Frequency debate.

Many bloggers small or large have been lead to believe that the frequency of your post is important and critical to the success of your blog. Even through my research I found that many small businesses try to and express the importance of blogging daily, however some believe its the content and the frequency that will make your blog successful.

Erick Kintz of HP recently posted about this frequency debate and he has come up with 10 reasons as to why frequency is not matter any more.

I must agree with many of the points he has made because I think effective marketing and communication really boils down to content. It is the content that will help draw the readers, it is the content that other will comment upon, and it is the content that will help build the relationships with consumers and blog readers.

Not YET a corporate marketing tool?

I've analyzed, I've mulled it over, I've read until I'm cross eyed trying to come to my own conclusions as to whether blogs are an effective marketing tool, and from what I can gather blogs seem like a million dollar tool that will only cost you pennies to start. So with many small businesses boasting the benefits of the blog then why are there still so many skeptics?

To shed some light on this I came across a recent article on eMarketing that looks at why blogging as a corporate marketing tool still has a ways to go before it is widely accepted. It seems as though it is the big corporate guys who are more freighted about blog's than the smaller guys.

Many are skeptical still about the power of the blog and seem to fear or are more concerned about moderating what is being said on blog, rather than taking an active approach and learning and listening to what is being said about them on the web.

From my research which focused on small business perspectives, I can see that small businesses seem to be more adventurous, more passionate and maybe even more relaxed when it comes to channels of marketing and communication.

I have not done a direct comparison between small and large businesses but maybe larger corporations are reluctant to experiment with blogs because of their size, or maybe it has to do with the number of people involved? Or maybe small businesses are more willing to experiment with new technologies than big business are?

Actually kind of makes me wonder if it even has to do with egos. Big businesses tend to have bigger egos don't they! And those with bigger egos are not always open to hearing criticism even if its constructive criticism which they could use or benefit from.

The image here shows a quick peak at some of the results from this article on eMarketing.

Best MBA in the world!!

To my delight I can proudly say and boast that the MBA staff at Glasgow University were just noted as the BEST, yes that's right, the BEST MBA teaching staff in the world!! If you ask me that is quiet an accomplishment and honor that they can and should boast about.

The results come from the Economist Intelligence Unit and based on some pretty diligent rankings, meeting a number of various thresholds, in addition to surveying the opinions of students (current and alumni).

In addition to having the BEST MBA academic staff in the world the Glasgow MBA program also jumped up in rankings moving over 18 places!!! ASTOUNDING!!!


This just goes to show how truly committed the school is to producing a high quality and caliber program. If you don't believe my post have a wee read over the article yourself.

Or to see where other schools rank in comparison you can also look the article on the Economist website

Came across an old but interesting article on how blogs are really helping out when it comes to marketing and communication for small businesses.

This article makes me think of the Turkish proverb “a small key opens big doors”. Blogging is a small but showing to be an effective tool regardless of size. Some even feel that blogs are better suited for small businesses than they are big ones! who would have known!!

Big businesses are always great at throwing money into glossy advertising and marketing campaigns yet with blogging it is almost as if it has created an equal playing feild for the small and big business considering that now everyone has access to the same data.

Food for thought I guess... but I'm convinced.
If your not, have a wee read at this article from the SanFrancisco Chronicle they've even mentioned a few small business bloggers that I also found and have contacted for my interviews.

A One Man Show and a Full Time Job...

Well I guess you could consider this dissertation of mine my full-time job. I am at it pretty much 5-6 days a week and more than 8 hours a day. If it were really a small business it would probably consume me 24 hours a day 7 days a week!

That being said I can see how finding the "time" to maintain a blog to become taxing, especially if your a one man show. I could certainly type to my hearts content about interesting articles and things to blog about....almost to the point that its taking me away from doing the rest of my dissertation work. So how do small businesses find the time to squeeze in this important communication step when they are already stretched to the limit in allocating their time and attention accordingly!

This will be a good question that will give insight to the experiences and attitude's of small business bloggers. So far I have started emailing and posting comments to many small businesses I have come across asking for them to participate in this research and so far I have had lots of positive responses.

Heading back to the big city (T.O) for a holiday but am hoping to get a face to face interview with a few small business bloggers while I am there.

As I have companies agree to participate I will post and link to their blogs on this site.

Recent BBC podcast titled "Tangled Web" had an interesting out look at the revolution of the web and the blogging buzz. If you haven't had a chance to catch this I recommend giving it a listen.

Blogging is considered apart of the 2nd revolution of the web world and is being refered to as the Web 2.0. First it was the dot.com bubble and now it is the revolution of the blog, the podcasts, audio broadcasting.

Aggregation is a term they use for what this Web 2.0 is all about. It a matter of getting information to users and then republishing this information the way you want it. To many this could be a more insightful way of getting the news or customizing the news to suit your needs.

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!

Dissertation Proposal.

So the dissertation proposal has been submitted and reviewed!
The good news - I have my supervisor and have met with him and from what I understand I am in good condition so far.
The bad news - now the real work starts...

I have made a tentative time line to follow which should allow me to complete the dissertation by September, but ideally I would like to try and finish it up sooner.
The next steps for me will be to pull relevant models that we have learned about during the MBA course so far and incorporate them into my dissertation.

Just about to start the reading break this week, so along with a core module assignment and exam studing, I am hoping to tackle some of my disseration next steps. While I find all my friends venturing off on little holidays around Europe I find myself sitting in front of my computer on a Friday night at 1am... oh the joys of being a student again.

Happy Easter.