I don't normally pay a lot of attention to television commercials, in fact I don't normally pay a lot of attention to television, either. However, I must admit that my daughter and I make it a habit of watching 'Crossing Jordan' on Sunday evenings. Frankly the show is a bit thrown together, even by tv norms, but when you have a 14 year old you have to make it a point to share some of the things that she likes, too. (Hey, I've even watched a few episodes of the Gilmore Girls!) Last night I noticed a commercial from Verizon that I thought was very clever. Two friends meet and one complains that he tried calling the others cell but couldn't get through. The other turns around and says something like "You guys always let me down," to a group of morons and other assorted rabble representing his cellular network. Behind the guy whose cellphone works is a huge group of professionals, everyone from hardhats to geeks, representing the Verizon network. "We're your network," they tell him. I thought is was a very useful, well formed visual of the network that backs up a phone service, and it was humorous, as well. I see some television commercials and I can't tell you afterwards what they were advertising or the point they were trying to make. But this commercial was clear: Verizon has an enormous group of professionals running a network that backs you up - count on it. So how does the small and medium size business, that sells to other businesses, come up with a marketing campaign to rival those of massive telecomm companies? Think about it: What you do is mostly invisible to the marketplace, much like Verizon's network, though people may use it everyday. For example, there's probably not 1 person in a hundred who could name an engineering firm that built the main bridge in town. Of course, some of the people who need to know who you are do know who you are. But how are you engaging them and keeping them up to date? And for others who do not know that you exist, how to introduce yourself? Not only don't they know that you exist, but even if they go by your corporate sign everyday they do not know what you sell, in truth. You might sell engineering services but your real assets are all knowledge based, intellectual assets. Your assets are as invisible to the market as the telecomm's network. Of course you rely on a direct sales force and trade shows and local political/charity events to keep your name in the game, but there might be months that go by in which you 'go dark'. No one hears from you, though you are hard at work. The Internet exists and professionals, the kind of people that ultimately buy your products and services, use it on a regular basis. How can you get behind them and in front of them at the same time. This is the gist of the corporate blogsite. You aggregate useful news from many different sources and in the midst of it all you actually speak to your clients and prospects in a natural, intelligent voice about the business of engineering, or money management, or architecture. Do you think other people would be interested in an anecdote about your business? Don't laugh, for gosh sakes, have you seen what they call entertainment on television lately? Take a look around our site. There is more than just our weblogs. There are guest weblogs, Briefing Channels and links back to relevant content on your website. A visitor who is interested in the same intellectual assets as the ones you own could visit your blogsite and spend 15 minutes or an hour pursuing items of mutual interest. Will this make them a customer? Probably not, but when you do finally meet at a social gathering you'll have plenty to chat about. The main point though is not to go dark. Keeping the marketing lights on is awfully expensive, if you're looking at print advertising, radio or television. On the other hand there are a lot of people who work for you and they have something useful, humorous and intelligent to say. Let your customers hear it. That's your Network. | 
