The weight of my words has changed

So it’s 2007 and this copywriter’s back with an identity crisis.

The title of this blog is quite apt at the moment as I appear to be transforming into a strategist. Words are no longer the end of a means but a means to an end.

I see them as part of a bigger strategy now, combining the dynamism and appeal of past media with a strategic function within the new.

Let me clarify this thought. In a recent post, Shel describes the opening chapter of his new book under the premise “…that human nature stays the same even as technology makes worlds bigger”.

I guess that’s progress. When you’re on the receiving end, your core opinions remain the same, yet those in charge of producing content that arrives to your door/inbox whatever have an underlying responsibility to their clients/employers to adapt to the needs and expectations of new media.

Recently over on Eric Klintz’s Marketing Excellence blog, he fired a warning shot over his online competitors’ bows to see what would happen. Under the title of The Corporate Blogging War Has Officially Started, Eric said that this was “the first time that all three of us – Dell, IBM and HP – have engaged in a competitive dialogue through blogs. Corporate blogging is clearly taking on a new dimension in 07. Companies are watching what their competitors are doing and commenting on blogs”.

Personally – and I need no disclaimer here – I think Eric pulled a fast one. I think he had a jab at Dell as Dell’s blog is on a roll and Klintz wanted a piece of it. Robert Scoble-Wan Kenobi thinks Dell are corporate superstars at the moment and when you’re at the top, you’re easy to knock.

There is unsurprisingly very little “conversation” going on in any of the leading IT companies’ blogs. Apart from replies, constructive criticism and so on, the content is never “startling”.

But just how on earth could this be otherwise?

Blogs by definition deliver fresh web content.

That’s why the search engines love them and why blog flames shine like a strip of burning magnesium. They’re hot! hot! hot!

What’s hot about a corporation going about its 9-5?

OK Dell had their fair share of heat over the battery disaster but short of that, there’s precious little worth fighting over, let alone full scale blogging warfare.

What they’re doing right, is adapting the conversation, identifying it with their chosen Blogmaster (Lionel rules!) and making it relevant and personal.

By its very nature a corporation talking to independent bloggers is going to be a little unnatural, but Dell’s careful use of their own blog as a way of drip-feeding the world with their thoughts, progress and, why not, apologies, is truly remarkable.

I have read many a PR company harp on about how corporate blogs should be free and independent but I think this is a major misjudgment on their part. A corporate blog needs to be a place where conversations relay the underlying values of the company at its heart. They need to be dependable, constant and coherent year in year out.

Blogging superstars, influencers and sneezers will always exist and it’s these guys and girls who shoulder the responsibility of continuing the debate, not the corporations.