Your blog is not your showroom

promo Obviously I am a believer in blogging as a marketing tool.

In this crazy mixed up world of penguins and pandas, blogging stands out as a gift from the SEO gods.

What frustrates me, however, is the distinction between editorial and advertorial in the blogging world.

Most of the bloggers I read have a background in professional writing and marketing.

Blogging, content production, article writing is what they do to earn a crust; they are spruiking their wares simply by writing.

I believe that blatant self-promotion has no place in blogging.

Find your niche, carve it out and sit there, using your words to prove your worth.

By all means use real-life examples and case studies to demonstrate how you helped solve a client’s problem with your mad skillz or insanely brilliant product but please do not hit me over the head with flagrant self-promotion.

If I wanted that I’d listen to commercial radio and be shouted at for 30 seconds of every 3 minutes.

To me, business blogging and content marketing is about demonstrating a solution to a customer’s problem, positioning yourself as an expert in your field and benefitting from the SEO goodness that comes from writing high-quality articles that are relevant to your market.

Not to mention building your brand (to an international audience), developing customer loyalty and respect and opening the door to real-life conversations with current/past/potential customers.

Simply producing content that is relevant to your chosen field will mean you’re writing about areas you’re passionate about, you (should) know a thing or two about and, therefore, can provide solutions to others looking for assistance.

I understand that the point of a blog is to promote your business but there needs to be a balance between self-promotion and editorial commentary.

As Joe Pulizzi (Content Marketing Institute) puts it, “Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent.”

So please, lay off the hyperbolic language, save that for your marketing collateral. Just talk to me, as if we were having a conversation in a café, not a showroom.

Me Jane, I do marketing

I had an interesting encounter last week.

We have some lovely young ladies who have joined the organisation (at my "real" job in marketing, not my freelance work) as trainees. They were doing the tour and were shown into my office [read: cave] where the tour guide asked my position (he's new around here), "I do marketing," I replied.

-- I DO marketing? That's not even a proper sentence! I hear you grumble. Anyway, let's move on, shall we? --

I went on to say that if they had any questions about marketing then they can just ask. The girls (I can call them girls, they're 16 years old) shuffled their way further into my office, "Well, what is it that you actually do?"

Ah.... Well.... Marketing is a very broad topic to cover in 4 minutes but I attempted to explain my role in a few short(ish, for me) sentences.

"I make pretty pictures," was my self-deprecating start (7 years and thousands of dollars in uni fees summed up in one underwhelming sentence).

"Primarily I'm a copywriter, so I write. A lot. Every word in every ad you see has been written by a copywriter," (or should be) I say, flicking through our not-insubstantial Annual Report.

"Also I do PR, so I liaise with the media to get us free publicity." Anything vaguely joining us to the media probably sounds pretty glamourous to a 16 year old.

"Also I design," I say, gesturing to the print outs, colour forecasts, posters, pantone charts and paper samples littered around my cluttered office.

"And anything you see with one of our logos on it I have designed and sourced." The promo gear in my office was identified as an OH&S hazard in recent weeks, compelling me to clean up.

"In short, every article, advert, brochure, poster, flyer, invitation, promotional item, annual report, business card and letterhead comes through my office. I design and write every one."

I've realised that, stepping away from the big city corporate world, I had taken for granted that people know what marketing is and what us marketers do. I recall being aware of advertising when I was young but not realising that client-side marketing was a career option.

In a broad sense we manage everything to do with a brand's reputation; how it is perceived, published and promoted.

We are the protectors of the logos, the upholders of the fonts, the enforcers of the colours. We are the custodians of our brands.

You may not think you care about this sort of thing but we do, and that's our job. Although I bet you know when something doesn't look right or offends your eye.

So whenever you see a poorly-printed flyer, a misspelled advert or a skewed logo then you know that company's marketer hasn't been doing their job.

[As a side note, the manager of said trainees just came in to thank me for engaging the girls and said how it really sparked their interest which is apparently a challenge in adolescents.]