The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article from Dow Jones today entitled: “Companies Increasingly Look To Blogs As Spokesmen.” While I certainly agree with Lance Morgan, a communications strategist quoted in the article, that a corporate blog will not and should not replace the role of the corporate spokesperson, it can certainly augment it.

Corporate blogging is one of the many tools we often recommend integrating into our clients’ overall communications strategies. In our view, the benefits include the following :

• Offers an additional communications channel more casual than a press release
• Allows multiple voices from the executive team to be heard; humanizes the team and shows depth on the bench
• Provides a public platform for disseminating executive response to an industry or competitive issue, or framing context around some recent corporate news, both good and bad
• Gives a time-effective platform for companies to be quoted in breaking news stories

Oftentimes, journalists have to turn around a story on a dime and require executive commentary during those last minute scrambles – the corporate blog is a great place to snag a quote.

The latter point is why we recommend to avoid the marketing – and even press release – speak in favor of a genuine conversational tone when writing blog posts. There is no better way to ensure that a journalist or industry pundit will not return to your blog then by including cheesy marketing catch phrases or jargon filled techno-babble. The blog should also not be a regurgitation of the corporate press room. Perhaps we would recommend somewhere in between the pinstripes and pajamas. (Not sure if this happened to anyone else, but I was momentarily distracted by visions of executives in various types of sleepwear working feverishly from their laptops. Trade show tee shirts, nightshirts, footie PJs… Ok must stop, it is getting weird.)

For less urgent stories, a blog post can entice a journalist to hear more, but is never a complete substitute for a good old-fashioned conversation. This might be blasphemous as the trend of real-time communications pervades every channel. Harkening back to the post we did a while back on news embargoes and journalists’ increasing focus on beating other writers to breaking stories. Although it might mean sacrificing the occasional blue ribbon, some of the best articles stem from one-on-one personal engagement. Asking questions probe beneath the surface so tangents can turn into stories. An engaging dialog can spark compelling new insights that didn’t come to mind during that midnight typing session.

Will corporate blogs replace company spokespeople? Doubtful. Great journalism, in my opinion, is rooted in uncovering those juicy nuggets of information or insight that can only come from live dialog. I do see the corporate blog continuing to grow as a communications channel, as more and more media outlets rely on real-time news for the bulk of their content.