Can This Blog Affair Be Saved?
Here’s a sad letter from the Marketing Craftsmanship mailbag:
Dear Marketing Guy,
I’ve fallen out of love with my Blog and I need your advice. My sad story:
It was love at first sight. A company Blog had everything I was looking for in social media. It would drive SEO. Establish thought leadership. Engage clients and prospects. Create two-way communication. Build long-term relationships.
My competitors all had Blogs, and I needed one. It would complete my marketing.
Falling in love with my Blog was so easy. WordPress.com was the perfect matchmaker, and my Blog didn’t cost me a penny to build. I had big plans for my Blog. Topics we would cover together. Discussions I would moderate. I made a personal commitment to post regularly. My Blog and I would create beautiful leads together.
It was a great love affair…at least for a while.
After a few months, my Blog started demanding more of my time. But my Blog wasn’t living up to expectations. Few people visited, only employees commented on posts, and there were no leads in sight. My disappointment grew, but my Blog demanded even more content. “I need interesting ideas, not sales promotion,” my Blog would scream. We grew further apart. Weeks, and sometimes months, passed between posts.
Now, my blog and I are the office joke. Blog visitors wonder if my company has a pulse. My Blog has become a brand liability. I can’t look at the company’s website anymore, because my Blog is always there, reminding me of our failed relationship.
Does my Blog deserve a second chance? Or should I simply move on? Help!!!
Yours Truly, Blog Gone Wrong
Dear Blog Gone Wrong,
Lots of companies fall out of love with their Blogs. I feel your pain, but you’ll get little sympathy from me. Here are a few questions to start you thinking about why your Blog relationship fell apart so quickly:
- Was your Blog part of an integrated marketing strategy…or just a temporary infatuation?
- Did you create an editorial calendar to provide content focus…or made promises you could never keep?
- Did you assign sufficient resources to ensure your Blog’s long-term success…or were you just looking for a cheap date?
- Was there a strategy to promote your Blog and to merchandise its posts…or did you think that would just “happen”?
- Were there tangible and realistic business metrics to measure your Blog’s ROI…or did you think pre-nuptuals would kill the relationship?
My guess is that you were attracted to your Blog’s many fine features and benefits, but were unwilling to invest the time and resources necessary to build a meaningful, long-term relationship. If that’s the case, you really don’t deserve a Blog.
You might be better suited for a relationship with a Twitter account.
The Marketing Guy
Marketing Craftsmanship 
Company blogs are something that can be outsourced if you do it properly. I don’t mean buy dirt cheap keyword-optimised content from third world providers and bore the pants off your customers. The trick is to hire someone local and sympathetic who properly understands your business.
Hi Bill, I agree that the content can be outsourced. Unfortunately, many companies either don’t make that investment, or don’t believe that anyone outside of the company is capable of developing meaningful content. The sad truth is that outsiders can often create content that’s more interesting and readable than insiders.