Many thanks to Pajama Market: Small Business Blog of the day for the information about MerchantCircle.

MerchantCircle know how to build buzz before a launch: they launched their blog in November 2005; the company launches on June 5, 2006. Excellent. When you see a company doing this, you know they understand the online environment.

I’ve been trying to convince several clients that a blog isn’t just an optional extra, or an afterthought, it’s a VITAL part of their marketing plan. Your blog is like a series of letters and notes to the world: it shows who you are, how you think, and gets you attention. It opens a discussion with your customers and potential customers.

I love this post on the blog:

Well, I was wrong. 30% of our merchants are blogging. I don’t think they think of it as the traditional internet crowd’s definition of blogging. Merchants see it as communicating with the local consumers they want to talk to. When you look at it this way, it is a natural behavior. If you look at the most successful local merchants you will find their core skill set is communicating and connecting with local consumers. It is what they do. They communicate, they listen and they bring value to their consumers. The idea that they are going to use a modern idea like blogging is not so surprising when you look at how close it is to a core skill they already have: communicating. In fact if you look at the local merchants who write “real estate corners” or “how to landscape tips” for their local paper, this is really the same thing.

Genius — merchants see blogs as communicating. Kudos to Merchant Circle.

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