10 Reasons your company *should* blog...

BL Ochman wrote this piece in one of the advertising trades titled, "10 reasons your company shoudn't blog" and specifically references requests for CEO blogs within this corporate category.

Perhaps all of these alarmingly regular requests to BL are being adhered to, as only 74 of Fortune's 500 largest companies (representing 15%) have any semblance of a direct relationship/conversation with their customers.

Personally, I think this approach is dead wrong. In today's day and age, "authenticity, transparency and purpose" (I'm quoting the Senate Banking Committee) are stabilizing forces that keep us honest. Moreover, as marketers we have never had the ability (nor perhaps will we ever have such an opportunity) to establish and maintain such a powerful, undiluted and open pathway of communication between ourselves and our customers. Never.

Whilst I recognize that most attempts or efforts at corporate blogging can be miserable, pathetic, superficial and/or downright embarrassing, isn't it up to us to steward and guide our clients through this virgin territory and proving ground in order to demonstrate how impactful this can truly be?

So with that said, I'd like to build a top 10 list here to counter BL's list and with it, points including "you need to read constantly to be a good blogger", "you need original content" and "you need to drive traffic to a blog".

Perhaps BL can set the ball rolling with some of her reasons in favor of companies committing themselves to their customers....