I’m a proponent of engagement marketing - and the blog’s role in that process. A blog remains one of the great untapped marketing tools of the “Web 2.0″ era.

While a blog is a powerful engagement marketing tool, they’re also cost effective content publishing tools. With that in mind, is there a place in small organizations for “blogging without engagement?”

Thinking Outside the Blog

I recently consulted with an economic development non-profit about their marketing, and as part of the process, we explored the idea of a blog.

In the end, an “engagement blog” wasn’t feasible; the organization had little “blogging bandwidth,” and a large percentage of its low-income, largely rural target audience suffers from slow or non-existent Internet access.

Still, in the context of their Web site makeover, we’re installing one. Why?

A Cost Effective Media Channel

Simply put, a blog is really a content management system (CMS), so even little-trained staff can use one to publish class schedules, seminar updates, new course offerings and other information in seconds.

Using free services like Feedburner, the content of a post can be automatically transformed into e-mails sent to clients, stakeholders and local media.

Other features (like categories) allow the non-profit and readers to segregate, retrieve and publish information.

Simply put, we’re using blog technology because it’s so damned good at publishing information - not because it holds the potential for engagement.

Of course, with software like WordPress in place - and staff growing more comfortable with it - could an engagement blog really be far behind?

Perhaps. Even if the answer is “no,” it’s clear blogs have a lot to offer the small organization.

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