Changing the Rules of Engagement

Maggie Fox, September 26 2007

Yesterday I was giving a presentation at a client event. We were discussing a corporate blogging program we’d launched for them earlier this year, and some of the resulting benefits. Of course they were legion – a clearly growing fan base, amazing feedback from consumers, a couple of significant positive interactions with super-influencers, a smattering of business intelligence, wildly increased Google juice, and significant differentiation from the competition.

While discussing this last point with the firms “Chief Blogger”, he described an event I knew well about, but in a way that made me think about it very differently. One of his posts had prompted the competition to respond on a forum populated by their consumers (who are sometimes our consumers as well – it’s a very active community). The competition posted their rebuttal, not naming names, and then closed it to comments. The reaction was immediate and fierce, with consumers noting the dramatic difference between the competition and our clients’ attitude towards their consumer base. To them, the competition was clearly afraid of the conversation (contemptuous of it, even). It was not positive coverage.

And that’s when it hit me – this is a classic example of how participating in this space can dramatically change the rules of engagement within your market. If you leap in, consumers will very soon expect the same level of dialogue from your competitors. When they don’t deliver, you have a significant point of differentiation in a very emotional place. It’s not about the latest model, colour or styling, it’s about which company cares about their consumers the most. If you can build your reputation on that, what a tremendous competitive advantage.

SMG in the Top 30

Maggie Fox, September 23 2007

top 30 canadian SMG in the Top 30

Top 30 Canadian Marketing blogs, that is. Thanks to Scott Weisbrod at the Experience Planner for compiling this list!

Here’s the full list, as you can see, we’re in some incredible company!

1. adgoodness
2. One Degree
3. Canuckflack
4. Twist Image
5. Pro PR
6. My Name is Kate
7. Leo Burnett Toronto
8. chroma
9. Common Sense PR
10. Buzz Marketing with Blogs
11. Crap Hammer
12. PR Works
13. Buzz Canuck
14. Student PR Blog
15. Transmission Content + Creative
16. social media group
17. The Client Side Blog
18. The Praized Blog
19. Experience Planner
20. Canadian Marketing Blog
21. BPWrap
22. The New PR
23. ADS-Links.com
24. Blogging Me Blog You
25. Mutually Inclusive PR
26. FlackLife
27. The Other Blokes’ Blog
28. Tell Ten Friends
29. Happy Pixels
30. Youngblood PR & Marketing

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