• CMO Magazine, Tuesday, February 7, 2006 12 PM

Blogs are turning traditional marketing models inside out, confounding advertisers who can't figure out of they're evil incarnate or a communications godsend. On the one hand, they can expose a company's vulnerabilities to public examination and ridicule. But they can also provide free, word-of-mouth advertising as well as valuable customer feedback that helps marketers establish real relationships with their customers. "This is the way of the future," says William Hewitt, CMO of Novell, a software developer. "It's not just the blog itself, but the whole notion of enhanced collaboration with your customers." Blogs are forcing marketers to give up their controlling ways and join the conversation instead of leading it. But the prospect of entering an open dialogue with consumers--on their terms, not yours--is a terrifying idea for many marketers. And how do marketers participate in conversations that are most relevant to them? First, they have to find them.

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