Blogs as a Powerful Medium in Today's Marketing

Blogs have been a powerful medium in communication today. You get to express your thoughts in an instant and get to share it with friends online in no time. You’re not only the writer of your own blog but you’re the editor of it as well. As a blogger, you have the total control over what you want to include in your blog post. Not only you speak through words, but also through photos and videos. You can also include hyperlinks for your important words, brands and sources. All these cannot be fully maximized by the pages in the newspapers and magazines.

Some people from the traditional media even undermine bloggers in terms of ability, skill and talent. These are the people who don’t even read blogs and lest even understand what blogging is really all about and why blogs exist for what they are. There are quite a number of bloggers I truly look up to because of how they weave words that make a powerful statement and give effective insights. Influence can come later. Because when you write well, people will just follow your blog and talk about your blog positively you can’t even imagine happening. 

Janette Toral, an SEO expert and speaker, and also the author of Digital Filipino, has initiated a wonderful project called the DigitalFilipino Talks. This project comes in a series of videos that deal with topics ranging from internet marketing, social media, technology, e-commerce, business, etc. It just amazes me to know that blogging is a very powerful tool in communication and that our country is serious about this. DigitalFilipino Talks is a good contribution to all those who are interested to know more about the online media and even other countries can learn from it as well.

Below is the video where Toral interviews Carlos Palma, Country Manager of Nuffnang Philippines on the topic, "Blog Marketing for SMEs (Blogs as alternative to traditional online media ads)."

Blog Marketing for SMEs (Blogs as alternative to traditional online media ads) 

from Janette Toral on Vimeo.

Carlos shares about the growth of the company in terms of advertisers who market their products through Nuffnang. He considers that Nuffnang, that started in Malaysia, is still young in the Philippines. “(Before) we were only having 10-15 advertisers per year. Right now, we’re way past 50," shares Palma. This only proves that there is a strong market for the online presence of advertisers today.

Toral has raised a lot of important issues including display advertising. Palma says that it is sometimes critical because the ads is the first thing that people get to see first before reading the blog post. That is why companies really try their best to come up with catchy and effective ads. Let's admit it, most of us are visual beings. Some are even lazy readers. What catches our attention are not the words but the pictures we see.

Nuffnang also taps blogger for specific blog campaigns through contests. We understand the power of influence that blogs can make. Carlos explains that companies are also careful in what others have to say about them. Because when someone writes negative about a company, it reaches the public eye for further scrutiny. “So what we do, we try to bring out the positive through contests... to bring out the highlights of the company, products and services.”

Carlos mentioned a very important thing that interests me about being managed by a company like Nuffnang. He says that “it’s not all about traffic (blog site). It’s also about the quality of the writing.”

Blogs will continue to thrive because people want to express freely online. It's free to dream, to be curious, to be frank, to comment. As bloggers, we don't only write for ourselves. Part of our main goal is to be read. Companies give high importance to blogs as a marketing tool because they believe in the influence and contagiousness of blogs in the online world.