Ways to harness this fast-growing medium's power.

Regardless of your product, blogs can be an integral part of a marketing strategy. This doesn't necessarily mean running out to start one. There are other ways to harness this fast-growing medium's power:

• Gather market intelligence. Monitor public buzz to determine how your brand and close competitors are faring. Knowing where, why, and how you're being trashed (or praised) in a public forum allows you to respond appropriately -- and quickly. Any angry customer or disgruntled former employee can launch a blog at no cost. They may even get higher search rankings than your brand.
• Engage bloggers by commenting on key business topics. Read blogs related to your product or company to understand the blogger's perspective and audience. Strategically respond to postings to initiate dialogue. More genuine that a PR pitch, this approach can also help correct misinformation.
  
  Blogs vary in size, approach, and ad opportunities. You can advertise directly on a blog that reaches your target market or through an advertising network such as BlogAds. Banners and text copy must be contextually relevant. As users visit often, it's important to change ad content frequently to prevent impression fatigue. One option is create a dialogue with a series of related ads.
• Humanize your company with corporate blogs. One or more employees, the CEO included, may blog. Corporate blogs require a level of transparency. As a result, they may not work for all types of companies. Corporate bloggers must have access to, and support from, senior management, PR, and legal.
• Build business or brand by connecting with consumers. Both small businesses and major corporations can use blogs to build closer relationships with their customers. Best Buy created the entertaining Slothmore Institute. The only connection to Best Buy is the sponsored ads.