Tip #5: How to uncover your "story"
	Want a handy PDF of the best charts in the book?

Tip #5: How to uncover your "story"
Hint: it's not about your widgets

When organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm launched its first set of blogs two years ago, the company titled one of them "The Daily Scoop."

Yes, it was about the process of manufacturing yogurt. You can guess what happened.

As Stonyfield's chief blogger Chris Halvorson told me in several interviews for the book, "We discovered there was only so much you can say about making yogurt." So that blog was dropped. Stonyfield, one of the pioneer corporate bloggers, continues to blog about organic farming as well as babies & parenting issues.

Do you see a pattern? Blog about stuff your customers are interested in, need to know or are passionate about

This applies whether you're B2C or B2B. Here are two examples to get you thinking:

B2B Example

You're a B2B company that manufactures barcode labelmakers for Fortune 500 companies. Start a blog about RFID (radio frequency identification), the hottest thing in supply chain logistics.

Doesn't matter if you sell RFID-enabled devices yourself (although it wouldn't hurt if you do). Position yourself on the bleeding edge.

There are already lots of blogs out there about RFID. So perhaps yours will be a "useful resource blog" that points to other blogs, sites, articles, etc. about RFID.

B2C Example

You're Patagonia and you make all those cool fleece pullovers and other mountain climbing gear that the rest of us wear around town. (Hey guys, why in heck aren't you blogging? Your branding is superb but don't you want to hear more from your customers?)

Launch a blog about the problem of discarded oxygen tanks on the slopes of Mt. Everest. Seriously.

In other words, choose a topic that is very specific and that is congruent with the psycho demographics of your customers. Slice your topic as finely as you can. Then yours will be the key online destination (and will get the highest Google rankings) for those keywords.

Of course, once visitors arrive at your blog, they'll see the links back to your main site. And they'll likely click on over to check you out.

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It's the kind of quid pro quo that's proven very successful online. And it tends to prompt immediate action. You give me something; I'll give you something tangible and free (a PDF) in return.

This is Web 2.0

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Countdown! Only 7 weeks until publication of The Corporate Blogging Book (TCBB)

That means four more corporate blogging tips for you. Look for Tip #4 on June 26, 2006.

Warm regards,

Founder/President, WordBiz.com, Inc.
aka MonaLisaOfBlogging.com
direct: +1 202.364.5705
email: wordbiz(at)gmail.com