Blogging for Business - Do you or don't you?

There has been a lot of talk, and some confusion, recently about whether or not businesses should create blogs to promote their products and services, technology, break throughs, open dialog with customers, and the list goes on and on.  I honestly don't understand what all the hub bub is ... just do it.  As a practical matter, weblogs are just another channel for reaching out to your customers and/or potential customers.  It is simple, integrated marketing communications ... isn't it?

I particularly enjoyed reading Richard Manning's article, "Blogging Is Not Fundamental."  I think he raises some very interesting points.  For example,

"What concerns me about blogs is the signal to noise ratio -- do we really need all these niche, special-interest blogs, or will it become increasingly difficult to find relevance amidst the seas of personal web journals (or diatribes) without much to offer the broader constituency?"

Well, let me introduce you to NewsGator Technologies.  Here at NewsGator we develop tools to work around the clutter on the web.  Let me give you a hypothetical example. 

The director of on-line marketing for Worldwide Delivery Company A monitors RSS feeds via NewsGator.  She uses her SmartFeeds to monitor all kinds of industry information and competitive content (and to avoid irrelevant content or clutter).  One day someone in the blogosphere mentions a problem he had with Worldwide Delivery Company B ... maybe it was a user error ... maybe there was actually a problem.  At this point the problem is irrelevant ... he complained about you and your competitor knows, and can reach out to him directly and convert his allegiance.  Then he will blog about how the director of marketing for Company A contacted him directly ... and the rest is history. 

This, of course, is a very simplistic example, but would you consider that scenario relevant?  Richard, I would like to personally invite you to our upcoming webinar on business blogging at the end of June.  Dave Taylor, renowned on-line communications strategist, will be the guest speaker.  He (and I, but I am no expert) disagrees with your position on blogging and we would love to have you join us for the webinar ... we might just change your mind?

Anyone else out there who would like to learn about the advantages of blogging for your business and/or monitoring the blogosphere via NewsGator's RSS aggregation tools... you can contact me directly at jennifers@newsgator.com or just post here in the comments section.  A formal invitation will be posted early next week.