“Blogs are the most important thing to online marketing since sliced bread.”

“Blogs may have their place… but it’s not in direct marketing.”

Such disparate views leave us asking who to believe!

The blog consultants?

Or the “old school” marketing mavens?

Bombarded and barraged with hype, marketers can have a tough time deciding whether blogs should be part of their arsenal.

Listen to the blog consultants?

Who profits from the blog phenomenon anyway?

And are we talking “opportunistic agenda” or “objective perspective”?

How about marketing experts?

Is it fair to say that blogging does not belong in a direct or business-to-business marketing program?

Why do so many old-hatters bristle at the idea of blogs?

Is it simply because of imagined shortcomings?

Or do blogs actually stump an “old school” sensibility that seeks a precedent for comparison?

A decade ago, at the dawning of the commercial Web, marketers were caught in a similar pickle. One faction wrote the Web off as negligible, while another took to the barricades, waving the Web flag and proclaiming the demise of other channels. It’s clearly seen who was right!

“Okay,” you say, “history is well and good. But what happens in the next senior-management meeting when the CEO asks, ‘Does blogging belong in our marketing communications program?’ What to tell him?”

Well, you can tell him blogs are not an effective direct marketing tool. I doubt they ever will be. Blogging does not allow you to precisely target audiences or permit any discernable control over who sees your message. However…there’s a but…

Blogs have already proven useful in publicity campaigns, generating word-of-mouth and, in some cases, media attention. CPG marketers have made the most effectual use of commercial blogs, with highly imaginative efforts attracting throngs of consumers. There is no question that these blogs have affected consumer bonding with brands.

Blogs can also play an important role in business-to-business marketing. Management gurus, public speakers and prominent business leaders can wield some mean business-to-business blogs. Tom Peters, for one, has a very successful blog. For Peters’ fans, this is a really heaven sent: access to Peter’s daily thought process. What’s more, the more people who clamor to glean Peters’ next idea, the higher the likelihood that his next seminar will sell out and his next tome will fly off the bookshelves.

Are blogs right for every company or brand?

Definitely not.

Are bloggers, and especially blog consultants, over-hyping blogs?

Yup.

The former group is merely excited about technology. The latter benefits from getting business people to turn off their logic and open up their wallets. The unfortunate backlash: wholesale discrediting of blogs by critics who have either never used them effectually or have never used them altogether.

A brave new world, or just a passing fad? The importance of blogging should not be overstated or ignored. Blogs are unique. They are not direct mail, telemarketing, direct response TV, e-commerce or e-mail marketing … and that’s just fine. Defining what they are not does not diminish what they are and what their potential in the hands of a smart marketer is.