Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers

Using more than 50 interviews with people at all levels and in all sorts of businesses for case studies, it demystifies blogging, explaining why it is more efficient, credible and effective than traditional business communications tools.  Naked Conversations  explains the perfect storm conditions battering traditional marketing mixes of ads, PR, websites and collateral materials.    Blogging did not cause the situation but represents enormous promise of fixing what’ s broken, and in so doing, will bring companies and their constituencies closer together while improving the bottom line.

From this book, business and marketing decision makers will learn: Blogging is not just another tactical communications distribution channel, but a new strategic medium that benefits both companies and customers Why businesses of all sizes and in all places should blog Why such traditional taboos such as praising competition or publicly discussing product prior to launch make sound business sense in today’ s new Conversational Era How a poor understanding of blogs is costing one small specialty manufacturer $10 million in replacement products for disgruntled customers How a reviled software giant is seeing a newpublic image of openness develop thanks to thousands of active employee blogs What an outspoken NBA owner does with his blog to connect to team fans What employers and employees should know about hiring and firing due to blogging and  a code of ethics for blogging

"You are letting people have a sense of the people here. You're building a connection. People feel more a part of this. Maybe they'll tell us how we can better improve our products."

"Scoble and Israel really understand the issues of corporate blogging well. They discuss why it's important for businesses of all sizes to engage in this new form of communication with their customers and of course, the danger of not participating."

—Michael Gartenberg, Vice President & Research Director, Jupiter Research

"Naked Conversations...covers the bases with real-world examples and insights for anyone who might have a stake in communicating, or conversing, in an era in which subjects can be exposed and laid bare at Internet scale, and participation and honesty rather than obfuscation and subterfuge hopefully prevail."

—Dan Farber, Editor in Chief, ZDNET

Whatever happened to honesty in business?

That's what your clients and customers are asking, even if your company's integrity is above reproach. Because, for decades, corporations have talked at their customers and called it communication. Now comes the blog—and an opportunity for your company to talk with customers and let then talk back. Using more than fifty interviews with people at all levels in all types of businesses, these experts demonstrate in a fresh and thought-provoking way how blog can repair corporate image and rebuild lost trust. And they show you how to do it right.

Can your organization afford not to blog? Read this book and then decide.

"Biz Blogging...WORKS. It is of...MONUMENTAL IMPORTANCE"

—From the Foreword by Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

Today's consumer craves human contact. We're sick to death of voicemail. Menus of options that never offer the option we need. A deluge of carefully spun "information" designed not to answer our concerns, but to influence our decisions. Mechanical voices telling us our call is important to them even as they refuse to answer it.

We're frustrated in our attempts to reach a live human being, and when we finally do, all too often it's someone who barely speaks our language and only reads from a script.

It is so surprising that the consumer distrusts the corporation?

Into this charged atmosphere comes a phenomenon called blogging. It's interactive. It's informal. It's peppered with misspellings, grammatical errors, and an occasional forbidden word.

It comes from a real person. And it allows the consumer to talk back.

Robert Scoble, author of the nation's best-read business blog, and veteran consultant Shel Israel believe bolgging is already changing the face of business. They show you how employee bloggers altered the public's perception of Microsoft. How an outspoken NBA team owner uses his blog to connect with fans. How small businesses and Fortune 500 companies alike can benefit from blogging, and how failing to use it properly can be disastrous.

In the totally forthright manner that defines a good blog, Scoble and Israel are equally honest about blogging's dangers. They examine the risk and how to manage them. And they have practiced what they preach. You'll read comments they receive when they publish early drafts of this book on their own blog.

Traditional corporate communication is one-way, and customers are tired of being talked at. They want to talk back. This landmark book shows you how to let them, and why your business may depend on it.

Shel Israel has been consulting for over 20 years. He has played a key strategic role in introducing some of technology’s most enduring products including: SoundBlaster, PowerPoint, Filemaker, MapInfo and Sun Microsystems workstations and more. He is editor-in-chief of Conferenza Premium Reports.

Introduction: Of Bloggers and Blacksmiths.

I. What’s Happening.

1. Souls of the Borg.

2. Everything Never Changes.

3. Word of Mouth on Steroids.

4. Direct Access.

5. Little Companies, Long Reach.

6. Consultants Who Get It.

7. Survival of the Publicists.

8. Blogs and National Cultures.

9. Thorns in the Roses.

II. Blogging Wrong & Right.

10. Doing It Wrong.

11. Doing It Right.

12. How to Not Get Dooced.

13. Blogging in a Crisis.

III. The Big Picture.

14. Emerging Technology.

15. The Conversational Era.

Acknowledgments.

Name Index.

Subject Index.