Blogger Stories

Blogger Story: Peter Kim

Peter Kim is the first to see the humor and irony in how he was introduced to blogs .. attempting to put out a blog flame storm for a client. However, it was a snow storm that was the catalyst for Peter launching his own blog, Being Peter Kim, which was to become one of the most highly regarded marketing blogs.

Blog Story Teller: Peter Kim, Being Peter Kim

Call me Dr. Strangeblog or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the blog.

My introduction to blogs was certainly a magical epiphany of marketing communications – akin to an atomic bomb detonation.  One Monday morning in 2003, I walked in to work and by the time I walked out, I was the point person assigned to quash a global branding crisis. Somewhere in the world, rogue creatives had released a couple of sexually provocative ads featuring our products and logo – and they were gaining more attention every hour.

As the head of global interactive marketing, I was tasked with “doing something” about it.  My advice?  Leave it alone and let it die.  The corporate response?  Send a cease-and-desist to any entity hosting or publishing the images.  When I told one blogger that “blogs are not a media outlet,” his ego went into overdrive.  Eventually the meme died, but not before sales to our online store had jumped through the roof (!).

A couple years later, different firm.  I’m head of interactive again, among other things.  President: “We need one of those ‘blog’ things!” So I started one.  It sucked.  In retrospect, a blog wasn’t going to do much to bring back the 80’s for the core fans of that brand.  But I did start a small blog experiment on the side…

I had been working in the space and recently started a job that made blogging a natural extension of my work. I finally joined the conversation in earnest in January 2006.  It was the first of a few crazy snow storms that winter and the rest of my family was stuck in Palm Beach. What to do? Start a blog!

Blogger Story: Tammy Powley

Tammy Powley turned her passion into a business. No, it wasn't blogs. It was beads and jewelry. Then Tammy realized that blogs could be a great marketing tool to promote herself and her beads. She launched one blog and which led to another which led to another. Tammy had a new passion and a new business venture .. she was now a pro blogger.

Blogger Story Teller: Tammy Powley, Jewelry & Beading, The Jewelry Weblog, Fat and 40, Blog Class Info

My story starts kind of simply: I began with a bead blog – yes, beads. I originally started blogging because I thought it would be a good way to promote my writing and crafting career. Almost immediately, I was hooked, but I really had no clue where this rabbit hole would lead me.

My introduction to web writing started back in 1998 when I became About.com’s Jewelry Making Guide. While that site does have a blog integrated into its home page, I feel like my first real baby steps into blogging came when I joined About Weblogs in April of 2005 (which eventually merged with b5media.com).

This is where I started writing The Jewelry and Beading Blog. While the topic was similar to my About.com site, it allowed me more freedom to write about my own experiences (me, me, me and my beads), and that was my main purpose at the time when it came to blogging – using it as a medium to promote myself.

Later that same year, I found Creative Weblogging (CW) in need of a writer for The Jewelry Weblog. Again, the topic was similar, but this blog is more geared toward the jewelry consumer rather than people who make jewelry, so it was a chance to work in a related area that didn’t really step on the toes of my other blog or web site.

In fact, one neat thing about it is that I get to help promote jewelry designers, and after spending many years selling my own jewelry through art shows and galleries, I know how tough it is out there. It’s wonderful to be able to help other jewelry designers.

Blogger Story: Ilise Benun

Inspiration to launch a blog is different for each person. For Ilise Benun it was at the encouragement of a client that caused her to step into social media. Now her blog provides a publishing outlet for her small business clients who have yet to find their way into conversational marketing.

Blogger Story Teller: Ilise Benun, The Marketing Mix Blog

It was at the urging of The Communicatrix, a Marketing Mentor client, that, in October 2006, we launched The Marketing Mix, the official blog of Marketing Mentor and the community that's sprung up around it.

Our intention was to create a place online where Marketing Mentor clients could help each other. Our first attempt was a rather feeble one; we tried creating a "forum," but it was too complicated to use -- even we couldn't figure it out -- plus it seemed to open the virtual
door to viruses on our web site, so we quickly trashed that. Soon, the idea of a blog came up and, after some prodding, we were convinced that creating and maintaining a blog would be simple enough to do.  So we jumped in.

At the time, I didn't consider myself the "blogging type" and, frankly, I still don't. There are a couple blogs I like but I forget to go to them. I even forget to go to ours more often than not. Where do people find the time to surf the web for reading material? I've got too much to read as it is. But lately, in spite of myself, I've gotten into the groove of creating fresh content and posting it a couple times a week.