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
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