David Meerman Scott says they are.
"Readers of blogs view the information shared by smart bloggers as one of the few forms of real, authentic communication there is," Scott says. "Audiences consume advertising with skepticism and consider pronouncements by CEOs to be out of touch with reality. But a good blog written by someone within a large or small company, a nonprofit, a church, or a political campaign commands attention."
Scott’s new book The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to use news releases, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing & online media to reach your buyers directly will be released by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in June. (Apparently short titles are passe!)
Scott goes on to say "For decades, only journalists held the power to make or break a story. But today the Web is like a huge online city teaming with individuals and organizations of all kinds. Corporate blogs written by employees are the sounds of independent voices just like the sports fan on the barstool or that friend of yours who knows everything about stereo equipment. Corporate blogs and business bloggers are now important and valuable alternative sources of information, not unlike your next-door neighbor or the helpful salesperson at your favorite shop."
Most of us know Scott from his blog Web Ink Now.
What do you think? Is this a chicken little yelling that the sky is falling (traditional advertising is dead?) or is Scott right on the money? How do you reconcile Scott’s premise with my recent post: Name a new product from 2006?
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=af9aedb7-1667-4151-b27c-e5678931b8d1)
Listen up! (How all companies should use blogs)
Thanks for writing about my book, Drew. Yeah, quite some title (some good search engine terms in the title, don’t ya think?).
We’re living in an interesting world. Smart bloggers get noticed. But I do think that mainstream media is still important. However the way to get noticed by the media is increasingly via a blog. I don’t pitch journalists at all, but am quoted several times a month via the blog.
Advertising in many uses, in my opinion, is a money pit of wasted resources.
Take care, David
Bloggers (like me) probably overstate our importance. In my field, I read blogs that aren’t credible, because they are always “selling” — I do that, too. As a result, the blog loses credibility.
If compared with most forms of advertising, yeah, blogs are probably more credible.
I think David is pretty much right on the money, although I don’t think it’s quite to the point of declaring advertising as dead. I think the style of advertising might be dead, but it will give way to a new form.
His comment saying that most advertising is a waste of money is probably closer to the truth. There are so many things you can do for free (it costs time, obviously) that will elicit great results. And like your post about new products in 2006, no one is listening anyway.
David,
Thanks for stopping by! Oh, I agree with you. The traditional media is not going away. Which is a good thing.
I think the interesting shift that is still coming is how the two interact and find space for both. As you suggest, it’s already happening — everything has just begun to shift.
But I don’t believe either medium is dying. Just evolving.
Drew
Kevin,
Interesting point. Do you believe your blog would be more credible if you just provided information and didn’t sell?
Do you think over the long-term, the added credibility would actually result in more or a comparable number of sales?
Drew
Brett,
Yes…much of advertising is ill-placed, poorly created and badly conceived.
I’m not sure that’s the medium’s fault though. I think it does make sense for some. But not for most.
Lots of variables to consider. And the sad truth is most businesses don’t consider any of them when buying advertising. They get “sold” by an eager ad rep and they don’t have a chance.
Drew