Walking the Walk

Dana, over at AMAblog, has an affirming response to my earlier observation that the AMA sponsored "hot topic" seminars on blogs was blogless. Dana kindly points me to the subsequently launched AMAblog.* Walking the walk, indeed. Whew!

Dana clarifies:

. . . our target market here is not "THE BLOGGER", but rather the professional marketing practitioner who is interested, but not yet on the bandwagon. The final 'pull onto the wagon' is our job, and now that we've got them here, we can segue into the blog world, hence the blog you're reading now.

Indeed. I have echos of Web 101 seminars of days gone by. The spirit of exciting new frontiers unfolding has returned. And it is fun.

The honeymoon phase of blog-as-marketing-communication-tool will be very short and abrupt. Unlike the early days of the web, blogging tools (software) and infrastructure (broadband) are in place. To top it off, blogging tools are easier to use (and understand!) than any publishing toolkit yet to appear. The elements are aligned for meteoric ascent.

Then what? Surveys of other domains suggest that blogging's simplicity will reveal unexpected complexities; simplicity will yield complex structures with capabilities both unpredictable and previously unknown. The 2004 U.S. presidential election cycle afforded a sampling of the potential.

Strategy that harnesses and guides this potential is a pressing task. For example:

• How do individuals and organizations maximize the potential of this new communication media?
  
• How are blogs best integrated with other tools the marketing communication mix?
  
• For what marketing communication objectives are blogs best suited?
  
• What unknown marketing communication tasks will blogs make apparent?
• Will swarm management become a staple skill required to execute an integrated marketing communication program?
  
• etc.
  

I suspect the next 6 to 12 months will prove enlightening.

* Don't get me started on AMA's bizarre branding strategy ... AMA stands for: American Medical Association, Australian Medical Association, American Management Association, American Motorcyclist Association, Academy of Model Aeronautics ... ? Beats me. And I've been a member of AMA (American Marketing Association) for about 20 years.