A New Marketing Commentator

A couple of weeks ago, Paul Chaney of the Radiant Marketing Group blog, asked me for my “take on Bob Bly’s argument that there is no ROI potential in blogging, at least none that he sees.”

He wanted to know how I, as a direct marketer, saw blogs fitting the mold.

My reply to him (verbatim) was this:

“With a blog, you may not get an immediate and demonstrable ROI, but like a good PR initiative, blogging certainly can lead to new business.

“As I wrote in my own blog recently, if you use press releases, newsletters and bylined articles to promote your products and people, a blog is the next better thing – now.

“As a veteran direct marketing copywriter and creative director, I’m not here to tell you that a blog can or will ever replace a good, old-fashioned direct mail letter as a sales tool. But I will say that anyone in advertising or marketing who isn’t able to at least see the potential of blogging – or any other online communications platform for that matter – is either misinformed or just plain obstinate. A blog is the perfect feedback magnet. It’s a quick and easy way to interlock a circle of like-minded people – customers, prospects, colleagues, peers, whomever. What to do with them after that only time will tell. After all, it seems that most bloggers are more technologists than marketers. Just wait till more of the latter join the blogosphere!”

Ten minutes later, I sent Paul the following addendum:

“By the way, check out this definition of direct marketing:

“Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing that uses one or more advertising media to effect a measurable response and/or transaction at any location, with this activity stored on a database.

“H-m-m-m, given this definition, I would think that it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch at all to say that a blog really is, in effect, a direct marketing tool – assuming you are using it as an advertising medium.”

All that was said before the earth moved so violently on December 26, 2004.

In the ten days since that devastating earthquake and tsunami walloped southern Asia, countless blogs have been used to help raise funds for those victimized by this mother of all disasters. Each of these blogs, like A Fine Kettle of Fish, has been used to redirect loyal readers to Web sites owned and operated by World Vision, the American Red Cross, Oxfam America, CARE, UNICEF and other nonprofit organizations that are accepting donations on behalf of hundreds of thousands of innocent victims. Each of these blogs has been used as an incredibly effective direct marketing tool, demonstrating not just a quick ROI, but also that the blogosphere, like the world in which we live, has a compassionate face.

Bob Cargill Blogging, Fundraising

If I’m only going to post once this week, there’s no way I can’t write about the dreadfully fierce tsunami that mercilessly struck and ravaged southern Asia the day after Christmas. This was, after all, a disaster of epic proportions, the enormity of which is almost impossible to comprehend. We can only pray and hope for the tens of thousands of helpless, innocent men, women and children caught in the path of those waves of devastation. That is, we can only pray and hope and give them all that we can in humanitarian relief.

Yes, this is the time for the international community to cast aside our differences and join forces on behalf of those affected by Sunday’s catastrophe. This is the time to open our hearts and demonstrate our philanthropy.

In the industry in which I earn my livelihood, direct marketing, the fundraisers among us will surely be pulling out all the stops to help pay for the recovery efforts in the stricken countries. If at least a few urgent, telegram-like, emergency appeals for donations weren’t in the mail by this time next week, I’d be surprised.

Online, I’ve already received several strong, emotional pleas for help, one email from World Vision (asking for a gift of $50, which would “help provide food and Family Survival Kits containing clean water, blankets, and tarps to survivors of the tsunami”) and a couple others of the grassroots, viral variety, written by good people with great intentions.

And, of course, the blogosphere has also made the tsunami victims a priority. Many blogs I’ve visited this week contain something about this tragedy, a number of them redirecting potential donors, volunteers and concerned citizens of the world to The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami (or SEA-EAT), blog, a comprehensive, up-to-date source of news and information about this cataclysmic event.

So before we go to sleep tonight, let us all pray. Let us all hope. And let us all help. Because whatever we can do for the people of southern Asia, we need to do it now.

Bob Cargill Direct Marketing, Fundraising

7. Blogs are Enjoyable. There are many sound business reasons to blog, but let’s not forget how much of a pleasure they are for both author and audience. Seriously, the fun factor should not be underestimated. Most blogs are quick and easy to absorb, and a refreshing change of pace from typical marketing riffs and age-old corporate-speak. Bloggers aren’t just writers, they’re also publishers, opinion-leaders, risk-takers and entrepreneurs. They’re people who are inclined to live by the mantra, carpe diem. They’re passionate about their craft and evangelical about their content. And in many cases, their readers are just as fanatical.

8. Blogs are Authoritative. We’re not talking about those cathartic, diary-like blogs kept by moody, meandering teenagers. We’re talking about the most sophisticated among the blogosphere, the ones owned and operated by today’s savviest business people. Written by the heaviest hitters in their fields, these blogs go a long way toward formalizing their authors’ knowledge, insight and overall sphere of influence. Ideally, your blog will provide readers with plenty of fresh, premium content they can’t find anywhere else. But you had better think twice before posting. If you haven’t done your homework, your readers won’t hesitate to call you out. On the other hand, if your commentaries are consistently on the mark, your blog may soon become a frequently visited destination and raise your industry profile to unprecedented, new heights.

9. Blogs are Valuable. A blog is tailor-made for storing and managing your 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. The cost to set up and maintain a blog is practically nil. And the dividends – for those on either side of the equation – can be priceless. As Jeremy Wright, author of the business and technology blog, Ensight, says: “Anything which can get the right info to the right people at the right time, empower your company to become a thought leader and let you know what your customers and the industry are thinking about you in real time is something that has massive value.”

10. Blogs are Popular. As recently as five years ago, there really weren’t that many blogs in existence, but today the blogosphere is growing so rapidly that it’s only a matter of time before this revolutionary, new medium reaches the tipping point. If you use press releases, newsletters and bylined articles to promote your products and people, blogs are the next better thing – now. In 2004, the word, blog, topped Merriam-Webster’s list of the ten most looked-up words. And blogs received wide acclaim in The New York Times Magazine’s recent Year in Ideas issue. Blogs are here, there and everywhere to stay.

Note: Written by Yellowfin Direct Marketing’s Bob Cargill, this is part three of a three-part series on the many reasons why advertising, marketing and public relations professionals should blog. Parts one and two appeared on December 7, 2004, and December 14, 2004, respectively, in A Fine Kettle of Fish.

Bob Cargill Advertising, Blogging, Direct Marketing, Public Relations

4. Blogs are Immediate. A blog makes it possible for the everyday communications professional to distribute newsworthy, thematic content to a large, like-minded audience – without many, if any, layers of approval – almost instantaneously. If timeliness is a critical element of your publishing plan, it’s an irresistible platform. A blog allows you to draw out invaluable feedback, too, without having to lollygag through the traditional rites of business courtship. Comments from readers are akin to free market research. If your goal is to establish an open, online dialogue with prospects and influential people who might otherwise not give you the time of day, a blog just may be your entrée – it certainly is a unique ice-breaker.

5. Blogs are Infectious. Like any good viral marketing campaign, the content of the best blogs is passed from reader to reader, extending the author’s reach – and influence – exponentially. Bloggers are notorious for linking to other blogs that they recommend and respect. And other related sources of news, information and opinion – even offline, traditional publications – won’t hesitate to pick up an interesting post and republish it. So, in effect, a blog gives you the power of a syndicated columnist. What’s more, search engines such as Google are all over blogs, especially when they’re updated regularly. Blogging results in more top placements than you ever could have imagined for you and your organization.

6. Blogs are Empowering. Today’s consumers and business prospects are desensitized to the sales pitch. They’ve seen and heard it all. Such rampant skepticism reared its ugly head in a recent Gallup survey, which ranked people in advertising very low for their honesty and ethics. Ouch! At the very least, we may as well accept this much: we have lost more than a modicum of control. However, because a blog is such an open, grassroots medium, unadorned and unplugged, its trust factor is high from the get-go. The format alone is engaging and empowering. With RSS (Really Simple Syndication), the audience decides what they want and when they want it. They have the upper hand. And by giving recipients the authority to post their own comments, it’s easy for the public – and fellow bloggers – to hold advertising, marketing and PR pros accountable for their claims. Think quid pro quo.

Note: Written by Yellowfin Direct Marketing’s Bob Cargill, this is part two of a three-part series on the many reasons why advertising, marketing and public relations professionals should blog. Part one appeared on December 7, 2004, in A Fine Kettle of Fish, and part three will run here next week.

Bob Cargill Advertising, Blogging, Direct Marketing, Public Relations

Most advertising, marketing and public relations professionals know a blog when they see one, but when it comes to actually using this relatively new, self-publishing platform, there are still many skeptics and naysayers among us. This time next year, however, those people will likely have come to their senses. In 2005, I dare say you would have to be either misinformed or just plain obstinate to not at least consider adding a blog to your business plan. Here are ten reasons why:

1. Blogs are Interactive. In many cases, marketing is a monologue, a well-choreographed sales pitch to an audience of passive prospects. But one of the key attributes of a blog is that it allows readers to provide honest, public feedback that is posted below the author’s spiel. It involves your audience. By granting the opportunity to respond almost instantly to any and all posts, a blogger is building a mutually-beneficial relationship with his or her constituency. As the level of confidence grows between a blog and its readers, so does the potential for lucrative, new business activity.

2. Blogs are Humanizing. A blog may be dependent on cold, Web-based technology for hosting and distribution, but its success depends on the ability of its author to come across as honest, credible and down-to-earth. There is no spinning of the truth in the blogosphere. The idea is to break through the corporate-speak and to put a fresh, trustworthy face on your organization. Like a good newspaper column or editorial, most blogs are written in one strong, opinionated voice and don’t shy away from controversy and difficult subjects. Some of the best business blogs in existence are some of the most candid.

3. Blogs are Inexpensive. In most cases, the only cost to the author of a blog is the value of the time and talent required to create and maintain it. Sure, some hosted services, like Typepad, charge a modest monthly fee. But there are plenty of free, ad-supported blogging services and tools available. My blog, A Fine Kettle of Fish (written under the aegis of Yellowfin Direct Marketing) uses perhaps the most popular one of them all, Blogger. It doesn’t matter which service and tools you use to publish yours, however – the financial barriers to entry are so few and far between, you almost can’t afford not to establish a presence in the blogosphere.

Note: Written by Yellowfin Direct Marketing’s Bob Cargill, this is part one of a three-part series on the many reasons why advertising, marketing and public relations professionals should blog. Parts two and three will be featured here in A Fine Kettle of Fish over the course of the next couple of weeks.

Bob Cargill Advertising, Blogging, Direct Marketing, Public Relations

Everybody knows the story of The Juice Guys, Tom Scott and Tom First, who started their company, Nantucket Nectars, by selling juice from a boat off the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts over ten years ago. They were one of the earliest to market in the new-born, new age beverage industry, and, ultimately, one of the most successful.

One chapter of their success story, however, that doesn’t get as much attention as their juice, is the one they began writing in 1998, when Tom and Tom (as they are affectionately known), created Juice Guys Care, the 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit division of their widely acclaimed company. Clearly, Nantucket Nectars believes that its high quality standards for its juice should be applied to all aspects of the company, including community involvement. Good for them. And good for many deserving nonprofit organizations and charity events with which the company associates itself, such as the Iron Teams Relay, the Ozone Surf Classic, Circus Flora, Adopt-A-Classroom, the Coast-to-Coast Community Challenge, America’s Second Harvest and the Stepping Stone Foundation.

Their most recent public, charitable “event,” however, was perhaps their most noticeable, at least here in my neck of the woods. The Juice Guys recently placed a 48-foot-long “thank you” card for the world champion Boston Red Sox on the grounds of the Hub’s historic Faneuil Hall, giving passers-by the chance to show their appreciation for the local heroes. For each signature on the card, up to 10,000, Nantucket Nectars promised to make a one dollar donation to the Jimmy Fund, the fundraising arm of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the nation’s top cancer hospitals. Of course, this was a wonderfully magnanimous gesture. But all the publicity – for the Sox, for the Jimmy Fund and, last but not least, for The Juice Guys – didn’t hurt, either. Everybody felt good. Everybody looked good. Everybody won.

Bob Cargill Cause-Related Marketing, Public Relations

Direct marketing copywriter Bob Bly, who was quite critical of blogging in a DM NEWS article he wrote just three weeks ago, launched a new blog today, and the reaction throughout the blogosphere was immediate and considerable.

(No, I’m not making this up.)

Steve Hall, of Adrants, wrote, “The launch of Bob Bly’s blog is welcome. Very welcome.”

Rick Bruner, of Business Blog Consulting, opined, “Who’s surprised? Resistance is futile.”

Debbie Weil, in her blog, said, “It’ll be fun to see how this plays out in the blogosphere.”

And Paul Chaney, of the Radiant Marketing Group, weighed in about Bob Bly with these thoughts: “I think his willingness to give this technology a spin is a signal event…Bob has much to learn about blogging, and we have much to learn from Bob.”

I couldn’t agree more with Paul.

In my own opinion piece in DM NEWS, I called Bob out for what I felt was his unfair criticism of blogs. But the truth is, he is a respected maven with a strong, loyal following in the industry in which I earn my livelihood, direct marketing. As a fellow copywriter, I couldn’t be happier to see him enter the blogosphere. His blog will attract a throng of readers, many of whom will be traditional, offline communications professionals. This will be all good for him. And all good for those of us who already have established an online presence as bloggers. Bob Bly will help push this revolutionary, self-publishing platform across the threshold and that much closer to the tipping point. Everybody will win.

Bob Cargill Blogging

The holidays are a time for giving, and for many Americans that means giving not just to their families and friends, but also to support their favorite cause. Whether it’s out of habit, guilt – e.g., when we stop and think about it, we realize just how good we really have it – or just plain altruism, there’s no question about it: ‘Tis the season for charitable donations.

Of course, fundraisers are aware of this encouraging, immutable law of human nature, especially those working for social and human service organizations. In the eyes – and kind hearts – of the public, the condition of their clients appears especially adverse and acute at this time of year. Some of them are struggling in silence all year long, but during the holidays their pain and suffering resonates far and wide.

So like the men, women and children for whom they advocate, there really are no holidays for the fundraising professionals among us. Nonprofit organizations acting on behalf of the homeless, the hungry, the disabled, the ill and the infirm, among many other less fortunate segments of society, know this is the time to pull out all the stops in their appeals for financial assistance. This is the time to employ every proven, response-oriented strategy in the book.

For instance, Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries – which serves individuals who face a variety of barriers to employment, including physical and/or mental disabilities, illiteracy, homelessness, inadequate education, and welfare dependency – is just one of countless charities to include personalized name and address labels as a “freemium” – a tangible, additional incentive to respond – in their holiday appeal.

“Thanksgiving should be a day of thanks, not of despair. That’s why we’re asking you and your neighbors to help Goodwill continue its tradition of sharing fellowship and hope on this special American holiday,” wrote Joanne K. Hilferty, President and CEO, in a recent direct mail fundraising letter.

“I’m enclosing a sheet of personalized labels to say thank you,” she continued in the postscript. “Though it’s only a small gift, I hope it will come in handy and remind you of all the good you’re doing every time you use a label!”

Then there’s the matching gift offer, invariably a winner, which Covenant House – the largest privately-funded childcare agency in the United States providing shelter and service to homeless and runaway youth – incorporated into its recent “Bed & Blanket Matching Gift Challenge” appeal (dated October 18, 2004).

Wrote Covenant House’s Sister Patricia A. Cruise, S.C., “Before the cold weather sets in, I need to ask you to make a contribution to make sure we can get through the winter and give each child who comes to us a safe place to sleep and good food to eat.”

Sister Cruise continued, “I count on our Bed & Blanket Drive so much, and so do our kids. And thanks to some very special friends on our Board who have pledged to match donations to this year’s Bed & Blanket Drive, your support today will go twice as far to help us this winter. Any gift will be doubled to help our kids!”

And the American Liver Foundation – the nation’s leading nonprofit organization promoting liver health and disease prevention – incorporated not just one, but several powerful response-triggers into its “2004 Year End Appeal.”

In the mailing I received just this week, the ALF captured my attention by localizing the affirmation line (“Your generosity will help us fund research and provide vital services to all those in Sudbury and across Massachusetts who are fighting liver disease!”), personalizing the postscript (“Mr. Cargill, the amount of research we are able to fund in the coming year depends on the response of supporters like you.”) and using a deadline to create a sense of urgency (“So please be as generous as you can – and reply by December 31, 2004.”).

Last but certainly not least, there’s the “World’s Greatest Bake Sale” conducted by Community Servings, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that runs a free, hot, home-delivered meals program for people ill with AIDS, their dependents and caregivers.

Out of the goodness of their hearts, top pastry chefs, bakeries, churches, and caterers bake a variety of Thanksgiving pies, which are then sold for $25 each as part of this organization’s “Pie in the Sky” campaign, eventually landing on Thanksgiving dinner tables in more than 10,000 homes.

Now in its 12th year, this appetizing campaign is made possible by thousands of people who take time from their “regular jobs” to assume roles as bakers and sellers—helping Community Servings provide upwards of 650 daily meals to people ill with AIDS or other life-threatening illnesses.

So there you have it – just a few of the many different ways fundraisers are making the most of this season of giving. This is no time for a nonprofit organization to take a break. Given people’s level of generosity toward the tail end of the year, the holidays may be the best time to take in donations.

Bob Cargill Fundraising

In case you missed it, well-known copywriter and direct marketing guru Robert Bly weighed in last week in DM NEWS with a rather unfavorable opinion on blogging, and was quickly taken to task by those in the blogosphere.

Steve Hall, author of Adrants, pulled no punches in saying, “it is clear [Bly] has no idea what he is talking about.”

Corporate blog strategist BL Ochman said Bly had written “a rather ill-informed assessment of blogs.”

And in her blog, brand strategy consultant, Jennifer Rice, wrote, “obviously this writer didn’t do his homework.”

I have to admit, I was shocked to see someone of Bly’s stature and experience with the written word so summarily dismissing the viability of this powerful publishing platform. Like my forward-thinking, early-adopting brethren, the blogger in me wanted to call him out for his unfair characterization of most blogs as “the private, idiosyncratic musings of an individual, without censure or editing of any kind.”

But I was also torn. After all, like Bob, I’m a proud direct marketer, a died-in-the-wool copywriter – by trade – and I’ve always had the utmost respect for his knowledge and skills. He’s a longstanding, proven talent at the pinnacle of his field.

But unlike Bob, I am completely enamored with – and sold on – blogging. I don’t see how any writer or marketer could not be at least infatuated with its potential. So with the courage of my conviction, I took it upon myself (on November 3, 2004) to refute Bob’s commentary in the following letter to the editor of DM NEWS.

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Dear Editor,

The great respect I have for Robert Bly is exceeded only by how surprised I was to learn how little he thought of blogs (“Can Blogging Help Market Your Product?”, November 1).

Of all people, such a successful, prolific copywriter and author as he would be one of the first I would expect to have a presence in the so-called blogosphere. Without a doubt, his wealth of knowledge would lend itself well to this relatively new publishing platform.

That said, I would be remiss if I did not call him out for his unfounded – and, frankly, unfair – criticism of blogs.

If most blogs he has encountered are “rambling, streams-of-consciousness musings about a topic of interest to the author, largely bereft of the practical, pithy tips that e-zines, Web sites and white papers offer,” then he obviously hasn’t seen those smart, marketing-related blogs kept by the likes of Tom Peters, Seth Godin, B.L. Ochman and Yvonne DiVita, to name just four.

Bob also suggests that there is “no way of knowing when something new of interest has been added” to a blog, which is not the case at all. There are a number of different ways to subscribe to a blog, not the least of which is RSS, which pushes each new entry to the subscriber’s desktop, as it is posted.

If Bob honestly believes that most blogs are “the private, idiosyncratic musings of an individual, without censure or editing of any kind,” then I invite him to read the last several month’s worth of A Fine Kettle of Fish, the blog I write here at Yellowfin Direct Marketing. Not only has this blog helped us put a personality on our agency, but it has also given us a forum in which to hold forth on the latest topics and issues of interest to the direct marketing, advertising and fundraising communities. And while this blog may not have produced a return on our investment – yet – it has opened up doors to many new business relationships which will surely, over time, lead to new streams of revenue.

Sincerely,

Bob Cargill
Senior Creative Director
Yellowfin Direct Marketing

Bob Cargill Blogging