Many executives should consider blogging, according to Ted Demopoulos, who’s not only an expert on information security and IT entrepreneurial issues but also a – surprise, surprise – prolific blogger himself.

“It [blogging] helps publicize company news as well as executive viewpoints and opinions, and adds to a company’s personality. Executives can blog extremely effectively as their thoughts are usually well regarded and trusted, and their blogs tend to get an instant large readership,” says Ted.

Naturally, I couldn’t agree with him more. A blog is tailor-made for storing and managing intellectual capital. It’s a centralized repository for experience and expertise, an incredibly easy way to disseminate key, timely information to an audience of readers who are already interested in what you have to offer.

While I’ll be the first to admit that authoring a blog is not a commitment to be taken lightly, the many benefits (see parts one, two and three of my three-part article on Why Advertising, Marketing and PR Pros Should Blog) of establishing a presence in the blogosphere more than make up for the sacrifice of time and talent.

No pain, no gain, no?

To read – or to listen to, thanks to Talkr – what else Ted has to say about executive blogging, click here.

If you were a neighbor of mine, you’d know what I mean when I say my lawn isn’t going to win any beauty contests. It’s so thin, brown and malnourished, it’s embarrassing – especially during the dog days of summer.

So when The Scotts Company wrote to me recently about growing a thicker, greener lawn, its timing – and targeting of me as a potential customer – couldn’t have been better.

After all, like any other proud homeowner in this day and age, I need to be doing everything I can to keep up with the Joneses, no?

Which reminds me of a direct mail package Scotts sent out a few years ago, bearing the words, “Now the grass can be greener on your side.” While these folks didn’t earn my business at the time, they did earn my respect, as the marketer in me was more than a little impressed with their use of a cliché as a headline.

Sure, a cliché (typically defined as a predictable, trite or overused expression) might not show much inventiveness and originality on the part of the copywriter, but it can go a long way towards capturing the attention of prospects.

A cliché is an expression to which almost everyone can relate. It speaks to something with which most people are familiar. Used in an unusual manner, or paraphrased, it can help you establish immediate rapport.

For instance, the Boston Sunday Globe once coined the headline, “Sunday Best,” to promote home delivery of the newspaper.

Then there’s Hoverspeed, a UK-based operator of high-speed catamarans, which issued a press release entitled, “Don’t Miss the Boat.”

Of course, Midas, the famous auto repair outlet, backs up its services with the tagline, “Trust the Midas Touch.”

And in the aftermath of September 11, New York City launched its “Paint the Town Red, White & Blue” campaign, as a way of stimulating more tourism and new business activity.

But I haven’t seen any other cliché worked over more often – albeit cleverly – in advertising than “The Cure for the Common Cold.”

Just this summer, in the June 30-July 14 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Triumph Motorcyles proclaimed its Rocket III, “The Cure for the Common Cruiser.”

I’m sure Triumph wasn’t aware that Nissan drew on an almost identical expression to help sell four wheels instead of two, heralding the 2002 Nissan Altima as “The Cure for the Common Car.”

That would be a bitter pill to swallow, otherwise.

Usage of this prescription-related metaphor doesn’t stop there, though.

Trade Secret, a chain of full-service salons, once promoted one of its products with the headline, “The Cure for the Common Curl.”

Boston’s Yale Electric Sales has advertised Casablanca, billed as the “World’s Finest Ceiling Fan,” as “The Cure for the Common Fan.”

And in an attempt to distinguish itself from the competition, The Samuel Adams Brewhouse (also in Boston) has taken the same expression one step further, claiming it serves up “The Cure for the Common Cold One,” adding, “We dispense six distinctive styles of freshly tapped Samuel Adams. For what ales you.”

I think I’m coming down with a fever.

Finally, The Scotts Company isn’t the only lawn care company to adopt a cliché and manipulate it to its advantage. While conducting research for this story, I found a cute, little classified ad for the Lawn Doctor, a company that really takes its name literally, claiming it offers “The Cure for the Common Job.”

For those among the ranks of the unemployed, that might be, er, the last hurrah.

I may not be a big Pauly Shore fan, but he scores big points in my book for putting his money where is mouth is and guaranteeing his new TV show, Minding the Store, (which is premiering this Sunday, July 17, at 10 PM EST on TBS).

“I am so confident that my new series will make people laugh,” said Shore in a press release, “I’ve convinced the network heads at TBS to let me offer this special guarantee. It’s our way of saying we value people’s television-viewing time, and we know they’ll feel their time spent watching Minding the Store is well worth it.”

Viewers who fail to laugh after watching the first episode of Minding the Store are invited to mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Shore, care of TBS. Shore will then send them $1 each. Details and address on the money-back guarantee are available online at www.tbs.com.

Good for Pauly. After all, as any experienced direct marketer knows, a simple albeit strong guarantee almost always increases your response rate – in this case, your viewership – and is rarely taken advantage of by customers.

“A guarantee is one of your most important marketing tools. A guarantee articulates that you stand by your product or service, and that there is absolutely no risk in doing business with you,” says my friend, colleague and fellow past president of the New England Direct Marketing Association, Katharine Barr.

Of course, given the medium (television) and the nature of this show (entertainment, not business), the likelihood is that more than a few viewers will take Pauly up on his generous offer, whether or not they crack a smile, in which case his sense of humor will really be put to the test.

Chances are, though, that the number of people who tune in to Minding the Store because of this money-back guarantee will far outweigh the cost of sponsoring such a brilliant marketing scheme. And Pauly Shore just may have a hit on his hands as well as the last laugh.

To know Martha’s Vineyard, an island seven miles off the southeast coast of Massachusetts, is to know The Black Dog logo, which in recent years has come to represent this vacation paradise almost as much as the tavern, bakery café and general stores for which it was designed. Yes, this logo is that ubiquitous.

First emblazoned on a T-shirt in 1979, today The Black Dog is found on practically every article of clothing you can imagine, not to mention on bumper stickers, coffee mugs, tote bags and key chains. For tourists, it’s a status symbol and a fashion statement, a logo that tags them popular by association. For the business people who own the rights to this logo, The Black Dog must be, well, a cash cow.

Spending a little down time this week with my wife, Barbara, and my two sons, Scott and Ben, on Martha’s Vineyard, the marketer in me was as much surprised as impressed to see (in an ad on page Five-B of the July 1 edition of the Vineyard Gazette) The Black Dog offering a free beach towel “with purchase of $125 or more” at any one of its more than half a dozen general stores.

Either Black Dog paraphernalia isn’t quite so de rigueur these days and the company is testing a new retail sales incentive, or perhaps these guys have figured out a way to prompt tourists like me to buy even more of their merchandise. Given the large number of Black Dog T-shirts I’ve seen people wearing on the island the last few days, I’m guessing it’s the latter.