I've heard and read a few reports about Oprah admitting that she currently weighs around 200lbs and is very disappointed with herself for getting back up to that weight.  (I'm not criticizing -  as much as I've yo-yo'd through the years I can't criticize anyone for gaining or losing weight) 

I saw this ad on yahoo today for Oprah's diet and thought that was an odd celebrity to base a diet on right now. Then I remembered that this ad is all over facebook advertising as well. 

Is anchoring a diet to Oprah a good strategy?  Is her name alone enough to drive sales even if she is on the high end of the yo-yo at the moment? 

If she loses weight again and uses another diet do you lose your fad diet credibility?

I thought about all these things and then I clicked the link which took me here. This is a "mom blog" who is linking (via paid referrals I'm sure) to products to sell this stuff. Since it's multi-level she doesn't really have her own brand and is trying to leverage Oprah's name into selling her stuff.  If this mom really exists.

In a time when fake blogs abound – the obvious questions pop out at me – Is there really a Tina Collins, and is she really a mom who lost weight on this diet?

I'm skeptical. This site was started in October, has a bunch of fake looking comments and looks intentionally bad.  I hope I'm wrong.  Regardless if Tina is real or not – Marketing like this makes me feel like I'm being lied to. Good marketing shouldn't do that.

Dear readers – let's all agree to never fake it (no fake blogs, no fake moms, etc.).  I think the industry as a whole will be better for it.

Spoke Site Updates

We've made a few revisions to the Spoke Marketing site that we launched yesterday.  First, we switched the site to PHP which was fun for me since I'd never used it prior to last Thursday (yes – I know I'm a geek, but I always liked learning new languages).  That should make it easier to keep up to date.  Second, we add a new page for Spoke news and a page for our blog / twitter info. Third, we added some client quotes and a new client to our portfolio.  We'll keep the site fresh with new content as we launch new campaigns, websites and brands for our clients.

Spoke is featured in Small Business Monthly

Spoke is featured in the December issue of Small Business Monthly.  Jeremy Nulik sat all four Spoke partners down to ask us how to market in a down economy.  Humbly, I think we had some good insight in the article about marketing authenticity and finding a niche.  If you agree  / disagree with anything we said – please feel free to comment and let me know.  Honest dialogues are always fun.

From all of us at Spoke – Happy Holidays
Brian

You may disagree  – you may think to yourself: “I have things to say and people will want to read them”.  If that’s you, sorry, move along sir or madam, I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to the other reader who doesn’t have things to say, but a consultant / friend / neighbor told them they should start a blog and post things because it will help their business. 

If you are considering blogging because you’ve either been told or believe that it will help your search rankings, it will help personalize your business or drive traffic to your site.  I’m telling you that you don’t need a blog. 

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