The Marketing Technology Blog

UPDATE: Doh! I slaughtered the English language, writing Advise instead of Advice… thanks to Al Pasternak for pointing out my dumb mistake.

I was inspired today by a post that Shel Israel did today as well as a post that Tony did on comments. The two posts had something in common… the personal touch.

I’m going to try to provide some comparisons and in the hope that it paints a clear picture for you:

On the left: premeditated, prepared, edited, politically correct, strategic and impersonal

On the right: opinionated, personalized, humorous, friendly, limitless, and boisterous

On the left: dying, hated, unpopular, dull, static, unsuccessful

On the right: growing, expanding, popular, exciting, colorful, dynamic, successful, desired

In the past, I’ve written some critical entries about Corporate Blogs. The reason is because they SUCK. They suck because they are everything to do with the left side of my argument. Personal blogs are everything to the right.

Blogs are conversations. Naked Conversations. Who wants to have a conversation with a newspaper? Are you more excited about meeting your local politician or Guy Kawasaki?

Successful salespeople will tell you that their success depends on their ability to create a personal network and connection with their prospect. The running gag at most organizations is how little their sales folks have to understand (or do understand) about their product. The joke about selling ice to Eskimos fits! It’s not about the ice… it’s about the relationship with the Eskimo!

IMHO, the worst advice that continues to be perpetuated on the blogosphere to new bloggers is to avoid personal posts and stay on topic. Ugh! Those are the blogs I never visit. Those are the blogs that have hit capacity and aren’t growing. That’s the old media that is dying! Why would you possibly mimic them? The new media is the conversation. I want you to get to know me. I want you to communicate with me and build a personal connection. I want to gain your trust.

My blog has led to just this. I have relationships with folks all over the country that I would never have met otherwise. Many of us get on the phone to each other every week. We share tips, support, personal stories, jokes, code, etc. We’re friends!

If you’re not willing to make your blog personal, then become a journalist, copy writer, script writer or a politician. Stay out of blogging where you’re guaranteed to be a failure.