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The
Marketplace MasterTM
is a monthly email publication on professional service
marketing from Expertise Marketing, LLC.
Boring
Blogs
Readers
of The Marketplace Master know that my research
and consulting work focus on critical marketing challenges
and cutting-edge marketing solutions for professional
service firms. Over the years, I’ve watched many
of these firms rush to embrace tactical marketing approaches
before they have thought through their strategic underpinnings.
It’s no surprise that the field of marketing is
littered with the past failures of too-quick uptakes
on the latest trends.
I’ve
watched with interest as blogging has swept the communications
landscape; it certainly will change the way we receive
and deliver information. But what about blogging in
a professional, business-to-business environment? Business
blogs do appear to be a great way for professionals
to share their knowledge and keep a finger on the pulse
of their marketplace.
But
perhaps it's just too easy to jump on the blogging
bandwagon. We've all seen them: blogs that regurgitate
the same old news, interspersing it with mindless chatter.
I can’t help but wonder: are clients interested?
Do they believe blogs will bring them value? Can blogging
be successfully incorporated into the professional services
brand management mix? What’s the possible return
on investment?
I
can only encourage my readers and clients to attend
to the principles of marketplace mastery: blogging,
like other marketing trends before it, may be a fantastic
use of your professionals’ time and resources.
But look before you encourage them to leap!
My
guest author this month, Susan Solomon, who teaches
marketing communications at two Southern California
universities, articulates some of my preliminary feelings
about many blogs in this issue's article, Don't
Bore Me With Your Blog.
Send
a note and let me know what some of your favorite
business blogs are.
Suzanne
Lowe
Author, Marketplace Masters: How Professional Service
Firms Compete to Win
President, Expertise Marketing, LLC
Don't Bore Me With Your Blog
Blogs
are beginning to bore me. Not all blogs, but many are
getting on my nerves. And, believe me, I'm not a teenager
with the attention span of a gnat—I'm the mother
of one, and you can bet he has no patience for most
blogs either.
What's
wrong with most blogs? They're too chatty, like my first
paragraph. You probably didn't need to hear about my
teen, but I thought it was clever. So I bulked up my
writing with inconsequential meanderings. That's bad
blog form.
If
you're going to blog, become an expert on something.
This is especially important for blogging in the business
world. Think content, not rambling comment. Years ago
I wrote an article mocking bloggers who post pictures
of their dogs and cats. I was inundated with emails
from outraged blogging pet owners. I stand on my conviction.
Blogs are for sharing information, not pointless doggerel
(or catteral).
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"Don't think about starting a blog unless there's
a passion for your topic. Your blog will wither
and die when there's no fire for writing about new
and breakthrough ideas." |
The
best blogs provide chunks of great information. Steve
Rubel's Micro
Persuasion is among the best blogs available on
corporate blogging. Rubel rarely writes an entry of
more than 150 words, but his blog is packed with content.
He's also generous with hyperlinks for each of his entries.
I
also love Adrants.
It covers the most bizarre underpinnings of the marketing
world and it's fun to read. Copy is light, but Adrants
does its homework. Entries are topical, original and
grab the reader. It's meaty stuff delivered concisely.
I'm not in love, however, with Adrants' right-justified
paragraphs, which brings me to another observation.
Don't
make your blog look boring. There's nothing more disturbing
than a well-written blog that looks like a newsletter
template from Microsoft Publisher. You know exactly
what I mean—thin and unreadable type, negligible
spacing between lines, justified paragraphs and very
little graphic relief.
A
blog should be welcoming to read. Embrace white space.
Be generous with line spacing and use bigger fonts.
Well-written subheads almost guarantee readership. Pictures
that illustrate your point are also fantastic. Go easy
on the clip art and stock photos, though. A blog is
about originality and sizzling hot information in written
and graphic form.
How
else to make a blog sizzle? Consider the following:
- No passion, no blogging: Don't
think about starting a blog unless there's a passion
for your topic. Your blog will wither and die when
there's no fire for writing about new and breakthrough
ideas. Passionless blogging leads to bored readers
and, as we all know, bored readers vanish in a click
on the Internet.
- Take risks: A blog is not a buttoned-up
corporate newsletter. Invite comment and even some
controversy. Don't be afraid to begin dialogue on
an issue that may prompt a different opinion. Good
blogs invite interesting conversations.
- Find your tone: Corporate writing
is different from brochure writing, which is different
from Web writing, which is different from blog writing.
Nick Usborne
taught us how to write for the Web. We also need a
course in blog writing, which in my opinion means
offering a personal perspective without excess chattiness.
- Break from the pack: One problem
with blogs is that they tend to link to the same sites
and regurgitate the same news. Offer something new
by channeling your inner news reporter. Strive for
the scoop.
- Be topical: Unless your blog is
on Jane Austen (and I'm hard-pressed to find a business
blog tackling this topic), relate entries to current
themes. You can create your own energy off the current
"buzz."
- Know your audience: This adage
from Marketing 101 still sticks for bloggers. There
are literally too many blogs and too little time to
read them. Only post items relevant to readers. How
to gauge what's relevant? Consider those postings
generating the most comment.
Finally,
be truthful with yourself. Before hitting "send,"
read the blog entry and make sure it excites you. After
writing the entry, are you jazzed about floating the
information in the blogosphere? Will you feel the urge
to constantly check for commentary from interested readers?
Those are sure signs you're writing inspired copy.
On
the other hand, do you simply feel relieved of your
daily duties after completing a blog entry? Do you shrug
it off as not your best, but a task completed? If blogging
becomes a chore, it's a chore for the reader, too. And
that's what makes for utterly boring blogs.
Susan
Solomon has been in healthcare marketing for more than
20 years. She teaches marketing communications at two
Southern California universities. Reach her at sussol@gmail.com.
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Talk
Back
Andy Klemm, from management consulting firm
Klemm
& Associates wrote to us last month
with feedback on the L.E.K.
case study on account management.
“That is a remarkable story primarily
from the viewpoint of the difficulty in overcoming
entrenched consulting firm attitudes, and
then pulling off what appears to be a genuine
culture shift. There must have been some bumps
along the way.
It has been my experience that consulting
firms would generally sooner consciously self-destruct
than to do what L.E.K. did. The examples of
this are numerous as I am sure you well know,
as are the countless and futile attempts at
making change, which wind up being at best
going through the motions; to wit, even the
failed application of Steve Covey’s
thought at some firms.
It can perhaps be best summed up by an anecdote.
A partner at a major firm who had come into
the firm via direct entry from the outside
was attempting to graft some new thinking
onto business practices. He was eventually
taken aside by an inside partner who was assigned
as his mentor/advisor. The insider confided
to the mentee partner that the “other
partners” thought that the “stuff”
the new partner was trying to do was “fairy
dust.”
If L.E.K. can continue on their path without
it becoming a cult, they are indeed onto something.”
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