So going into the Email Evolution Conference I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the sessions considering I am not too passionate about deliverability of emails or how to best design an email; but I was excited about the sessions titled "Bloggers Unite:  Passion, Power or People."  A few 'thought leaders' in email marketing were on the panel -- so the bulk of this was about "personal blogging"; but there were some great insights and takeaways:
  • Go Daddy (known for being a Internet domain registrar) has launched a new blog product --- interesting; but not quite sure what to make of it and am still skeptical about podcasting ever being a viable marketing tool from an ROI and reach standpoint --- which seems to be the focus of their services.
  • There were some jokes about blogging being part of one of the panelists job descriptions...my thought is that this will soon be the norm and not something really 'unique' --- so no jokes here.
  • Some thoughts about 'learning from doing your blog' --- the thought process here is that as you blog you are creating a crisper point of view...by writing out your thoughts and adding commentary blogging actually helps the blogger too...I totally get this.
  • 52% of the audience thought that blogs were great at augmenting what they read from traditional publications and sites...8% thought blogs were the only way to go.  All in all, 60% of the email marketers in the crowd see the value in blogs from a content perspective.
  • The overall consensus that was when doing 'corporate blogging' (blogging on behalf of the company) it is a 80/20 or 90/10 rule --- in the sense that the BULK of the blog content should be focused on industry news, trends, etc and only a small portion focused on talking about your business and its value proposition.  I agree to this split here, but think it is important to talk about your company and what you are doing on a day to day basis in your blog --- it provides that human element and allows people to understand YOUR business...which is different than screaming the loudest a la billboard and traditional TV advertising.
Great stuff...and several people live blogging at this conference; which is something great that I plan on doing more in the future --- even if no one reads the content at that moment; the idea that you are getting content out there fast and it becomes more and more 'raw' by the sake of being live is tempting and seems like an obvious fit --- especially when blogging around a given event.