flypaper, which was introduced in April, "is bringing some very positive things," says its chief executive. Apparently, Flypaper visitors who click to Bluefly are more likely to make a purchase than those who visit Bluefly directly.
*courtesy of MarketingVox
IMO, blogs will certainly lose its credibility when they acquire a commercial purpose. No longer creating awareness out of goodwill and genuine interest in something, readers will grow increasingly doubtful of the real motive behind the blog entries.
When someone promotes something he/she finds worthy to mention on his/her blog, sometimes I might make the extra effort to check out that place/product. But if business or monetary reason reigns, I will more often than not, make a quick glance, and not be bothered to even remember the product.
As much as I would like to see the prospect of blogs being utilised as a effective marketing tool, extreme caution is vital to draw the boundary between free publicity and commercial marketing. Blogs should not lose its intrinsic value I feel.
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