April 2007, Number 95
If you see a zombie walking down the street in Vermont, don't be scared. It's sugaring season here, and that zombie is probably just a local farmer who has been up all night for a few days in a row.
The sap is running now, and if you want to have any maple syrup this year, you have to do the sugaring when the sap runs, usually at 2 or 3 in the morning.
I feel like I am tapping my own source of sap these days. That's because we have taken the plunge and started a blog called "Marketing Rules!" . Now I'm writing when the inspiration moves me, just like my farmer neighbors, even if it's in the middle of the night. The blog never sleeps!
Here's an offer: In honor of our new blog (if this link doesn't work for some reason you can find our blog by typing in www.marketingrules.org in your favorite browser), and the sugaring season, we'll send a half-gallon of maple syrup to the three best comments or posts we receive this month on our blog. Comment on what we've posted, or post your own observation about marketing. If you're unfamiliar with the world of blogs, you can submit your comment or posting to me the old-fashioned way: send me an email at neil@raphel.com. We'll have a committee judge the comments and posts and we'll announce the winners next month.
Blogs are all over the Internet today. For now, they're the web's best way to communicate with groups of like-minded people, discussing topics of interest across a wide audience. As marketing consultants, we thrive on learning what's new, what ideas work and don't work, and enjoying the controversies. Our marketing blog and others help to keep the interesting conversations flowing like the maple trees' sap.
For those of you who know both Murray and Neil, you can imagine the discussion that's been taking place about whether Raphel Marketing needs a blog. I'll excerpt some of it here:
Murray: So, Neil, you've started writing a blog. How is it going?
Neil: It's been a fun process to start the blog. We set it up using a program called Wordpress, and our technical wizard, Rick Kelley, helped customize it to give us the look we wanted. I think using the program with its built-in management tools made the whole process a lot easier.
Murray: But what about writing the blog? Who does that?
Neil: So far, mostly me, but the rest of our firm promises to get in the spirit of it soon - that means you, too, Murray. Our blog is a cross between a diary and a short newsletter. I think blog entries are best when they are shorter and more focused.
Murray: How do you get other people involved with the blog?Neil: That's a good point. I haven't quite figured that out yet. But I've had a few ideas. First I looked on the Internet for other blogs about marketing. I thought if I wrote on their blogs, maybe they would write on ours. But I have a hard time trying to put the link to our blog in a comment. It seems a bit self-serving. And if I don't put a link in, how will they ever find my blog?
Then, I resorted to bribery. We told the students in our college Internet Marketing class they would get extra credit by posting to our blog. About 2/3 of them did.My latest idea is the tried-and-true marketing game, the sweepstakes. We'll see if our Raphel Report subscribers want to win some Vermont maple syrup. The best blog entries for me would be ways for our blog to be read by more people - if any of our readers write in with those, they're sure to get the syrup!
Murray: Why do you want other people to read the blog?
Neil: I think the best blogs incite a conversation. It would be exciting to get a real dialogue going about marketing issues. We could discuss privacy, the role of the Internet, marketing in politics, the rising cost of postage, email, catalogs, Google, TV, billboards, the list goes on and on. As more people read our blog and contribute their ideas, the conversation will really get interesting. And, Murray, there's no one who enjoys a good conversation about marketing more than you.
Murray: That's true - maybe I'm starting to like this blogging concept!
Let me know your thoughts. Be frank. After all, that's what a blog is for - an honest exchange of opinions.
When you get a chance, visit our blog. I'd appreciate any feedback. And if you have a blog of your own, write me. I'll try to post to your blog if you post to mine.
The sap is running right now. Let's take advantage of it.