Blogs to be ad-man's new tool

Mumbai: If you haven't got your own blog yet, you'll soon be the 'odd blog out'.

Even though blogs still continue to be used more as personal diaries there are some like VP Product Marketing rediff.com, Jasmeet Singh who believe that it's only a matter of time before the concept catches on in a big way.

Stats reflect the number of blogs from India are expected to more than double by the end of this year and are likely to be the ideal source of consumer feedback as well as a means to communicate with focused audiences.

Agrees Singh: "In fact it could be a great source of PR and it will not be long when each company has a chief blogging officer".

Busy penning India's first book on the blogging phenomenon, Singh claims that the book would be an unbiased individual publishing with no vested interests.

The fact that for every 100 people in India who try blogging only 40 continue after a while is keeping the marketers away from blogging at present.

Vice President Maketing, Tata AIG Life Insurance, Rohit Mull gives his view on cashing in on the chance, "We really need to understand how to exploit that interaction with the consumer as an opportunity, without letting it harm the brand in any way."

In the west, blogging attracts advertising like any other publishing house.

Nick Denton, a pioneer amongst bloggers, has managed to develop a complete ad revenue model across his 14 blog sites. And he refuses to accept brands like like Wal-Mart, which are not youth friendly.

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Another blog type prevalent in the West is the sponsored blog. Here the blogger has complete editorial control but gets funds from an advertiser interested in the topic.

In India the trend cannot be seen yet, with just a couple of films like The Rising and the soon to be released Apharan getting their cast and crew to post blogs for film promotion.

While a spot on a blog site comes at a premium compared to a banner on a regular internet portal, it?s the much more focused audience that is making the former more popular.

Another easy and inexpensive option for marketers would be to set up their own blogs to discuss issues which are related to their consumer or to get consumer feedback.

The only fear some experts have is that with no entry barrier, it's only a matter of time before negative blogging on competition begins.