From a Distance

A while back, I sat in on a presentation about using blogs as a marketing tool. I was particularly interested in what kind of questions would be asked. The majority of them had to do with the discomfort marketers feel at letting their consumers give them honest feedback through a blog comment system. I kept asking myself, "Why is there so much resistance to this?"

This morning it suddenly dawned on me what was happening. Imagine you see an attractive person across a crowded, smoke-filled bar. You smile, tip your glass and give your best come-hither look. As the object of your desire comes closer you realize what a mistake you've made. What looked beautiful from a distance could not stand up to close inspection.

Often, marketers have little confidence in their clients. Often, clients have little confidence in themselves. They believe their products or service will not stand up to a close look and it's just better to keep them at a distance.

It all comes down to this, if you get a comment on your blog saying you suck, The solution isn't to remove the commenting feature from your blog. The solution is to stop sucking.