Developing A Blog Design Strategy

Thinking about launching a blog, or wondering where this one is headed?
This article is for you.

This blog has been live for about 2 1/2 days now (launched the evening of September 15, 2008). I didn't want my very first post to be about "what's to come" but I do think its important to share my plans for this blog, because right now you are just seeing the tip of the iceberg.

I set out a few months ago to begin this project.Throughout my career I've always looked for ways to remain on the leading edge of thought leadership. In the field of Marketing, that means going far beyond what has worked historically / traditionally. To be on cutting edge of marketing, one must understand current trends in audience needs and their behavioral patterns. With that information, there becomes an opportunity to apply innovation to reach the audience in new ways and facilitate the desired engagement.

I've always had a passion for finding innovative applications for technology. Marketing provides an excellent field in which to do that, linking buyers and sellers in more customer-centric ways to create mutual value.

This blog then, becomes a sort of "sandbox" for me - to contribute original ideas, network with like-minded individuals, collaborate with other thought leaders, experiment with newer technologies and learn a lot in the process. I'm really excited about it.

Building A Blog Design Strategy

In my case (and probably a common situation), all content for this site, its design strategy, graphical layout, database and EVERYTHING else is coming from a single individual (me - for the moment), it is therefore important to prioritize the features and functions for rollout. Here are my current plans for this blog, that best meet the longer term goals that I have for it:

1. Infrastructure - I've built this site using the Joomla Content Management System. I evaluated Wordpress and few others but felt that Joomla is rapidly gaining momentum and will provide more capability for me to expand the blog in the future. However, this decision has resulted in quite a learning curve, partially because  I was not satisfied with "out of the box" capability and needed to create a few enhancements on my own.
2. Original Content - Ultimately this blog needs to deliver orginal content. Although I may quote references or other resources, but my intent is deliver fresh ideas and compelling content.
3. Useful References - In addition to my own content, I also plan to provide links and references to other thought leaders and content that I feel will benefit my target audience.
4. Integration of New Media tools - The plethora of social media tools, services, and technologies presents an interesting challenge. One strategy would be to dazzle people with a design that integrates every possible widget, news feed, tag cloud, mashup, and social media tool you can think of. And then you end up with a blinking, confusing aggregation of content that gives you a headache about a third of the way down the front page. Instead, I've decided not to try to be all things to all people and will focus my design and integration of tools toward the audience I wish to reach.
5. Personas - I realize that I do have more than one "persona" that I wish to reach (more on that in a future article). A recent talk by Tamara Adlin has provided some inspiration for me here. Therefore my strategy for infrastructure also needed to provide a great deal of flexibility to support my plans for tailoring content to specific personas. I have not yet seen an implementation of what I have in mind and so this will likely be rolled out in phases to determine its effectiveness.
6. Dialogue Building Tools - This will be a near term priority. To achieve my objectives, the site must support visitor feedback in multiple forms. The "stock" package has some limitations in this area that I hope to resolve shortly and begin adding these features to my site.
7. Multi-format - This is a longer term goal, but as the owner of an iPhone, I certainly recognize the need and opportunity to provide valuable content optimized for different devices. Joomla provides some excellent tools to accomplish this.
8. Mashups - I will be looking for interesting ways to leverage other tools, services, and technologies on an ongoing basis to provide value to my site visitors.
9. Inspiration - If I've stimulated new thinking, helped answer a question, or otherwise helped to solve a challenge through this site, then I'm succeeding at what I set out to do.
10. Readership Growth - Of course over time, I hope to expand my network of subscribers, readers, and contributors - this is a blog, not a diary :-)

This list will likely be revised, updated as I continue to roll-out new capabilities.

 
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Reaching Critical Mass: A Shift In Marketing Thought

I’ve been in various forms of marketing for about the last 15 years. In one form or another, marketing has attempted to create a connection between the buyer and seller – typically with the buyer almost as a kind of "prey" - the trophy to be acquired through the crafty positioning of a brand messaging.

And the messaging certainly does get through. As a member of the so called "targeted audience" – I still have the shrapnel of the mass-marketed tunes, rhymes and rhetoric from my early childhood embedded in my mind. “How do you spell relief?”, “The quicker picker upper”, or how about “Please don’t squeeze the…” you get the picture.

But things have changed or, perhaps more accurately, things are changing. The way you and I buy these days is much different from before. We’re not sold-to like we were in the past, acquired when pierced by the branded arrow of a crafty marketer.

In this era, Information has become a type of armor. It is this information (and sometimes disinformation) that deflects the rational brand messages, in favor of the messages we trust – those from our peers. And our access to that information has never been easier.

With the technology as the enabler, we have the information we feel we need at our fingertips – on our phones, our home computers, and in the workplace. And it affects how we buy. It doesn’t necessarily have to be GOOD information, we just need to perceive it as good. Our propensity-to-believe seems to be higher these days when the source is a perceived peer versus the marketing department.

Some Interesting Evidence
While doing some research on trends in social media and customer-centricity, I came across some interesting data. Using Google Trends, I was comparing the terms “Social Media”(blue) and “Social Marketing”(red).

 

 

While I was not surprise by the more recent rise in volume of the term “social media”, I was surprised to see the crossing of the trend graphs in mid-2007. Note that back in 2003, Social Marketing was searched for twice as often as Social Media. Since then, searches for Social Marketing have declined while searches for Social Media have slowly crept up. As of mid-2007, the term Social Media is in the forefront and rapidly advancing.

What does it mean? Could it perhaps be that marketers have finally reached critical mass for a new way of thinking? Instead of using media and tools to sell-to, or manipulate customers, can we now be looking instead to use the tools customers prefer to help them buy? Although these are not new concepts, does the data above suggest that the masses have finally shifted toward a new paradigm for marketing thought?

 
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