How have corporate blogs evolved? Not very much is probably a fair assessment.

According to the Fortune 500 business blogging wiki, as at the end of 2009, 79 or 16% of Fortune 500 companies have a presence in the blogosphere. That is up from 27 companies, or 5%, in 2006. That’s an almost 200% jump. Admittedly, that’s a very impressive increase. But when you think about it, that means 421 of some of the largest companies in the world, or 84%, have yet to jump onboard.

In another survey done by Forrester Research in 2008 (the latest research available on the topic), the number of business-to-business (B2B) companies that took up blogging actually dropped from 36 in 2006 to 19 in 2007. (more…)

Is the practice of sending traditional press releases still viable, or even enough? More and more people are turning to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Digg for news. The power of online and digital social networking is bar none. Hence, companies and even more so, PR outfits, have to rethink their strategies and adapt to new realities.

What is a SMR?

In the U.S., companies like Cisco System, Kodak and the European arm of General Motors, began experimenting with social media news releases since 2007.

A social media release (SMR) is like its traditional cousin but much, much more concise and includes social media capabilities i.e. bookmarking networks, contextual tags, the ability to track and host conversations, and links to other social networks. (more…)

The disputes between journalism and the Web have gone on for some time. From journalists vs. blogger debates to accusations by the newspaper industry that Google is stealing its content, it is fair to say that the Internet has changed the field of journalism as we know it.

The system that journalists ran on for so long is being transformed. In an era of citizen journalism, do the traditional rules of reporting still apply? We spoke to Michael Yiannakis, a News Editor at the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, for his thoughts. (more…)

In advertising, you have the option to choose from dozens of models to be the ‘face of your brand’. When it comes to your CEO however, you don’t have a choice. But does the ‘brand face’ really matter when it comes to public relations?

Professor Gerald J. Gorn, chair of the marketing department at the University of Hong Kong, thinks that it does - especially when your CEO is the key spokesperson during a crisis that threatens to undermine the company’s reputation as an honest corporate citizen.

(more…)

“What’s the difference between B2B and B2C marketing?” was the question we were recently asked. That question is similar to comparing the sun and the moon, and requires a good amount of time to answer in full.

So we decided to list 8 important differences, and throw in some useful B2B marketing tips here for everyone.

1. The power of many

In consumer marketing, your target is an individual.

In B2B marketing, you could be targeting any number of people along the decision-making chain, some of whom may not even be located in the same country as you! (more…)