Blogs, PR and Misspent Marketing dollars

Taken from: Element Fusion's company blog. *Everything in italic is from their blog, the regular text are my comments on the post.

Let me start by saying that I don't necessarily agree with the way this particular company manages their blog. First of all, a blog shouldn't have continuous, shameless plugs (the links within the blog posting that connect the reader to different parts of the company website) throughout the blog. A blog, in my humble opinion, is about building a relationship and credibility with your clients, your industry, and your peers. It should be more about offering up commentary on industry practices, information that would help out your clients (or potential clients), or a way to entertain.

That being said, I do actually like a lot of the points the blog author covers.

Read the original post here.

• Spend less money on word of mouth marketing; spend more money creating something worth talking about.

It is very true that a lot of smaller businesses (and large corporations, for that matter) get caught up in the details of a campaign rather than creating a product that is worth the hype. A good product for a good deal will always generate loyal, repeat customers that help spread the word (which is much cheaper than paying for airtime on television or radio, and also offers more credibility).

• Don’t create printed product brochures; create online case studies.
  

I have to disagree with this point in the fact that not all industries need online case studies (or any case studies). On another note, not all companies need printed product brochures. This one could go either way.

• Get over the power trip that compels you to control your message and manipulate your client; build a great product that compels your clients to become your evangelists.

I think this is a statement goes a little too far with the power trip and manipulating your client aspects. I believe that most independently run businesses and more and more corporations are joining the "we are a morally sound, founded in principles" bandwagon that prevents them from participating in manipulative marketing in the first place. The second part of the statement is essentially a re-wording of the first statement (which I 100% agree with).

• Don’t buy media; buy minds.

This just sounds creepy and reminds me of the scene in The Matrix when Keanu Reeves awakes in a vat of mucus and rips the cords out of the back of his head.

• Don’t waste your money on focus groups; talk to your real customers—better yet, spend the money to go visit them and watch them using your product for real.

Great point! I couldn't agree more.

• Don’t place print ads; create training articles instead.

Once again, a great tip, but industry-specific. Also, print ads in very targeted publications will be cheaper and can be used to point potential clients/customers to your training articles (if you have an online archive).

• Don’t hire a PR firm; start blogging. Let your employees and client advocates blog for you. Don’t be afraid to deal with a little bit of negativity in blog comments—instead use it as an opportunity to show how you really listen to your clients and then make improvements based on their recommendations.

In my opinion, a blog will NEVER take the place of good PR. A blog is just another tool in the PR toolbox. For instance, an opportunity to speak about your product in a newspaper article or on a local news program will result in much more credibility and direct sales of your product than any blog post. When used in conjunction with a website, ad campaign, or guerilla marketing, a blog can be a great asset to any company, but shouldn't take the place of a PR consultant or employee.

• Don’t talk about how you are better than your competition; talk about what you’ve learned from your competition.

Also, very good. You should be able to take what you learn from competition, put it into everyday services, products, customer service and SHOW how you're better than the competition with actions instead of mere words.