Marqui, a provider of Communications Management Software (CMS) for marketing and business managers, today announces the launch of their innovative, trust-based blogging program.
Marqui will pay approximately twenty bloggers $800 per month to write about the company and has signed three-month contracts with each of them.
The bloggers are required to write about the company once a week and display a logo on their site indicating that they are paid by Marqui. In order to preserve the bloggers’ integrity, the company will pay each blogger for the duration of the contract, regardless of the positive or negative nature of the feedback.
Marqui is posting all terms and conditions on their web site, and will link to the blogs and the discussions they generate. Much like a public focus group, Marqui hopes the bloggers will start discussions about products that will yield suggestions for future developments. And, like the next iteration of public forums, Marqui believes bloggers will uncover leads — both for sales opportunities and developer partner leads. The company will pay their contracted bloggers for each qualified lead.
Marqui’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) will be positioned into the blogosphere not as a tool for bloggers or blogging, but as a new approach to providing easy-to-use tools to marketers who want to take control of their own messages and brands in all communication vehicles. Marqui’s solution outputs ‘scalable content’ sending it to newsletters, newswires, document management systems, corporate intranets or even in raw XML, in addition to web sites and email campaigns.
Communications management combines the flexibility of content management systems and scalable content distribution with the power of email campaigning and the structure of workflow management. This burgeoning new area is part of the Web 2.0 — a pragmatic reaction to the excesses and inefficiencies of Web 1.0. Marqui’s unique approach enables customer’s legacy systems to remain in place, while marketers and employees can take control of their own messages and update content quickly and easily.
“As a company that sells primarily to marketers, we were looking for new, creative ways to get to market, and we believe we’re changing marketing dynamics through our innovative, transparent use of the blogosphere,” said Stephen King, President and CEO of Marqui. “We have a mantra of simplicity and integrity that we bring to everything we do. We are offering a clear view into the components of our program that will allow others to easily follow suit. In a way, it’s like an open source marketing program.”
Marqui’s “Pay Bloggers to Blog” program was developed by Marc Canter, of Broadband Mechanics, a San Francisco based firm, who was the founder of MacroMind, which became MacroMedia (MACR).
“We’re promoting this blogging program as an alternative to traditional forms of marketing — like advertising,” said Canter. “This program has created significant controversy. There are concerns that bloggers’ opinions will be purchased and traditional marketers — like publishers — are concerned about their revenues. We think the idea of paying someone to initiate conversation about Marqui will result in a significant benefit, and we anticipate a growing trend.”
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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