This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.
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Robert Scoble: Viral Marketing Manifesto
"I made a mistake. My religious fervor about RSS blinded me to
something bigger that I should have commented on . . . I screwed up. Can we reboot this conversation?"What am I talking about? Viral marketing campaigns . . .
"[Blogging] started taking off because corporations seemed to only care about
themselves and didn’t seem to be listening anymore to anyone around
them including the government or even other corporations.
"It started taking off because we are always being marketed to, but
rarely listened to. There are so many commercial messages raining down
on our heads that we wanted to have our own way to talk back to the
world. A way to push back on the marketing and the lies and the hype.
Look at last night’s comments on this very blog. People don’t like it
when I hype something up. They want to be in control and hate it when
those of us in big companies try to manipulate them."
Right on, in my opinion, but still missing the most crucial point of relevance. The rise of blogging is but one of many waves swelling upon the surface. It is at once an effect of the deeper, more profound undercurrents driving 21st century society, as well as a causal feature that dictates the future course of business people brave enough to sail the seas of change.
Almost everyone sees the swelling sea. And everyone handles it differently. Those who don’t see it will be washed away. Others who do see will choose to fight it. They will find themselves exhausted and run aground. At best. At worst, crushed upon the rocks. Some will batten down the hatches, and ride it out, and they may survive the storm. When the skies clear, however, they’ll find themselves severely off course and working over-time to get back on track.
Then, of course, there are those who will surf these waves with flair, grace and abandon. Where do you think they’ll be when the skies clear?