The Engagement Principles

Blogs have exploded on the media scene because they’re easy, they’re affordable, they’re instant, and they allow for a level of connection (two-content flow) that most other media simply don’t.
Of course, blogs are capable of doing great things, but for the marketer, they’re also potential vehicles of doom.
Sure, mention the blogging hall of shame and [...]

In my last post, I wondered aloud if “Engagement Writers” weren’t about to become a critical subset of the copywriter species.
Matt Ambrose at the Copywriter’s Crucible posted in much the same vein (and it’s worth reading even though I won’t cover most of his post here).
Of interest was how he ended his post:

The Tamar report [...]

Engagement occurs anywhere a company connects with clients around the shared passions and values orbiting the brand — something that could easily happen on a message board.
So why do I recommend blogs to my clients instead of message boards?
BlogWrite for CEOs (Debbie Weil) tackled this issue, and while she stole my next blog topic (I’ll [...]

Patagonia has long been a leader in the outdoor clothing and equipment industry.
They’ve also pushed forward on the “green manufacturing” front, making low-impacts and environmental projects a key part of the company’s charter.
With that as a background, I’ve long been amazed they didn’t have a blog presence–one that allowed their supporters a place to [...]

I’m a proponent of engagement marketing - and the blog’s role in that process. A blog remains one of the great untapped marketing tools of the “Web 2.0″ era.
While a blog is a powerful engagement marketing tool, they’re also cost effective content publishing tools. With that in mind, is there a place in small organizations for “blogging without [...]

Because I’m busy writing and I miss things, I depend on other blogs like the The Copywriter’s Crucible to keep me up to date.
In this case, the Crucible published an analysis of Edelman Research’s â€“ A Corporate Guide to the Global Blogosphere.
One point really hit home:
Businesses need to engage the blogosphere to find their advocates and [...]

Like most writers over the age of 35, if you scratch my word processor, Internet-enabled surface, you’ll find a pen and paper guy hiding beneath.
But is it possible to appeal to that old-world psychographic via a blog? Can you really engage a pen-and-paper audience online?
The US distributor of Moleskine notebooks (currently enjoying a huge renaissance) thinks so, and [...]

The Deep Jive Interests blog references an interesting study which exposes a certain amount of hypocrisy in the Public Relations industry (yes, we’re shocked too). According to Deep Jive:
Yes, you can file this under “talking a good game”, because the results show that while most PR executives believe in the blogging as an effective tool [...]

The New Year always brings with it a flood of resolutions, predictions and other short-lived phenomena.
Yet, since this is a blog devoted to engagement marketing, it’s tempting to proclaim this the Year of Engagement, and in fact, that may actually come to pass.
Let’s hope for an intelligent adoption rather than the boom & bust [...]

Book sites and blogs couldn’t be a more natural fit.
Avid readers love to discover a new author whose work they can mine for many titles. So the opportunities for connections between reviewers, readers and booksellers abound.
Allibris Book Blog
Allibris is a network of booksellers, so buyers can log on and seamlessly search many, many booksellers for [...]