Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises - Demosthenes

If you listen to some people, by starting a blog you’ll earn millions, whip up customer enthusiasm and be an all-round nice guy. To be perfectly honest, if you’ve got nothing to talk about then no-one is going to listen.

Companies are far better offer concentrating on their product and then incorporating blogging before jumping head-first into Social Media. Just look at this example of excellent customer service highlighted by Damien Mulley recently. A holiday tour operator forked out his own money to put up some stranded Irish Soccer fans after they were left stranded because they refused to board what they deemed an unsafe aircraft. Needless to say the tour operator in question, Tony Burney, got great publicity out of it. One of his quotes showed why he is an excellent business man, he said “Customers are hard to get, but extremely hard to keep.”

With this great philosophy in tow, it’s no wonder that people are talking about him. I’d highlight some words of wisdom (see bold text) from Hugh Macleod as a reason for his success. Hugh’s theory is that he spreads good commercial ideas rather than commercial messages. In the exact same sense, Tony’s story has spread because it resonates with consumers.

So while people get caught up in this blogging phenomenon, it is worth bearing in mind that understanding your customer is far better than talking at your customer. In fact, I’m starting to think that if you launch a blog its primary goal should be to illicit feedback from your consumer in order to refine your product rather than pushing your product on them. I like the direction the Softtalk blog is taking in this sense (via Stuart Bruce)

Time has shown that the best ideas spread the furthest!

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Blogs, Damien Mulley, Hugh MacLeod, Piaras Kelly, Tony Burney, Softtalk, Stuart Bruce