On Product Management

Question for you: Corporate Blogs

I mentioned earlier that my company has a blog. So, what’s new about that? Well, like many things, there are good blogs, bad blogs, and good and bad corporate blogs. I dislike blogs that are blatant marketing pitches, and it’s clear that readers don’t like them much either. One of my recent entries was picked up by Jesse Wilkins, where he gave a very nice compliment, namely that “I can recommend it comfortably as a good example of how to do a vendor blog”. Thanks Jesse!

Blogging for my company has got me thinking, and Jesse’s comment focused it for me: what makes a good “vendor blog”? In a future post I would like to write about corporate blogging from the perspective of product management and marketing. But who better to ask about this topic than you, dear reader?

Here are my questions for you:

1. Are you involved in your own company’s blog? If so, drop me a note and tell me a little more.
   1. What is the purpose of your blog?
   2. What works for you and your blog?
   3. How do you measure success?
   4. How do you avoid irregular posting schedules
   5. How do you deal with company confidentiality vs. transparency, and … here’s a hot issue, how do you share openly while staying “on message”?
2. Do you read any blogs regularly? If so, what are they? What do you like about them? Are there any corporate blogs on the list?
3. Any war stories about publishing your content would be most helpful.

I hope to hear from you. You can email me here: Alan Armstrong.

Related posts:

1. Corporate Blogs redux
2. Doing vs. Thinking – A case for corporate culture change