BUT, just because you can do something, does not mean you should do it (see: sex in junior high school).

Sending highly personalized messages without being able to deliver on a highly-personalized experience ruins whatever possible relationship I had with your brand.

For example:

You could be getting super-duper special personalized service right now!
Each month I get at least five solicitations from American Express (some quite elaborate), each one telling me how wonderful their card is, and what delightful and personalized services they offer.

Does AMEX not realize that I HAVE TWO OF THEIR CARDS IN MY WALLET?! Um… hey AMEX ol’ buddy – don’t you remember your pal Dave? I’ve been a member since…

“Welcome back, David!”
OK, but if you know who I am (and have even shipped things to me), PLEASE don’t ask me what country I live in. Really? If I HAVE to fill out another form…do you think there’s maybe there’s a better chance that I live in the USA instead of the United Arab Emirates or Uzbekistan.

Also, once you have my ZIP CODE, shouldn’t your super-duper computer be able to figure out the rest?..like what freaking city and country I’m in?

Do not promise what you cannot deliver. Now come on over here and rub my lamp, baby…

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. 

Yes, if done effectively, blogging can improve your search rankings, generate traffic and help put a personal face on your business, but so can more effective web design and copywriting and yet most people are smart enough to outsource those two, but try and fail at blogging  (a point we will come back to later). 

Be Consistent or Be Dead

The web is littered with the broken remains of dead blogs.  Blogs that were started years ago when the craze first began. These sites launched with internal fanfare, a few well-thought out posts, some that may have even generated traffic or comments and ended up with a last post date of 2006 or 2007.  This looks far worse for the business that if the blog hadn’t been created at all.  With that in mind, here is a list of reasons of why you shouldn’t blog:

• You are not a writer
• You will struggle to find new content and therefore your blog will become stale
• People really don’t care what you have to say
• Your company or industry is boring
• You are afraid of writing anything controversial (for examples, see the previous two bullet points)
• You don’t understand “technology” and haven’t figured out to how to post from your typewriter (OK, it’s unlikely that you’re reading this if you are still using a typewriter, but you know what I mean)

“I want to do it anyway”

Good for you.  You have tenacity. I admire that. If you can do it without worrying about the bullet points above. Go for it – and send me the URL so I can track your success (or say I told you so in a year from now).

Here’s a tip if you think you can pull it off (and your company is big enough), use multiple authors, it will increase your number of posts and make it easier for each person to have post ideas.

“Hmm, I like the idea, but you have me concerned”

If you think you like the idea of a company blog and the items on the list above are a problem, consider another option – outsource it.  I’m sure there are several freelance writers out there who can create content for you at a reasonable price (and even do it in your voice). If you don’t know any writers, email me at brian at wearespoke dot com.  I’ll send you some names.

Another Option – Try Social Media First

If your goal is to make your company more personal – other options to consider are social media tools like facebook or twitter (micro-blogging). Like blogs they can make your company seem more personable and they can generate traffic to your site. If you can make the commitment and keep the statuses of those items up-to-date, start a blog. 

Don’t Put Lipstick on a Pig

If you have an ugly website, don’t drive traffic to it. It’s not going to help generate new business.  Focus your energy on a new website design instead, then focus on blogging. By the way, ugly doesn’t just mean the design – If your site is pointless (no clear call to action other than listing your information in a brochure like fashion) and you think it will generate business, you are mistaken. The first thing you need to consider when someone visits your site is what are they for.  If you are driving traffic to a site, have a reason – (e.g. Learn more about my time saving product, learn about how I can save your business in the failing economy here). 

Tell Me What You Think

If you think I'm right or wrong, let me know in the comments below.  If you have any questions or want to learn more about how to improve your blog, website or social media offerings feel free to email me at brian at wearespoke dot com.  Thanks for reading – Brian.

Spoken Whirred will be an outlet for our thoughts on marketing topics, advertising campaigns, client work and anything else that we feel is worth sharing.  Authors include Dan Klein, David Meyer, Chuck Hart and me (Brian Schwartz).

In this first post I want to make sure to thank everyone who attended our open house.  It's humbling how many of our friends showed up to wish us well and see our new office.  For those who missed it, you missed a great night of networking with 250+ business movers and shakers (and drinkers). 

Also we need to thank Sub Zero, Juniper Grill and The Fountain on Locust for their generosity and the wonderful drinks, food, wine and deserts. 

Below are some pictures from the event:

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Cheers,

Brian Schwartz

Most commercials harmlessly play in the background, however I can't help but nearly jump off the couch as soon Billy Mays starts yelling about Oxi Clean or some other home cleaning product. 

I don't understand why Billy Mays must yell at me every time he is on TV.  Also, why is this an acceptable and popular form of television advertising?

I'm sure he's a nice guy and all.  But please stop yelling at me.

Local News Sweeps Scare Tactics

In case you were unaware, we are in the May sweeps time that help determine local TV ad rates.  If you hadn't noticed, you may have noticed the scare tactics that some news stations have been pulling.  For example, tonight on KMOV-TV St. Louis (local CBS Affiliate – Channel 4), they are running an investigation on how dangerous the ice is at local restaurants.  They had hidden footage of the fast food joints and lab reports and everything.  Mind you I haven't seen this report, but I've seen a thousand commercials for it and heard ads on the radio.  So, this is apparently big news which will likely kill me.  Funny how I haven't heard anything about it before now. 

The other one that was teased was how someone can hack my cell phone and track every text message, email and conversation I have on my cell.  Nice. 

Thanks local TV for trying to scare me into watching your news program.  I'll pass.

SNL + NBC Character Involvement = Boring Skits

Here's the other trend I've noticed lately.  My wife and I DVR Saturday Night Live.  I usually skip through most of it on Sunday after church, but I've noticed that every episode has a skit or two featuring a personality from one of their other stations (CNBC, Bravo, etc.).  Most of them are people I know nothing about:

• Suze Orman
• Jim The Shouting Stock Guy
• Some dude from Top Model
• Brian Williams and MSNBC

As a result of knowing nothing about them the skit is pointless to me.  Why does this matter?  Because it seems like this is trend is being forced upon SNL writers from the higher ups.  I doubt that they would just always choose NBC property cast members over other funny trends (like American Idol or any other reality show nightmare).   Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like cross-promotion is winning out over entertainment that may be funnier.