So, We Finally Have a Blog…

Now what?

As a marketing and advertising firm, we have to jump into the whole new media thing with both feet, right? I mean, any self-respecting agency needs a blog; any self-respecting company needs one. Everyone who’s anyone has a blog. Heck, your kid probably has one. That’s the stuff we all hear, so it must be true.

Well, yes and no.

At Yaffe, we have this thing we call Tuesday Trend Talk, where every Tuesday morning someone in the agency researches a current trend in the industry and leads a group discussion on it. As you might guess, many of these discussions over the last year have revolved around new media issue in general and blogging specifically. Company blogs are fast becoming an integral part of the branding and marketing arsenal.  So much so, that some of the country’s top bloggers have been snatched up by big agency conglomerates to create and run blogs for their clients. And they’re raking in big money to do it, too. Why? Many marketers feel it’s a way to start a dialogue with their core consumer. And for many it is.

But, as we discussed in last week’s Trend Talk, there’s another side to the story. There are plenty of companies for whom a blog doesn’t make sense, or at least the one they have doesn’t. Some marketers think just having a blog, automatically makes them hip, cool and tech savvy. An article from Brand Channel.com (http://www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=135) talked about a battery company who thought since their battery campaign was built around the theme “life after dark,” they should do a nightlife blog that helps young hipsters find cool places to go for nightlife in several cities. The campaign included ads on sites like MTV.com and MySpace. Oddly enough, that didn’t make Panasonic batteries a hip and young brand. Go figure.

The article we discussed went on to talk about not just making sure your concept and content is on target, but also your strategies. When you’re trying to attract new people to your new media campaign you can’t just take old strategies you use for your broadcast or print campaigns and apply them. You need to develop new strategies to work in new media. Creativity is not just for the content. Not just for writers and designers and producers. Your planners and media buyers and strategists and brand managers need to be innovative, too. That’s where you’ll find true success.

In our ensuing Trend Talk discussion, we decided a blog that works boils down to two things; it has to be compelling and relevant to your target audience. If it doesn’t interest the people you’re trying to reach, they’re not going to read it. And they’re not going to come back to it. The same holds true for relevance. If what you’re talking about in your blog doesn’t fit nicely into the world of your readers, it doesn’t matter how entertaining it is, they won’t find reasons to come back after a point.

So, that’s what we’ll strive to do here in this blog, offer tidbits of info, views, trends and other odd bits that are both interesting and relevant to you, people involved in marketing, branding and advertising. Each week someone from the Yaffe Group will post a different entry on a different subject. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it and keep coming back. Maybe even share with a friend. And as we go along, if you like what you see or have a question or a suggestion of what we could do better, leave a comment and open a dialogue.

I’ve heard that’s how blogs are supposed to work.

Mike McClure

Executive Creative Director

The Yaffe Group