Best marketing blogs
- Luke Telford
- 9 February 2010
At their very worst, they consist of a jumble of jargon, tentatively strung together by a vaguely relevant heading. At their best, they're insightful and concisely written, giving their readers valuable perspectives and a point of reference for ad trends within the digital realm. Perhaps most importantly, they do it for free. Here are four of Nett's favourites:
mUmbrella
: ‘Everything under Australia's media and
marketing umbrella'. Pretty big claim, really, isn't it? Perfectly justified, though: mUmbrella's umbrella really does stretch Australia-wide, and does such a good job of it that just about every other industry blog of note links to it or mentions
it regularly. The site, spurred on by editor Tim Burrowes, covers just about every major story of interest to people working in media, marketing and advertising in Australia, often before anyone else does. The news feed of the main page is
supplemented by superb bi-weekly video content—the Mumbo report, presented by Burrowes—which features interviews with industry notables on current trends and ideas. The Dr. Mumbo section consists of brief posts, focusing on links or advertisements
that impress or disgust the editors, while the opinion column is, well, just that. The posts across the site are entertaining and informative, and are usually followed by a healthy discussion thread. Mumbrella also boasts free listings for jobs,
events and freelancers.
Jawbone is a bit of an imposter in this list, as it's based in
Toronto, Canada. Their slogan is ‘Storytelling insights and innovations from around the planet'. The reason this blog made it into the list is simple: it profiles genuinely engaging marketing content in an intelligent way, providing in depth and
illuminating posts. If you're ever stuck for a campaign or advertisement idea, Jawbone will provide ample inspiration (or at the very least a bit of semi-productive downtime). They operate from the premise that everyone has a desire for
‘...compelling, truthful, terrifying and hilarious...' stories, and that the convergence of digital experience with this kind of narrative is the way of the future for marketing. It focuses particularly on experimenters and innovators in this field,
as they're often misunderstood, trivialised or marginalised by traditional communications structures.
Adspace pioneers does seem to end up near
the top of ‘best marketing blog in the world' lists an awful lot. There's a good reason for this; author Julian Cole has a knack for framing social media in reflexive, creative new ways that reveal the medium's machinations clearly and simply.
This post is a good example: it demonstrates how to find inspiration amidst the millions upon millions of Facebook users with little more than the search function—no small achievement.
Servant of chaos is written by experienced
digital strategist Gavin Heaton. Despite his intimdatingly formal CV, this blog reads very much like a personal one. There isn't necessarily a message in each post, but there is great value in the sensibility that informs his selection of topics and
subjects that is really useful for finding a stable reference point in the ever-shifting world of digital marketing. Unlike many marketing blogs, Heaton's is not above making a point of linking from posts to other marketing blogs-an act that
embraces reflexive, ‘gift economy' nature of Web 2.0 and clear indication that he has his finger on the pulse. His weekly ‘5 must read posts' always yields at least a couple of revelatory marketing discussions.
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