The search for the corporate blogger

So the literature review has been submitted and i now await for feedback from my supervisor....my fingers and toes are crossed for positive feedback!

The next steps i will start my search for small businesses that are currently blogging and survey/interview them for their thoughts and experiences. i must say that during my research there is certainly a growing popularity on the subject of blogging. most literature is popular books and magazine journals as there is still currenlty a large gap in academic research on blogging....hence the subject of my dissertation!

I came across this book today online and have entered into win myself a copy of the text and will also be browsing my local book store for its arrival.

In order to enter to win a copy of the book, a small survey is done on the subject of blogging - I enjoyed filling out this survey and shared a few of my findings in my research, hopefully my thoughts and feelings expressed will help my chances in winning a copy of the book...what do you think!?

An interesting question is asked in the survey as to whether you beleive blogging is a fad? I believe for some that this may be a difficult question to answer as there are still many skeptics out there. One of the most notable skepts being Bob Bly, funny how such a sceptic is still a blogger himself....can't be that much of a skeptic if your a fellow blogger can you?

Well blogging is certainly become a fashion for business and individuals to take part in, but I do not feel that it is only a 'fad'.... Cabbage Patch kids, Tamagotchi, and acid washed blue jeans were certainly fads and fashions of there days, but with the critisims in literature and amongst practitioners on the weaknesses of traditional marketing I certainly believe that blogs are helping to bring marketing 'up to date' (if you will) and are helping marketers communicate more effectively and build relationships with their consumers.

Marketing is all about relationship building isn't it, so call it a fad of the 21st century but in the mean time I believe that blogs are here to stay. A blog is truely a tool that offers an efficient and effective means of building relationships and having 2-way communication with consumers.

Logo's

I decided to try and post an image to my blog in hope that I can get it to work but rather than posting a picture I have created a 'logo' for my page. Tell me what you think! Had some help from a friend

Broken Rules!

So according to the world of blogging in order to be an effective blogger i have already broken the golden rule!!! probably the most important thing about blogging is the concent, cache and commitment and as we can see from the frequency or lack there of i have not been very commited in posting regularly to my dissertation blog.

So the literature review is underway and i have had my 2nd meeting with my supervisor and I will begin to flush out the nitty gritty of my 2ndary research and will focus on the following 3 aspects in order to determine and research how small businesses are using blogs as an effective marketing and communication tool.

1st off will discuss the marketing mix and the famous 4Ps
2nd will look at integration versus seperation and the theories of integrated marketing communication
3rd will look at how blogging can in being integrated into daily acitivies and marketing strategies and who should be responsible for blogging.

My challenges so far - is finding relevant scholarly research that discusses blogs and the impacts that blogging is having as a comunication medium.... the search will continue. Now that I have narrowed the theories and aspects down it will hopefully make my research and analysis more straight forward, cause at the moment I seem to be bouncing off walls in all directions!