There is no question that blogging is quickly becoming a mainstay for online marketers.  However, many companies are struggling with conceptualizing the correct "place" for a blog in their marketing mix.  All too often, blogs are pigeon-holed as being online biographical journals.  People think of corporate bloggers as verbose CEO's or people with too much time on their hands.  However, the outward "face" of your corporate blog does not necessarily need to be a person.  Here are some tips on personifying other dimensions of your business:

Your Stores - Localization is an interesting challenge for retailers.  Everybody is looking for more refined segmentation / personalization, but very few companies have a savvy Internet team at each of their stores.  Blogging is the perfect solution, because it makes it simple for any authorized member of your team to post localized content.  Want to have a "local events at our Pittsburgh store" page?  Or a "here's what the Jacksonville team is up to" page?  Look no further than blogging.

Your Sales Team - Blogging does not have to be a public event!  If your team is searching for a simple way to create an intranet, then take a look at blog management systems.  For example, you can keep an online system for your sales team that provides training, case studies and benchmarking information.  By extending the pool of competition to your entire company (rather than each individual store/group/division), your sales team will be able to reach much higher.

Your Affiliates - The same concept can work for your affiliates.  Cohesion among partners is an ongoing challenge for many companies.  With a blog management solution, new information, training, advice, and results can be disseminated easily and quickly to every affiliate.  By integrating your Web analytics or Affiliate Management solution with your blogging solution, you can securely post results for each affiliate in real-time.  Imagine the time savings...

Your Cause - Whether your company is involved with breast cancer research or Hurricane Katrina relief, your efforts and progress on philanthropic endeavors are i to your customer base.  The human side of your business is more important than you may realize.  We all enjoy working with companies who share our intrinsic values.

Your Marketing Events - If you plan to make any public appearances in the near future, an "events blog" can help you bring some human perspective to these experiences.  People love to learn about the "behind the scenes" aspect of an upcoming (or past) event.

Your Product Development Team - A blog can be on behalf of a team rather than a person.  If your company releases periodic product versions, it may be effective to tease your market with product information as the development cycle is near-complete.  If your company has a team of subject matter experts, blogging can turn these high-demand gurus into publicly available brand ambassadors.

Your Brands - I recently spoke with a retailer whose Web site features products from many different designers.  Many of their customers are brand-loyal to the designer, but there are competing retailers who also carry products from the same brands.  The first site to facilitate a cohesive relationship between the consumer and the designer will win the loyalty of the best high-value customers.

Take a look at your business and consider all of your potential "bloggers" before voting yay-or-nay on this concept.  It may just be the pet food store with the "dog blog" that wins the hearts of humans and canines alike.