Q&A: Evelyn Rodriguez

Evelyn Rodriguez, Crossroads Dispatches, is a marketing professional in the blurring landscape of technology, media and communications. She frequently blogs on innovations in innovation and marketing from a global perspective. She is currently devoting her attention to Pivia Software; their corporate blog is titled Performance Matters.

Why do you blog?
The reason has evolved, but I've come to the point where I blog to blog - for it's own sake. Much like a painter paints to paint. Or a writer writes to write. I find it helps me crystallize and coalesce thoughts that are scattered and loosely formed. The process of blogging helps me think through things and I'm better able to articulate them later. It's also a form of self-expression - I've always loved writing - and it's a wonderful way to share ideas in a public forum. And yes, I'm evangelizing a couple of ideas too. More on that during the week.

Why is blogging important for PR?
PR is about leveraging influence and disseminating messages. Blogs and other participatory media are as well ...but there are a few twists. I just got off a plane departing from SFO where I had been chatting with a fellow American whom works for a French pharmaceutical. We were discussing the various cultural nuances in the manner that business is conducted between the two countries. Business is business, right? PR is PR, right? While I may understand how negotiations works in U.S.; it's a slightly different animal in Korea or Italy or Brazil. It would be wise to brush up and be prepared. In much the same way, companies and professional communicators should learn the nuances, customs and values of the blogosphere to be effective (and oftentimes not offend!) Just because the term "media" is bandied about doesn't mean it's the same thing.

Bloggers are quite often rival the influence of traditional press and analysts with readerships - and within their social networks. The presidential conventions are inviting bloggers precisely because of their recognized influence. While not mainstream in all areas of interest (yet), the blogosphere is influential if your target market is tech-savvy professionals or 13-year-old girls - among other demographic segments. So if you are a technology company - which is where most of my experience lies - you cannot afford to ignore it.

Blogs can work very well for a company that grasps the blog culture. It's a proactive means to communicate; no need to wait to have the press pick up a story - create your own - that's the participatory nature of the media. Now anyone can be a participant in media creation... play both roles of producer and consumer. Jonathan Schwartz, COO of Sun Microsystems, cites the ability to share his own words without being filtered, misquoted or edited as one reason for his new blog. Direct from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Phil Libin, CEO of CoreStreet, feels his personal blog is creating a "body of work" around the broader aspects of computer security and his posts are sometimes picked up and expanded upon by traditional media.

Blogs also allow for a continuous and interactive rapport (through its subscription facility via RSS feeds) with an interested audience. They create a means to develop an ongoing, potentially collaborative, relationship beyond the intermittent product or project announcements - whether that's version 2.0 or your next book. It's a direct conduit between the company and interested party - whether that is a journalist, analyst, customer or prospect, industry peer, investor, other stakeholder, employee or any one in the public.

What do you hope to see come out of this event?
I hope this is part of an ongoing 'cultural' awareness and evangelism campaign to educate corporate marketing and communications professionals about blogs and participatory media.

What issue(s) will you be focusing on in your contribution and why?
I will be talking about the use of corporate blogs for interactive evangelism and thought leadership. Evangelism has been in the tech industry jargon for a while - I believe that Guy Kawaski during Apple's early days was the first evangelist. It has gained wider usage and basically means advocacy and education around new ideas and new concepts. When a company is breaking new ground - creating a new market or expanding it innovatively - there's a need for a lot of educating of the market - communication - buzz - for it to take hold. The problem/need/desire may have been old hat, but the innovative solution isn't. Telling the story and educating the market around an innovative concept or product is evangelism.

That ties in to thought leadership as well. For digital products, the authors of Momentum (highly recommend) cite that the "Marketplace of Ideas" is where companies gain momentum. "The sustainability of a product's differentiation on a forward-looking basis is as fundamental as emotional conviction in people's minds as memories were in the Marketplace of Image [earliest branding efforts for consumer goods]. Inside people's heads, it's as if every purchase order and receipt subliminally asks: I know I'm buying an implicit futures contract with this brand. Is there any reason to doubt how long I can count on this company and its products to solve my most important problems?" Blogs are a wonderful tool for ongoing communication of your understanding of the customer's world and where it's headed and simultaneously gathering feedback in near real-time.

Comments

Evelyn is always a sharp shooter. Glad to see her listed on this Q&A trail...

Kindly,
Kirsten
CEO and KCC (Kinda Cool Chick)
re:invention, inc.
www.reinventioninc.com
www.reinventioninc.blogspot.com

"the marketing services network for women-led businesses"

Posted by: kirsten at July 10, 2004 05:02 PM

About: The Global PR Blog Week 1.0 is an online event that will engage PR, marketing and business bloggers from around the globe in a discussion about blogging and communications. The event is scheduled for July 12 - 16, 2004.

Links: The New PR Wiki

Recent Entries: Looking forward to 2.0; Site Statistics and Trends; A participant’s final thoughts; Traditional PR is dead - Long Live DIY PR; Quiet is the new loud

Recent Comments: Rick Barry on A Very Brief Look at Blogging for the Uninitiated Executive; George Mc Quade on The Battle Over PR; Duncan Adams on Robert Scoble interviewed on Corporate Blogging; Kevin O'Keefe on How to launch a corporate blog for a professional services organization; William Luu on Site Statistics and Trends