Adrants made my morning today, referring me to an article written by Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing and customer satisfaction officer of Intelliseek, that, in my mind, adds fuel to the raging bonfire that is the blogosphere.
Blackshaw, appearing in MediaPost’s MediaDaily News, says, “Blogs and bloggers have made a huge mark in 2004, and this should give every major marketer and advertiser pause for deep reflection.”
Not mincing words, he warns marketers and agencies alike that “the blog revolution brings with it unmistakable tradeoffs and potent new ‘rules of engagement.’ Ignore them at your peril.”
He says, “bloggers promise to hold marketers to new levels of accountability, impacting just about everything advertisers do, say, and claim.”
One of his recommendations for brands is to “Listen to the pulse: Know exactly what bloggers are saying about your brand, or about your designated spokespersons or suppliers.”
Coincidentally, Blackshaw’s commentary is not unlike what Don Jackson was saying in “2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success,” the book he put together with Denny Hatch in 1998, when he advised readers to, “Listen to the murmur of your market.” Jackson said to, “Create feedback loops in your database environment so that you can record what your customers and prospects are saying about your products, your service, your company and your competition. There is no more valuable source of information.”
Blogs may not have been what Jackson had in mind at the time, but today, I’m guessing he’d be in agreement with Pete Blackshaw, who says, “We’re in a new era of consumer control, and the bloggers are underscoring that point in a big way. Blogs can open the door for many marketing opportunities, but advertisers must be aware of both the positive and negative impact blogs can have on brands.”
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