The Future in Marketing?

Thursday, December 2nd, 2004 at 6:22 PM | Category: Meryl's Notes Blog 6 comments

I’m one of them. I’ve been bought. Marqui has assimilated me, but I still retain control over my opinions. Some of you may have heard about it yesterday (here, here, here, here, here) and some may have not. So quick recap for those who haven’t:

What is the Marqui blogging program?

The company is paying bloggers to write about its CMS (content management system) product once a week, place a badge on their sites, and include a URL link. Marqui is doing this as a word-of-mouth marketing tool, which has proven powerful when using the Internet.

Why should we believe what you say about them if they’re paying you?

That’s what I like about this program. I can say *anything* I want, good or bad. The company won’t “fire” me if I write something negative about its product. Rather, it will use the information to make the product better. As a writer and editor, I rely on negative feedback. If I don’t get such feedback, I can’t become a better writer. I learn from such feedback.

I am paid to tell you what I think of MarquiI’m also a frequent product and book reviewer. Providing an unbiased review to inform readers about the product is the most important thing to me as a reviewer. The goal is to provide feedback enabling them to make a confident and sound purchasing decision.

Movie reviewers get paid. Before you think, “Hey, it’s not the TV station making the movies and paying them…” A major TV network is owned by a huge company that also produces movies (hint: think ears). The movie critics on that TV station aren’t giving thumbs up to every movie produced by the company.

I accepted the challenge for a few reasons:

* To be part of a new marketing revolution and I’m into online marketing.

* I enjoy blogging and writing about products. It’s not often I’m paid to do something I love.

* Content management systems are supposed to make things easier on organizations, yet they struggle with usability problems as Jeffrey Veen explains in a couple of articles. I plan to study his notes and see how Marqui measures up.

* Marqui is taking a big risk and doing it with integrity, something that is hard to find today.

* Nothing is hidden or political (except for the paying bloggers part, which is stirring lots of debate). All the cards are laid out.

* Paul, my husband, has been out of work for 20 months and we have three kids to support. We need all the help we can get.

* I’m passionate about the Internet and want to participate in new experiments to see what works and what doesn’t in terms of business.

Rather than rehashing what fellow Marqui bloggers are saying, I’ll point the way as they share their stories and beliefs about this program. the head lemur, sooz, Richard McManus, Mitch Ratcliffe, Stowe, (not a Marquist, apologies.), Robin Good.

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