Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing chairs this blog event for the AMA and they have done a superb cross country road trip. Ben McConnell of Church of the Customer set the stage with his Blogging 101 which took a look at where business and marketing blogs are today and what you really need in a corpoate blog to be successful. The question of negative comments reared its head early on. The "blogging is an authentic conversation and not a marketing action" has its evangelists and detractors. Many companies are still wary of opening their lines to any comment. There is a mentality that negative comments about us can only hurt us. However, if we're transparent in our communication, honest in our information and act with integrity, we've got a firmer platform than if we were coming off of a stricly 'marketing speak' play. Dan Van, Blog Savant in the AMA blog
PR and Marketing execs and agencies may find it scary to give up control of the 'message' and the 'voice.' You can maintain contorl in all your other marketing and PR materials. But if you want to be a thought leader and get real feedback from your customers and prospects, take the plunge into unknown waters with your blog. Talk with your customers, not at them. Find out how they feel about your company and your products. It's always valuable to find out what they think and how they feel. Market Research companies charge a fortune to get this kind of feedback for you. Be brave and enter the conversation. | 
