I suppose a site dedicated to business blogs simply has to mention the whole Raging Cow fiasco, since it continues to be touchstone in the minds of many on the whole subject of business blogs. For those of you lucky enough to never have heard of this whole tempest in a milk bottle, the basic background is this:

Dr. Pepper / 7 Up came out with a new flavored milk product called Raging Cow, which it sought to give hip legitimacy to by reaching out to blogs. It did so, via its online marketing agency Richards Interactive, by creating its own blog and by inviting a group of young bloggers to be briefed on the product, whom it encouraged to blog about the product. As best as I can tell, where it fell afoul of the blogosphere was that it then asked those young bloggers not to mention that they had been briefed about the product, as if their sudden new enthusiasm for flavored milk was purely their own idea.

To the company’s credit, Raging Cow’s blog and blog-PR initiative was one of the first efforts by a mainstream company to use blogs for marketing purposes (only a little over a year ago, March 2003; why does it seem like a lifetime ago?). But its PR mistep was badly received by the blogosphere, to say the least. Hardcore bloggers, who apparently wear their underpants a bit too tight, went ballistic at this attempt to corrupt their integrity of blogs, and for weeks, even months, it seemed all you heard on certain blogs was vitriol against Dr. Pepper (notably this silly call for a boycott on the product, as if anyone has actually seen Raging Cow in a store).

What irritates me about this whole episode is that it has become the embodiment in the minds of many of the idea that blogs and marketing don’t mix. The problem, if it even was a problem (Richards Interactive never saw it that way; see below), however, was never Raging Cow’s blog itself, which actually wasn’t bad, as adverblogs go (I would link to it, but I notice just now that the site seems to be defunct, which I strongly suspect has much less to do with a boycott among obsessive bloggers than the fact that sugary milk can’t compete with sugary fizzy water among teen tastes). [UPDATE: I guess it was just down when I checked it when I first wrote this post. I now see it’s back, though it’s not apparent that the blog is still being updated.] The problem was bad PR: imagine asking a reporter for the NY Times or even a lowly trade magazine to write nice things about your product but not to mention that you had briefed them.

Anyway, in an effort to get the complete story on the episode, I asked journalist Kate Kaye last year to interview the folks at Richards Interactive for their side of the story, as part of our report Business Blogs: How Successful Companies Get Real Results With Weblogs. (Kate, incidentally, maintains a site called Lowbrow Lowdown, which although quite blog-like she proudly proclaims has been “blog-free since 2000,” which I gather means only that she codes the whole thing by hand and archives it via FTP for God knows what reason.)

So here for posterity, excerpted from our 2003 report, is the email interview she conducted with Todd Copilevitz, Director of Richards Interactive about the Raging Cow Blog Campaign:

When did the Raging Cow campaign launch?

The buzz campaign, which included the blogger elements started March 1 [2003]. The branded campaign launched with five markets March 15.

What was the objective of the RC campaign, specifically the blog component?

We were working with a product that had a short window for launch, and limited distribution initially. So we had to develop a strategy that increased awareness in key markets and seeded awareness in markets where we did not have distribution. To our advantage we had a strong defined character in the raging cow. As we started working on telling the cow’s story it became very obvious there was something compelling about the humor.

At the same time we did not want to try to force our way in front of teens with a typical advertising message. We know they are far more likely to respond to a message that offers some recognition of their habits and is willing to entertain. So our blog component was simply intended to make people aware of the cow — not even to mention the product. If teens recognized the cow when they saw the product or branded advertising that was all we could hope for.

The branded campaign, and the branded web site, had the broader responsibility of raising awareness of the product and increasing attendance at sampling events. At the same time the wild postings of posters on the streets were tasked with increasing sampling attendance and driving people to the web. In short, all the pieces were intertwined.

Is there a blogging software platform used to run the RC blog? If so, which one?

We licensed Moveable Type. A great product from people who know their stuff, and an amazing community of developers creating add-ins. And, yes, we paid the license fee.

Did the campaign involve any other components (ads or marketing strategies)?

Spot radio, sampling teams, street posters and extensive online advertising using page-crossing units and other large-format ads.

What did the advertiser and agency hope to or expect to achieve through the blog?

Beyond what I said earlier, we believed the blog network offered a unique and organic opportunity let teens tell other teens about the product. Of course we realized that was fraught with risk, since we had no control over the message. But to its credit, DPSU was willing to accept that.

Describe how the campaign was received, particularly by the blogging community. What about it was praised, what was panned?

Among the target audience we had incredible response. We had numerous links to the site with extensive tracking. A brand tracking study tells us that we moved the needle in every critical factor, all positively.

There was another community of bloggers who blew their lid at our presence. They flooded us with complaints, all of which accused DPSU of being deceitful with the blog effort. Ironically there was a DPSU copyright on site. The article in Newsweek was the result of a call from DPSU. So I don’t know how we could be accused of trying to hide our hand. Of even more interest, was the forum for many of the complaints, our site. DPSU said early on that it wanted a broad and deep dialogue on the Raging Cow site, so long as it stayed on target and wasn’t obscene. I found it particularly interesting that a great many of the bloggers venting on our site don’t even offer comment capability on their site.

How has the RC blog changed since its controversial beginnings?

I’d suggest the only controversy was among those who were never our target to begin with. But along the way we eliminated links to external blog sites. In part we did so because we did not have the time to monitor all of them for inappropriate content and didn’t want our link to suggest an endorsement. That became an issue once the number of sites requesting links got unmanageable.

What’s planned for the future of the RC blog? How long will it run?

The blog tells the story of the cow’s shift from placid dairy life to a crusader against boring milk. As such it will live on through the site. While we won’t be updating it as regularly as we did in the spring, it remains a viable channel for communication.

Does Richards Interactive or Dr Pepper plan to use blogs in the future for marketing purposes? If so, would the approach be different? In what way?

I won’t attempt to answer for DPSU, except to note that they have expressed an ongoing interest in the value of grassroots communication tools. Richards Interactive was working with blogs before this and has done so repeatedly since then. We have an active database of hundreds of bloggers of all ages across the country who want to be part of marketing efforts. (You can checkout the signup information at www.projectblog.com.) As for approach, it is always different. You cannot cookie-cutter this type of communication.

In terms of using blogs for business, specifically marketing purposes, what are the challenges or drawbacks from your perspective?

Blogs offer one of the most-effective ways for small companies and companies with a defined point of view to communicate that directly with audiences. Blogs rejuvenate some of the early promises of the Internet, namely a global platform for anyone with something to say and the means to articulate it.

ClickZ’s comely columnist Tessa Wegert has written a three-part series on blogs and marketing (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3). I might nitpick with some of its points — e.g., “At minimum, blogs should be updated daily” (ideally, perhaps, but I don’t know about “at minimum”; this blog, for example, flunks that test miserably of late), the idea that a blog isn’t a blog if it doesn’t have comments turned on (so Instapundit isn’t a blog?), or the tired old saw of spotlighting Raging Cow as a blog marketing disaster) — but by and large, it’s a sensible advice piece well worth a read.

ClickZ: Ads on Blogs, Blogs as Ads

This post on a fan blog devoted to the movie rental service Netflix is a perfect example of how poorly many companies understand the opportunities of weblogs. First of all, it’s painfully obvious that Netflix itself should have a blog. If you have any doubts about that, just check out GreenCine Daily.

But that’s not even what HackingNetflix.com is proposing. HackingNetflix already has the traffic (~1,000 visitors a day) who are interested in Netflix; all the blogger was asking to do was to forward “Ask Netflix” questions to Netflix’s PR department, but their PR department declined.

HackingNetflix’s blogger (identified only as Mike) notes that he gets on the order of 20-30,000 readers per month interested specifically in Netflix news. Yet this is not enough to register on the radar of Netflix as important? And this is an Internet-based company? Sad.

HackingNetflix.com: Bloggers & Corporate Public Relations Departments

It was just a matter of time. A month ago, Microsoft founder and richest man in the world Bill Gates raved about blogs in a speech to business leaders. Now, the Seattle Times is suggesting Bill may launch his own blog imminently.

Seattle Times: Bill Gates Could Join the Ranks of Bloggers

Nick Denton

I’ve written here before about Nick Denton, the publisher behind Gawker, Wonkette, Fleshbot, Gizmodo and, most recently, Defamer, all blog properties he hires other writers to produce, all of which are doing considerable traffic and have played host to real advertisers like British Airways, Absolut Vodka, Jose Cuervo, Warner Brothers Music, Intuit and others.

Not to name drop, but just for context, Nick and I are buddies from years ago (as in, he had Thanksgiving at my place last year), back from when he was a journalist for the Financial Times (and I for Boston Globe and others), before Nick quit journalism for dot-com entrepreneurship to found Moreover and then rather accidentally made a bunch of money on First Tuesday. Nick was the guy who turned me onto blogs, and in the last couple of years he has dedicated himself to being at the forefront of those pioneering the idea of commercial weblogs.

Nick’s a genuinely nice guy and obviously an uncommonly creative thinker (check out his latest project: ad campaign blogs), but what is perhaps most interesting about him (and anyway it’s the point of this rather embarrassingly butt-kissing post) is what a media darling he is. I’ve never known anyone since I did PR for Marimba’s Kim Polese who was such a publicity magnet. Towit, here are three articles about him published in just the last few weeks in major media, only the tip of the iceberg for this sort of stuff:

• NY Times: Nike Tries a New Medium for Advertising: The Blog
• Wired: How Can I Sex Up This Blog Business?
• Business 2.0: What Makes Nick Tick?

I think Ad Age may also have something in the works, but I haven’t seen it yet. Another buddy, Steve Hall, interviewed for the NYT piece, told me that the journalist Nat Ives asked him, “Does it seem like we’re writing about Gawker a bit too much?” Uh…yeah, maybe! FYI, my cell phone is 646 554-0963, if anyone wants to interview a blog expert other than Nick Denton anytime soon…

UPDATE:
ClickZ writes: “Questions for Gawker Media Publisher Nick Denton” (July 6) in which he reveals part of his secret: “Exercise, sometimes. Alcohol, often.”

MarketingSherpa, the excellent resource for online marketers, just awarded seven marketing blogs with a readers’ choice awards, comprising votes by 826 respondents. The winners were:

• Best individual’s blog on the general topic of marketing and advertising: Adrants
• Best group weblog on the general topic of marketing and advertising: AdLand
• Best PR-topic blog: CanuckFlack
• Best b-to-b marketing-topic blog: Dana’s Blog
• Best blog on small business marketing: Duct Tape Marketing
• Best blog on online marketing: Search Engine Lowdown
• Top readers’ choice write-in vote: Strategic Public Relations

I have to admit that I haven’t heard of a lot of those and will have to check them out. Honorable mentions were also noted for all categories, so do check out the MarketingSherpa page linked above. MarketingVox, a site I co-founded, received honorable mention in the “Best group weblog…” category.

It’s worth noting that the site that won in that category, AdLand (aka Ad-Rag), is actually a rare example (the only one I know of, in fact) of a weblog that charges readers to access much of its content, specifically video clips of interesting ads, which is the site’s speciality.

Link

Ari Paparo, of Everything NY, attended the NY Bloggers event organized by Gothamist, and reports here on a panel about commerical blogging by Nick Denton and Jason Calacanis.

Darn, I wanted to attend this event but felt I should really get caught up on some work, and then, needless to say, I didn’t get much done anyway…

EverythingNY: NYBloggers Publishers Panel

Another article about how to blog for business, this time by Rich Ottum, general manager of eStrategyOne. Top five pieces of advice:

1. Make it New
2. Give it Voice
3. Say it Often
4. Ask for Feedback
5. Share the Wealth

This post led me to create another category for this blog, “How to Blog for Business.”

WebProNews: 10 Steps To Marketing With Business Weblogs

Poynter Institute’s E-media Tidbits column has a blurb’s worth of advice from Daniel Weintraub, blogger and columnist for the Sacramento Bee. The Tidbits blurb offers advice for other traditional media bloggers, that includes this gem: “If journalism is the first draft of history, then the blog is the note pad that leads to it,” Weintraub said.

E-media Tidbits: Weintraub on Blogging

Debbie Weil published this article in her WordBiz newsletter as advice for business bloggers. Best of all, the main expert source for the article is…me!

WordBiz: 5 Tips for a ‘Useful Resource’ Blog

This blog (by an anonymous author, as far as I can see) appears to have a media revenue model (i.e., ad support), as opposed to consulting. It just celebrated its one year birthday last week (Happy Birthday!). Various useful resources for business bloggers, which I will monitor regularly.

Link

Wayne Hurlbert has been blogging about the intersections of blogs and businesses on this site since October 2003. It doesn’t appear to be a business blog itself, in that I don’t see any About Us or consulting service links on the blog, but it is a useful resource for folks following this trend.

As usual, you can count on me to rip off all of his best links for this blog. (As either Stravinsky or Picasso is meant to have said, “Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.” Probably Stravinsky said it first, then Picasso simply stole it.)

Link

John Rhodes, of WebWorld.com, writes what may as well be the business plan for Business Blog Consulting. Basically, he describes in some detail how blogs are a great opportunity for businesses, but most businesses are “blog ignorant,” and that therefore there is a good opportunity there for the taking to build a blog consulting company. He writes, ” I would set up this company myself but I have too much on my plate right now.” Well, the truth is, I’m too busy to do this, too, but it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up, so I’m just foregoing sleep these days.

If this is my business plan, why do I bother linking to it? Well, for one thing, it’s not like John and I are the only ones who have thought of this so far. Griff Wigley is one such blog consultant, but he has thus far concentrated mostly on small businesses in his home state of Minnesota. There are some others also banging this drum who are maybe more direct competitors to me, enough that I don’t feel like linking to them just yet.

More to the point, however, if a significant part of this blog consulting opportunity is blogging for hire, and I think it is, there’s room for a network of blog consultants out there. I already do blog regularly for one client, BizNetTravel, and obviously if I’m doing so for 10 clients, I’ll need a lot of help. So, take a read of John’s essay and if you’re inspired, let’s talk.

Thanks to Rafat for the pointer.

WebWorld: Building a Blog Marketing and Media Company

This isn’t breaking news — it was first reported by the sources below a few weeks ago — but I’m still getting caught up with my backlogged notes for this blog.

Anyway, news is that Microsoft is readying something called Blogbot, a kind of search tool focused on weblogs for release in the next couple of months. The idea is likely to be something similar to its Newsbot search service, already in beta in the U.K., which is strikingly similar to Google News (at a glance, anyway). A U.S. version of Newsbot is also expected in the next few months. Makes me think the new blog aggregation service Kinja may have its work cut out for it.

Reports on Blogbot come from Seattle P.I.’s Microsoft Blog, the San Jose Merc and eWeek.

Microsoft has already demonstrated itself to be quite blog savvy, with a host of blogs of its own, including that of its corporate evangelist Robert Scoble, the round-table video blog of several of its product architects at Channel 9 and a large collection of other company-sanctioned bloggers.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/

This article in the Washington Post describes how popular advertising on weblogs has been in this political season. The story notes that most of these ads are going through the BlogAds network.

The story includes an anecdote of A.B. “Ben” Chandler, a Kentucky Democrat running for a special House election back in January who spent $2,000 for ads on 11 blogs, which was perceived as a risky idea in a tightly funded political campaign. The ads were so successful that in two weeks, some 1,700 readers from the blogs donated $80,000 to the campaign, mostly from out-of-state, which the campaign plowed back into tradiational broadcast and print ads and went on to win the campaign.

W. Post: Some Candidates Turn To Blogs to Place Ads

A New York Times reporter, Julie Flaherty, attended BloggerCon II and wrote this piece about the discussion at the conference about trying to make blogs make money for their writers.

NY Times: Many Started Web Logs for Fun, but Bloggers Need Money, Too

Nick Wreden writes this advice piece. In his lede, he notes that the American Marketing Association’s newsletter has a cover story about business blogs. I wish I could link to that, as I’m quoted in it, but, alas, it’s only for AMA members.

Meanwhile, Nick offers solid advice on the topic himself, including:

1. Be authentic
2. Be an unmatched resource
3. Once you start, don’t stop
4. Keep it relevant
5. Measure your effectiveness

Along similar lines, check out Robert Scoble’s Corporate Weblog Manifesto.

MarketingProfs: 10 Rules for Corporate Blogs and Wikis

Great article from NY Post (of all places) on the business blog phenomenon. It reads, in part:

While Microsoft says the site [Channel 9] is about “building community,” it also serves another purpose – getting the company’s point of view out without relying on the media.

“It’s using blogging to manage the message,” said Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research. “It has an insider-y feel, but the fact is these guys are evangelists. It’s more of a marketing tool than anything else.”

More and more, corporations are turning to blogs as a way to reach their customers without relying on television or newspapers. Unlike news releases, blogs create a personal connection with employees, with a relaxed tone and the ability for readers to ask questions.

Macromedia, IBM and other technology companies let their employees blog about new products, the corporate environment, even hiring practices. But they also debunk rumors, counter magazine stories and promote their companies.

Thanks to Olivier Travers for the tip.

NY Post: Company Blogs Aim for Newspaper End Run

A great case study from MarketingSherpa (what else would you expect from those gals?) on how Red Hat, the commercial Linux experts, combined the power of a blog, a worldwide customer tour and MeetUp to achieve fantastic outreach for “1/5th the price of a trade show.” An excerpt:

A big part of Red Hat’s brand is that it’s an open source company. [Chris] Grams [Senior Manager, Marketing Communications, at Red Hat] took that to mean that communications should be as open, honest, and even human as possible, rather than “corporate-sounding.”

“I want to give people the sense that Red Hat is made up of real people. You’re not talking to a building, you’re talking to an individual, and some pretty darn smart individuals at that. We’re proud of that.

“I really believe if you talk in a real person’s voice, you reach people in such a deeper way. We try not to make the message so watered down and so enterprise antiseptic that it appeals to no one. We may make at least a couple of people mad, but I’m hoping an enormous number of people feel a deeper connection.”

The blog averaged 3,000-5,000 readers per day during the tour. A link to Red Hat’s blog here.

MarketingSherpa: How to Use a Back-stage Blog & Virtual Community Networking to Maximize Your Road Show’s Impact

ClickZ’s editor Rebecca Lieb reports on the recent news that the popular humor and tech blog Boing Boing is too popular for its own good. Boing Boing’s found Mark Frauenfelder, a former editor at Wired, recently appealed to readers for ideas on how Boing Boing can generate revenue, at least enough to cover its ballooning hosting costs, as the blog’s ever-growing popularity is driving the site towards $2,000 a month in bandwidth fees.

Hundreds of readers have shared their ideas. I contributed mine, too, which I posted to my ExecutiveSummary.com site, namely a combination of micropayments, recommended donations and BlogAds.

Lieb notes that Boing Boing has recruited John Battelle to help manage the situation, the former founding editor of Wired and publisher of the late, great Industry Standard magazine. Battelle describes his role with Boing Boing’s four writers, “I’m Reuben, they’re the Partridge Family.”

The ClickZ article also notes that Battelle, if he takes the mantle of publisher, will be following in the lead of Jason Calacanis, Nick Denton and Tony Perkins when it comes to commercial blog entrepreurism.

ClickZ: Boing Boing Plus Battelle Equals Blogs as Big Business?