Should CMOs blog?

Hello - I'm interrupting your regularly scheduled blogger to deliver some guest posts this week.  This is Peter Kim from Forrester's Marketing research team - Elana's on vacation and I'm filling in.  You will be returned to your original blogger shortly, but in the meantime...

A few weeks ago, Roy Young posed an interesting question on Marketing Profs Daily Fix: "should CMOs blog?"  The two sides of opinion were roughly:

1. No - CMOs should focus on the bottom line and blogs detract from that focus.
2. Yes - Blogs are a communication channel that allow CMOs to connect directly to consumers.

The line of reasoning behind #1 could be extended to all marketers and employees - everyone should be more focused on their own job.  Yet if #2 were widely accepted fact, we'd see more marketing executives like Eric Kintz or executives in general like Jonathan Schwartz blogging.  So the answer must lie somewhere in the middle.

My take?  Blogs are certainly conversations.  These conversations are the start of new relationships between marketers and customers.  Over time, they will evolve into deeper levels of engagement - consideration, purchases, and loyalty.  CMOs may not be blogging now, but they should certainly start by listening...

Enough from this blogger - what do you think?  Is this a grey area for you or is the answer easy to see?

Comments

[Colin]

I think they should blog. The notion that "everyone should be more focused on their own job" flies in the face of the reality that the job is no longer defined. The old defintions of marketing work are being challenged on an enormous scale, as you point out in one of your papers.
So what better way to understand the new medium, that by participating in it, listening, and learning by doing in this new world.

[Peter Kim]

Here's another angle for you - should ALL CMOs blog? Would we end up with a cacophony of corporate shills or a wonderful long tail harmony?

I think that the conversation happens in degrees - listening first, commenting second, and hosting third. Not everyone will get to even the 2nd step, but those that do will see some great long-term benefits.

[Deborah]

Having been a CMO I know how hard it is to find the time to blog. I think CMOs should definitely listen, no doubt. But, they should only blog if they are passionate about sharing their thoughts, opinions and experiences with others. No one should HAVE to blog. As a reader I would find it boring to read a blog created because you "should" blog. Blogs need to maintain authenticity. The more we assign rules about who should blog, the more we clutter up the blogosphere with marketing hype vs. real conversations.