Remember the first time someone told you that by the year 2000 every company would have a website? Remember how sceptical you were? Fast forward to 2006. In the next five years, every successful business will incorporate blogging into their marketing and communications strategies as automatically as they include web sites today.

Most will do it because their competitors are blogging and they don't want to be “left behind” in the aftermath of technological hurricane. The smart ones leading the pack will profit from their blogs because they know that…

Blogs build brand

Smart companies today are managing their blogs with the same dedication they invest in their television advertising. There are blogs dedicated to supporting a specific advertising campaign (check out chadland.ca for Bell Solo Mobile Phones) and blogs dedicated to supporting corporate positioning in the market place. Soon, not having a blog will be a positioning statement of its own.

Blogging builds relationships

Blogging brings senior executives in direct communication with your customers. It provides a forum for execs to share their ideas, their inspirations and, most importantly, their passion for you business. The result – customers who feel as though they can get to know the people at the helm of your business. And whether the purchase is a $2 tube of chapstick or $2 million ERP investment, we're always more comfortable buying from people we know than people we don't.

Blogging is the new cornerstone of effective public relations

It's crisis time. You need to kick into damage control mode – and fast. Sure you can hold a news conference, place calls to your friendliest journalists, issue a formal statement that you email to key contacts and clients. But that all takes time.

Within minutes a post can be published to your blog outlining your position and letting your customers know where and how to get more information. And with RSS enabled, those same customers will be immediately notified. They might even see your post before the press conference is over.

Search Engine Rankings

A well-managed blog can directly support your search engine rankings. Invest the effort to write regular posts - original content and good information are key. Don't forget to let your personality shine through – corporate and personal. A unique approach and fresh content are powerful allies in your search engine marketing efforts.

But be careful – like every successful tactic this one has been abused. Simply re-publishing someone else's content or developing a link farm disguised as a “useful resource” will do more harm than good.

Lead Generation

Bet you didn't see this one coming! It's true. Make sure that your blog is interesting to the people most likely to be purchasers of your products or services. Develop an interested audience for your blog, encourage them to subscribe via an RSS feed or an email digest. You get a qualified list of potential customers and permission to put your brand front and centre on a regular basis.

Still not convinced?

Take a look at who's already blogging? The question should be, “Who isn't?” In fact, a new directory has launched at http://iblogbusiness.com. You can also check out these corporate blogs for inspiration:

*Randy's Journal: by Boeing Vice President of Marketing

*http://www.boeing.com/randy/

*The Fastlane Blog: posts from several General Motors executives

*http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/

*Jonathan's Blog: by Sun Microsystems President and COO

*http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan

*Sweetmantra: Personal Blog of Bill Sweetman

*http://www.sweetmantra.com/

*OneDegree: edited by Ken Schafer, VP, Marketing Tucows Inc.

*http://www.onedegree.ca