Buzz Marketing or Spam? Ask the Beholder

Posted by Travis Smith on 06/24 at 01:07 AM • Marketing

I’ve been blogging on my personal blog about being on the the OTHER side of buzz marketing—being the person that is being contacted by a marketing comany trying to generate positive word of mouth for their product.

In this case, the product is a new Nokia phone, and the word of mouth, well, it isn’t all positive.  Here’s what I wrote:

Boris and Darren both took the time today to whack matchstick.ca (those phone givers I just blogged about) with the “unsavvy” stick. Boris went so far as to say he’d “reconsider doing ANY business with Nokia in the future” because of gross infractions that led to them slapping a “spammer” label on Matchstick’s business practices.  What horrid infraction Matchstick commit?  Offer them a free phone with no strings attached.  I say: Relax a bit, fellas!

Boris wrote:

A company that does “buzz marketing”, Matchstick.ca, had three separate people contact me via email. All of those emails were sent en-masse—I consider it to be spam. And I happen to know at least two other people (David Crow, Roland Tanglao) that got the same email.

Darren wrote:

[I received] four emails from Matchstick from four different staff members all asking the same thing. And two of those messages came after I clearly expressed my disinterest in their offer. Matchstick might want to invest in some CRM software, and learn how to use it. I think they’ve qualified themselves as spammers, don’t you?

I don’t think there’s any spam here, but that’s not the point.  The point is: The phone hasn’t even arrived and already the conversation is going on.  The only mistake here by Matchstick, if any, is that these micro marketing campaigns, person to person, are not easier than big campaigns.  In many ways, they’re more tricky. A small mistake (sending emails more than once) can escalate quickly.  They feel easy because they’re things people do every day: send email, talk, listen.

On the other hand, a genuine and personal response like what Darren reported he received, can go a long way towards fixing a problem.  Boris tells them to start their own blog; if they don’t, they should at least jump in and let themselves be heard on the existing blogs.  Left to fester, and you’ll end up with something like Boing Boing’s recent dispute about World Cup webcasts.  Nobody wants that.

 
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There’s an Audience for Everything

Posted by Susannah Gardner on 06/23 at 10:01 AM • Blogs

imageSo earlier this week when I wrote about a blog that has developed a particular niche and inhabited it (Candy Blog), I was thinking about the fact that what makes blogs so successful is that they can be entirely tailored to your interests. If you like to knit, but only orange sweaters, there’s a blog for you. If you want to hear a tailor’s thoughts on making bespoke suits, there’s one for you. Crave the perspective of a publisher of programming books? No problem.

It’s actually this specialization that makes blogs so hard for people new to the concept to get excited about the blogosphere. Until you find the blog aimed at you, it’s pretty easy to dismiss everything you see as meandering trivia.

At any rate, I knew blogs were niched—specialized. But I hadn’t imagined this: Hitler cats!

Yes, it’s the “blog dedicated to cats that look like Hitler.”

 
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Vote in MarketingSherpa’s Reader’s Choice Blog Awards

Posted by Susannah Gardner on 06/21 at 11:43 AM • Blogging Events

Voting ends Friday midnight EST (June 23) in MarketingSherpa Reader’s Choice Blog and Podcasting Awards.

Voting criteria to consider:

  1. Personality
  2. Usefulness & content value
  3. Usability & design
  4. Would you revisit?

Blogs are sorted into the following categories:

  • B-to-B marketing blogs
  • Email marketing
  • Blogs on search marketing
  • Advertising
  • Marketing to a specific consumer demographic (ie. women, Hispanics)
  • Affiliate Marketing
  • Blogs on PR
  • BEST Podcast (New category!) about marketing, advertising, or PR
  • Blogs on small business marketing
  • Blogs in other languages
  • Blogs on general (multiple topic) marketing

Even if you don’t vote, looking through the nominees is a great way to find some good blogs to read!

 
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CandyBlog Gets Some Sweet Press

Posted by Susannah Gardner on 06/20 at 11:39 AM • Blogs -- Marketing

imageFriend (and Hop Studios client) Cybele May has set herself in the candy review blog space and spends hours tasting and reviewing candies for your edification. Cybele has been writing Candy Blog for some time, and has gotten some nice press. I thought I’d point you to a piece that ran in Canada’s National Post on Monday: ”Sweet Success.” As you can see from this thumbnail, in print the article was huge.

Cybele is a great example who has taken advantage of blog software to turn her hobby into a creative niche she can use to promote herself and, quite literally, feed her hobby.

Congrats, Cybele!

 
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Answering Angry Bloggers

Posted by Susannah Gardner on 06/02 at 01:06 PM • Blogs -- Marketing

The Dallas International Association of Business Communicators is running a poll right now asking the questions “Who should respond to angry external bloggers—media relations or customer service?”

There are only 8 voters so far (media relations is winning), so head over and cast your vote!

Results are here.

 
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