Robert Scoble, who used to work as a video blogger for Microsoft, and Shel Israel, a “technology guru” wrote all together and interesting book for business bloggers. Basically the book describes Scoble/Israel own experiences, and a lot of comments posted to their own blog (http://redcouch.typepad.com/).
The most memorable part of the book is at the begin of chapter 12. The authors cited Philip Kotler: “Good marketing is partly a matter of following the rules. Great marketing often happens by breaking the rules”. I think this introduction shows the contradiction and weakness of the book. Naked conversations gives tips to be successful, but at the end is offering a list similar to a cook recipe and lack of the professional point of view of real marketing journals. The innovation of the book is basically the conversational style of the prose that follows “the rules” of blogs.
The book starts in chapter one with an idea “out of context” from the philosopher Hegel: “Nothing great has been and nothing great can be accomplished without passion” I think Hegel were immerse in something more, more deeper than changing the way businesses talk with customers.
The authors describe the “right” and the “wrong” ways to blog in a business context, and they give some data but not real empirical information about the blogging. They called them “tips” on blogging.
The writers consider that blogs are better than traditional one–way marketing communication models because they allow feedback from the customers, something that could create more customer’s loyalty. I think this point would be only valid till the moment that every company would abuse the blog main reason to exist. One of the problems could be that blogging is able to become something similar to telemarketing with all the Malcolm Gladwell’s tipping point success: “Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do”.
Blogging and advertisement are similar tools that require real cross-marketing communication models with more sensibility and less stereotyping. The most important is to find real marketing communication experts with the best background, experience and education.