All I Want For Christmas is a Blog Gone Bad

It was the headline that pulled me into the e-mail today from Inc.com: When Blogs Go Bad. "The blogosphere is a world unto itself, with its own set of rules and regulations. Newcomers break them at their own peril. Here's what you need to know before jumping into the fray." Citing an article by the same name in the November 2005 issue of Inc. Magazine, the tale of Donna Lynes-Miller and her blog creation and characters unfolds. 

She wanted to create buzz for Gourmet Station, her web-based retailer of high-end food, so she saw a blog as the perfect way to do it.  She does the writing and the "voice" of her blog is a fictional character called T. Alexander.  Read the whole article to get your own perspective on this. Hugh MacLeod, who runs Gapingvoid, a highly regarded and often scathingly critical site for marketing professionals, decided that Gourmet Station's new blog merited special recognition--the Beyond Lame Award.

The best part of the whole story is the last sentence: Lynes-Miller says. "Though there was no negative feedback from customers--and that's the feedback I'm most concerned about."

Customers count.  They are the only thing that's real.  Everything else is ephemeral.  That is the number one lesson for businesses of all sizes.  Customers feed you, not your critics.

Traffic at the Gourmet Station site almost doubled as a result of the controversy. Blogging is just one part of the company's marketing plan. In May, for example, GourmetStation was touted on Good Morning America as a great place to shop for Mother's Day gifts, which helped send second-quarter sales up 158%.

Duct Tape Marketing Channel Blog leaders gathered 'round the cyber campfire, tossed on a yule log, and had plenty to say about this story and the benefits of a highly-visible, talked-about blog.  Join us, won't you? Add your comments (below) to this.   

"With results like that, we should all wish for a blog gone bad," said John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing and creative originator of the Duct Tape Marketing Blog Channels.

"I couldn't help but think as I read this, that the Gapingvoid type readers probably aren't her target market. And, nothing rallys the customer troops faster than a misguided bully. She benefited from the exposure of the controversy (hello, Inc Magazine) far more then she would have had she simply put a blog out there," John said.

Zane Safrit, CEO Conference Calls Unlimited and Duct Tape Marketing's  Blog  Channel called Business Life said, The last sentence sums it up: "Though there was no negative feedback from customers--and that's the feedback I'm most concerned about."  He continued, "If you’re blogging something worthwhile you’re likely creating friends and enemies it seems these days. Just on that basis she seems to have been effectively blogging. She created friends with her customers and she did it in a unique way that rattled the thrones of  self-anointed experts.  That’s a score in my book."

"Isn’t that what blogs are about? Speaking directly with your customers, having a genuine conversation with them," Zane added. "Genuine means genuine for your audience. Her audience saw right through the T. Alexander ploy and knew it was her doing the writing. It connected with them.  They saw it was just a tactic to add a little humor, a little light-hearted fun, it added to their experience reading it, maybe their day afterward. Does anyone else’s opinion matter?"

Jantsch added, "Many small business owners have no readily identifiable group of competitors or Goliath to aim at."  People can see this idea of identifying an enemy to promote your business played out in the blog posting Have You Identified the Enemy?

Don the Idea Guy and Duct Tape Marketing's Blog Channel called The Idea Department stirred the campfire conversation about Donna Lynes-Miller and her blog creation by saying, What was it Oscar Wilde said? "The only thing worse than being talked about is NOT being talked about."  How true!  Perhaps I could update it for the Internet Age: "The only thing worse than being blogged about is not being blogged about!"

Don the "Wilde" Idea Guy emphasized, "This was a marketing tactic aimed at the visitors to her site, not the typical 'fake blogs' that seem to be coming from some of the larger corporate brands out there.  I think MacLeod (normally a brilliant source of next wave marketing and branding advice) took a familiar position upon hearing the blog was written by a fictional person. At least he reconsidered upon hearing Bloomberg's side and ceased attacking it from the fictional character angle."

Always ready to put an idea in to action, Don put these further thoughts out there for your comments: I can think of a half-dozen different ways using a fictional character as the pseudo blog-writer could work from a marketing and PR standpoint. First and foremost it's an excellent way to have an entire team writing as one-voice and building a single image as reference for the blog and brand.  Others are simply characters that could be created (or have already become part of our culture) to embody the brand.

A cereal blog written by Snap, Crackle, and Pop
A forest safety blog written by Smokey The Bear
Disney info dished by Mickey and Minnie
A Christmas blog written by Santa Claus

Comments

[Donna Lynes-Miller]

Hello Georgia,

Thank you for these perspectives on our Delicious Destinations blog strategy. This is a well written account and fairly representes the series of events with T. Alexander. When we launched our blog in spring 2005 I certainly did not anticipate this level of pr exposure and attention. I must say it has been good for brand awareness. We continue to seek innovative ways to use our blog to entertain & inform our patrons. And in the end - they are the ones that count! Happy New Year Georgia - Donna