Robert Scoble, a.k.a. The Scoblezier, a.k.a. Microsoft’s Geek Blogger, asks in a post on The Red Couch, “Why let your ad agency write your blog?” He ponders the situation thusly:
A good blog is written by an authority who is passionate about his/her topic.
How many ad agencies are passionate about your business? Not to mention an authority on it? (After all, if your ad agency were an authority on your business we’d just deal with your ad agency, not you). I’m an optimist, though, so I hold out hope that there might be a few, but they are few and far in between.
Here’s the answer. An agency worth their salt knows how to connect with the consumer. Granted, many agencies know nothing of the kind, but I’m not talking about them (every industry has losers, ours is no different). But back to the argument…X Company knows how to make widgets, or computers, or rum. They know how to work their product through the distribution channel. They may even spend tons on product innovation. But rarely do they know how to effectively communicate their product’s benefits, for they are too close to it to bring any perspective to the communications problems at hand. Clients live and breathe their product and they assume that everyone else gives a shit. Everyone else does not give a shit. Getting them to give a shit is the agency’s job.
At this point in time, I am unaware of a good blog being generated for a client by an ad agency. But I believe this will soon change. Agencies didn’t get the web at first, and many do not get the web today. The same holds for blogs. Yet, I have every reason to believe some smart agency people will find a way to build a legitimate blogging practice. There are too many upsides in blogs to dance around them for much longer.
