The more I think about using blogs and email together as complimentary tactics - a topic I've discussed numerous times - the more I'm convinced they are truly a marketing power duo.
Email is without peer as a tried-and-true marketing technique. Blogs have entered mainstream awareness enough so that they are no longer considered tangential. It's becoming commonplace to see a blog associated with company Web sites. Since both are content-centric, they pair very well. (I call them a digital "peanut butter and jelly sandwich.")
That's why I feel strongly that some company should create an integrated blog/email marketing platform, and I know just the company to do it too, Compendium Blogware.
Compendium was founded by Chris Baggott, a name that might be familiar to you due to his relationship as co-founder of another company, Exact Target, a maker of email marketing software. Further, Chris has been an ardent evangelist of the use of email and blogs as companion tools.
That being said, it seems to be he's best-suited to create such a platform and I'm submitting a challenge to him to consider it...or create an argument against it.
Is an integrated blog/email platform necessary?
Considering the success of applications like Feedblitz, Zookoda and others, which turn blog posts into email newsletters, I'd say the answer is a definite yes! And, by now, you'd think someone would have come up with such a solution. (iContact has, but the blog piece is rather lame if you ask me.)
Many email platforms have integrated RSS and that's becoming standard operating procedure. If you buy my argument that the two can work in concert, I'm sure you agree that the time has come to integrate a blog component as well. (I've suggested such to my own company in fact, for use inside our more comprehensive CMS platform.)
I think the company that does this first (and does it well) will find themselves in a truly enviable position and can be genuinely competitive against more established, well-known companies that offer only one or the other.
(By "well," I mean it must offer the full features of any good email listserv application as well as that of any good blog platform. IOWs, a WordPress-type email plugin won't cut it.)
Chris, you up for the challenge? I'd love to know your thoughts on the matter.
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