But Then, A Story About the Decision to Blog or Not to Blog

A little while back we at Emogen committed ourselves to blogging daily about topics relevant to our line of work: marketing, advertising and graphic design. We did fairly well but then…

Isn’t it funny how there’s always a but then? I was doing great on my diet, but then I went on that cruise. My portfolio was really going strong, but then the bottom fell out of the economy. The Cubs were hanging in there, but then the curse kicked in.

There’s always something to distract us and get in the way of good intentions. There’s always a but then.

Emogen’s but then was an onslaught of business, which, although awesome for us, is not so good for our intentions of daily blogging. But does breaking that commitment really even matter?

No and yes.

NO
A deli showcases its meats in a glass counter. A car dealer has that large lot out front. Those kind of display options don’t exist for a service company, so we’ve adapted our blog to work with our portfolio to showcase our “goods.” The point being, of course, to promote our expertise in order to acquire new business, so the fact that we’ve taken on several new clients as of late takes some pressure off of those efforts.

YES
However, it’s imperative to press on with a marketing initiative—whether blogging or some other form of advertising or promotion—to maintain momentum.

Rarely do you get the results you want from one ad or one single sales activity. Customers usually have to encounter your brand and message several times and ways before they even really pay attention to it much less make a purchase decision. The corollary is that it takes ample effort and resources to build up a campaign to the point of realizing the desired outcome. For that reason, you can’t hang up the towel as soon as the first phone call comes in. If you’re looking for a regular inflow of new business, you have to provide a regular outflow of information to those prospects.

So what does this mean to the fate of the Emogen blog? In lieu of our diminished time, the decision has been made to forego short daily blogs and instead post a lengthier, meatier blog once a week… at least until the next but then makes itself known.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

It's called a MIX for a reason

If you follow Emogen on Facebook (FB) you might have caught the blog we posted from Craig Daitch, “Why Facebook Can’t Be Trusted.” That post came amid some discussion (both internally and on FB) about the value of FB and other social media venues.

The main issue we’ve been gnawing at is the value of traditional media in light of social media.

It’s easy to think social media is “all that.” It’s nimble. It’s cheap. It meets people where they are. But it’s not perfect.

One of the biggest issues I have with social media is control… or lack of it, to be more precise. A good portion of control lies in the hands of the venue… FB, twitter, whatever; so a marketer is at the mercy of the platform as to what can and cannot be done.

Another reason that it can’t be the end-all-be-all is that, believe it or not, there are still people out there who don’t utilize social media. Traditional media is still the most effective way to reach those guys way back on the tail end of the distribution curve.

In no way am I implying that social media isn’t valuable. I’m also not saying traditional media reigns king. Both have limitations, and because of that they must both be a part of the marketing mix.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

I Want To Ride My Bicycle, I Want To Ride My Bike!

I love Queen. Of course they made great music, but I also love them because I have fond memories of my then 3-year-old daughter forcing me to play Bicycle over and over and over every morning en route to daycare.

And, for whatever reason, Bicycle also makes me think of tandem bicycles. You know: those silly bikes made for two. I’ve never ridden one and I’ve always wondered if having two peddlers makes it easier or harder. I assume it’s easier provided both riders are coordinating their efforts.

I don’t recall exactly how it came up, but this morning I was thinking about tandem bicycles and how they are a good analogy for advertising campaigns.

For example, consider a traditional ad campaign… print, TV and radio. Traditional advertising can be very powerful. As days go by, though, that is less and less true; but it still has value.

Traditional advertising, IMO*, is more useful when it’s working in tandem with other efforts… direct marketing (mail/e-mail), special events, online advertising, social media, nontraditional (guerilla) tactics, etc. However, those efforts are usually less potent without traditional advertising supporting them.

The key, though, is coordinating the message, tone, call to action, etc. of traditional and nontraditional advertising to maximize reach and effectiveness.

So the picture we arrive at is truly like a tandem bike: you really do need both peddlers to make the thing work, but when they are coordinated it’s much easier to produce the desired outcome.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

*in my opinion (thanks to John K. for my new favorite acronym)