Today is a confessional blog post.

Confession: I’m an idiot.

Okay, that’s being a little harsh on myself. But I sure felt like an idiot when I sent a note about I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster to my good friend Joe Bua, a superlative teevee blogger …

… and he responded by telling me he hasn’t blogged since July. To be exact, July 13. Wrote Joe (in part):

Has absolutely no one noticed that I haven’t written anything on my blog since July? Seriously. I even sent out emails to ppl (not you, you’re not on that email list) and no one, NO ONE has figured it out. Yet. Still. I just got tired of it. I get inquiries every day. Many of them. Anyway, sorry … not your fault. I am kinda pissed that there wasn’t any negative reaction to my not blogging anymore.

So here’s why I’m an idiot. Well, two reasons. Number one, I wasn’t checking Joe’s blog every day. It was great. Joe’s a terrific writer. He should be working for — well, for whoever he wants to. Number two, I didn’t check Joe’s blog before I sent my suggestion to him.

All of which says a coupla things about the worlds of blogging, outreach to bloggers and online communications in general.

First of all, if you’re a blogger you should probably assume that once a blogger, always a blogger, so get used to it … at least where your email is concerned. Joe gets inquiries every day because his hard work got him on all sorts of mailing lists for teevee people. It’s a lot easier to delete those emails than it is to delete one’s name from all sorts of mailing lists.

Also, you might want to think about maximizing your push marketing. Sure, people will find you blog, but are you making your feed available via RSS? Are you sending out a regular newsletter? Are you pushing links to particularly notable content out to relevant audiences? If audience really matters to you, you need to keep reaching out to that audience on an ongoing basis, otherwise when you disappear they won’t notice … because they haven’t really been noticing all along.

Now, a word for you people who, like me, do this thing called media relations: Are you even paying attention to the lists you use?

As a blogger, I get all kinds of email from all kinds of people. I’ve even gotten spammed by Tea Party organizations. (Yes, spammed, in the very legal sense, too: I never signed up for their lists, they just added me and started mailing to me. When I asked them how I got onto their lists, they couldn’t tell me. But that’s another rant for another time.) But like once a blogger, always a blogger: It’s easiest to simply delete the email I don’t want to read.

The problem is, we’re all rushing through the day and the week at hyper-internet speeds. Corners get cut all the time, and when corners get cut mistakes get made and people look stupid and people get annoyed.

I don’t know how to slow down this runaway train, but I do know this: We all need to take a deep breath and slow it down and take a little more care with the email we send. Let’s make sure it’s sent to the right people for the right reasons at the right times.

Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s make sure it’s not riddled with typos, either.

Happy Monday.

Mark Evanier’s News From Me recently presented an item about the reissue of I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster on DVD. The teevee series was a bit before my time, but I was always aware of it (even though I’ve never seen it), and the cast and creative talent involved in the show was impressive. You can learn more and order the DVD over on this web page.

When you go there to check it out, look at what they’ve done to entice fans of the show specifically and teevee fans generally to order: As a member of the “Architects Circle” those who buy the DVD get access to a special website and a postcard autographed by one of the stars. Pretty good. The first is a technique that’s been used by book publishers for many years, while the second is a pretty classic “bonus with order” type of offer.

But here’s the cool part: Members of the “Architects Circle” get their name in the Volume 2 credits for ordering volume 1, sort of like having one’s name on a brick in the sidewalk outside the local charity for having donated money to that charity. It’s a really smart idea that I’ve never seen in DVD marketing, and it pretty much guarantees that whoever buys the volume 1 limited edition will also buy volume 2.

Takeaway for marketers: Like Steve Jobs told us all: Think different. Here’s a great example.

The Anti-Social Media asks: “How boring is Google+?”

Good question.

“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.”
—Thomas Edison

Ready? Here goes, in no particular order:

Every element of their work will be pored over by multiple layers of bureaucracy.

Mediocre is good enough.

Trial and error is condemned.

Your company is structured so it takes a lifetime to get to the top, and as such there are no digital experts in company-wide leadership positions.

Your offices are cold, impersonal and downright stodgy.

Aaron Shapiro over on Fast Company created that list (which might also be titled, “5 Reasons Why I Work For Myself”) and has a lot more to say about those reasons in his spot-on blog post.

Takeaway for marketers: Ask yourself: do any of those reasons sound familiar? If the answer is “yes,” what are you doing to effect change?