MIAMI BEACH - Chris Palumbo's days swirl with activity. Phone
calls from vendors. Phone calls from development partners and potential
development partners. Phone calls from franchisees and licensees, and
always, questions from his office staff.
If he could write it all down, he thought, it'd make a great story. And so he does.
Not
every day, but at least a couple of times a week, Palumbo provides
readers of his blog - chrispalumbo.com - an inside view of Elements, a
chain of high-end women's fitness clubs that he launched three years
ago.
There's nothing gossipy on Palumbo's blog - no rants on
office politics or tales of deals gone bad. Mostly, it a promotional
tool to discuss Elements' new features and amenities, and the chain's
growth. Palumbo has told of his meetings with Korean and Caribbean
investors, described press coverage of Elements, and talked about a
boot-camp style workout and his love of South Beach culture.
"I
write in the early mornings and late at night," Palumbo said. "I try to
keep it short and interesting, and give people a behind-the-scenes view
of all the things we're working on. It struck me that so much of my
time during the day was spent communicating with people that maybe this
would be an easier way to share information. It's turned into a
powerful form of communication."
A lot of corporate executives
write blogs. Debbie Weil, author of "The Corporate Blogging Book," told
the Los Angeles Times that the online pulpit lets the public "pull up
the curtain a bit on corporate operations," and can humanize
decision-makers.
Blogging can be risky, too. Federal antitrust
regulators are looking into the blogging of John Mackey, the chief
executive of Whole Foods' Market Inc., a public company. Mackey is in
hot water for posting messages under a false identity on Yahoo Finance
stock forums. A lot of the messages he sent were critical of Wild Oats
Markets, which some saw as an effort to drive down the price of a
company that Whole Foods was trying to acquire.
Palumbo said his blog only scratches the surface of Elements' online capabilities.
His
readership has grown to about 350 since his debut blog in late May. Now
he's urging Elements franchisees to start blogging and has hired a
tech-savvy assistant, Anna Pfeffer, formerly of the ad agency Ogilvy
& Mathers, to serve as Elements' interactive director.
Pfeffer
develops content for Elements' online magazine (elementsliving.tv),
which debuted in July, and coaches franchisees on how to develop their
websites. Two Elements franchisees, in Atlanta and Exeter, N.H., have
joined the ranks of bloggers, she said, but others are hesitant.
"Some
have expressed an interest but are honestly so busy that they feel they
don't have time - that it's one more thing for them to do," Pfeffer
said. "So I'm doing a lot of educating right now on the power of the
Web and how it can help their businesses."
Pfeffer said Elements
would like franchisees to use the blogs "to chronicle their journey so
that the next franchisee can learn about the process. As a company,
putting everything on the Web is a smart business move. We're creating
a community, a place for people to come together."
