Kranz On Copy: Insights and answers on copywriting and writing copy

Among online marketing blogs/forums, I see two common threads of discussion:

1) Endless touting of of the latest technique (blogs, video, podcast, WOM, social networking, you name it): why it's so great; why you just have to do it. In fact, why aren't you doing it (whatever it is) yet?

2) Endless moaning of the lack of respect marketers get. Why don't we have seats at the table (wherever that is) yet?

Folks, the two things are directly related. As long we rabidly promote techniques simply because they are new, we earn the disrespect we attract.

Despite the rhetoric used to excuse fad-chasing, marketers are NOT obligated to keep current. They are obligated to be effective. Being effective means building a business rationale -- based on reason, rooted in the client's specific circumstances -- on a case by case basis. That means doing the hard work of real thinking.

Just yesterday, I was on the phone with representatives of a successful publisher that promotes live audio conferences. Time and again, people keep telling them that they're behind the curve: why aren't they doing webinars like everyone else? Simple: Because everyone in their target market of midsized companies has a speaker phone; few of them have video projection facilities that work. Old-fashioned? Maybe. But they're carrying a heck of a lot of old-fashioned dollars to the bank.

Let's build credibility instead of buzz. Instead of insisting that "X" tactic is for everyone, let's clarify real pros and cons -- who it works for and for whom it does not. Let's demonstrate our ability to exercise reason by applying a given tactic within a strategy in which it makes sense.

Then we might just get some respect.