Do Blogs Influence Purchase Decisions? BuzzLogic Research Study says “Yes!”

Although Wired magazine may believe that blogging is dead (see “Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004“), consumers haven’t apparently gotten the memo.

In fact, the results from a recently released study sponsored by BuzzLogic shows that blogs have a significant influence on purchasing decisions. (See “Study” Blogging’s Dead? Someone Forgot to Tell Readers.” and the BuzzLogic news release summarizing the research results.)

Key findings from the BuzzLogic research across 2,000 online consumers?

• 50 percent of blog readers find blogs useful for purchase information;
• 52 percent of blog readers said that blogs played a role at the critical moment when they decided to move forward with a purchase; and
• 40 percent of blog readers say they have taken action based upon seeing an ad on a blog.

Additionally, consumers also said that reading blogs helped them

• Decide on a product or service (21 percent);
• Refine choices (19 percent);
• Get support or answers (19 percent); and
• Discover products and services (17 percent).

Naturally, I recognize that I’m writing about some of the benefits of having a blog within my own blog post (kinda like a self-fulfilling prophecy.) But just because I’m using this medium doesn’t make the research findings any less important or useful.

If you (or your organization) don’t have a blog, start one! Today!

If you have a blog, make sure you’re adding to your blog on a regular basis.

Promote your blog regularly via social media tools/services, email, and other more traditional marketing and sales vehicles.

And don’t just take my word for it - research backs up this premise: Blogging pays for itself! 

The Role of Social Media in Branding Efforts

My friend Jason Kintzler (@PitchEngine) - founder of Pitch Engine and overall social media junkie - started a personal blog the other day called New Media Cowboy and launched it with a post entitled “Social Media is Branding.”

Kintzler’s post reminded me that many internal branding efforts are misdirected at best because they’re caught up in the old world way of marketing-think: Specifically, “I (the big, important marketing executive) will tell you (the lucky consumer) what to think about and how to act toward my brand (be it product, service or organization).

This approach is so bass-ackwards it’s laughable, and yet it’s still the way many companies attempt to brand themselves, their products and/or services.

In reality, the definition of a brand has always been directed by those on the receiving ends of any and all communication and marketing efforts and NOT by those on the sending end.

It’s like my very first communications professor at BYU said: “You cannot not communicate.”

In other words, everything we do or say is a form of communication (or marketing, if you will). But since an effective form of mind control has not yet been invented (thank goodness), we cannot control how others will perceive such communication efforts.

Hence, communication has NEVER been a one-way street; rather (at a minimum) communication is a two-way thoroughfare (marketing too). And it is the perception of those receiving any marketing message that determines the brand of an organization, a product, a service or person and NOT the other way around.

“The perception of those receiving any marketing message determines (one’s) brand . . . NOT the other way around.”

That’s what intrigued me about Jason’s post.

He suggests that social media and the tools/services that make up social networking efforts are in fact branding efforts at their very core because they’re all about two-way communication and engaging individuals with one’s organization, product, service or person.

The reason why this observation is so critical is that the best customers are not just repeat customers - they’re evangelizers. They tell others about their great experiences with your brand and as a result they expand your sales, marketing and communications efforts many, many fold.

Why? Because they’re not on your payroll; they’re independent from your organization. As a result, what they write, say and/or do has a HUGE CREDIBILITY - often times generating more impact than virtually any other thing that you might attempt.

Kintzler’s right - social media is ALL ABOUT BRANDING. 

This is a very important concept to grasp and it should flavor any social networking effort undertaken by every marketing, PR, new media and/or communications pro from this point forward.

How To Successfully Manage A Crisis …

I was reading an email today from Bulldog Reporter’s Winning PR Campaigns email. After detailing a recent Microsoft crisis situation, two simultaneous crises, in fact, the article broke down the “Secrets to Success”:

Secrets for success: Reach on as Miller offers more tips and explains why this campaign won Gold in Internet, Business at the 2008 Bulldog Awards for Excellence in Media Relations & Publicity:

1. Stay on top of emerging new-media tools that your customers are using to communicate with in the new-media environment—“Know what communications vehicles are available,” she says. “As more people get their news and information online, tools are emerging that allow you to communicate effectively. We’re lucky at Waggener Edstrom to have a whole division devoted to digital media. But our account people also have a passion for finding the tools that are taking hold. It’s not about the latest and the greatest. It’s about what’s having the greatest impact.” For example: “Twitterand blogs” are examples of effective new-media tools. “But we also use podcasts, webcasts and other tools that are super important.”

2. Reach out to analysts and other trusted third parties to develop relationships before a crisis strikes—“Know your trusted third parties,” she advises. “They can support your communications. What it comes down to is establishing ongoing relationships—because during a crisis, you can’t just pick up the phone for the first time. We establish ongoing communications with analysts, and others in the industry, by talking about the company and its history. This way, they are prepared for future incidences. We have a lot of ‘lessons learned’ conversations with analysts and those in the industry. We look at how we handled certain crises in the past and how we would handle them now. We also look to these analysts for insight and agreement.”

3. Eschew a “no comment” response: Provide immediate, transparent, real-time information in a crisis—“In a crisis, you have to establish immediate and authoritative trust,” she says. “The press and your customers must have confidence and trust that you are providing immediate, relevant information.”