Copywriter Bob Bly, who
Politics Is Nothing But Marketing
BL Ochman | November 10, 2004 | Permanent Link | Comments (8) | TrackBack (
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Categories: Politics
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I strongly disagree that politics is about marketing. Superficially they may seem the same, but in fact politics is very different.
Some of the dumbest mistakes political consultants make are because they believe they can communicate a politician’s message the same way they can market soap. Marketers can learn a great deal from politics and politics can learn from everyone. But it is an error to imagine they are the same.
Having said that, last I checked, it’s your blog. What you write here is between you and your readers.
I like Bob Bly. I’ve been to his seminars and he gets copywriting. I also believe in the Cluetrain philosophy and try to practice much of what they preach.
I guess that makes me a moderate!
Bob Bly seems like a nice man, and I know he is a talented copywriter. But change is gonna come whether we’re ready or not, resistant or open.
Sure politics is about marketing. EVERYONE lies in politics but he who lies the most convincingly wins. Sounds *exactly* like rather a lot of marketing to me :-)
Bly is just burning a swath through the blogosphere, isn’t he?
Not sure if you’ve seen PR Watch – analyzes PR and politics. Fascinating stuff.
Bly does not really seem to understand the subject very well (which may be why he also does not ‘get’ cluetrain). Not agreeing with something is fine but I am not convinced he understand the subject he critiques very well at all.
Like most people who only understand interruption marketing, he needs to get out more and talk to people who are NOT in marketing… you know, like those mysterious beings called customers? Tolerance for yet more ‘messages’ being pushed at you diminishes by the day. Yes, I have to ‘proactively’ go read a blog, or more likely the blogs that look interesting via my RSS reader (I wonder of Bly knows what an RSS reader is and why they matter?), but that is WHY blogs are better, not why they are worse. *I* want to decide what I see and not leave that decision to some pestilent marketer.
And as for blogs not putting money in a marketer’s pocket, how much money does a PR department put in a company’s pocket? Yet most folks can see the value in *effective* PR. If the blogs he reads are just stream of consciousness drivel then all I can say is that it is a good thing companies like mine exist to show people how to do it right. To say ‘blogging is lousy’ because some blogs are lousy is like saying all books are not worth reading because some books are worth reading.
I have read several very valid criticisms of overhyping blogs but this ain’t one of them. In fact the guy comes across as pretty clueless generally. Clueless at the top of his voice in fact.
I agree, blogs are not strict selling vehicles that must adhere to one or two topics. The most interesting, relevant blogs cover a wide array of ideas and opinions, inviting readers to participate in the conversation. Idea sharing is what it is all about. This isn’t a monologue or ad rant, nor should it be. I think that’s where Bob got off track.
Congrats on the feedback. On ROI, you can skin the cat many different ways. But I suspect the best example you could find is a b2b product blog that takes the value of time into the measurement. As you know, complex purchases are usually six-figures or more. So one purchase could arguably cover the time investment. Anyone simply trying to cover the cost of the software and server space is being unrealistic. The rest of the crowd will probably argue that you can’t put a price on thought leadership. Well, you can. It’s called sales.