I was recently solicited by a company called Blogmutt; they offered to ghostwrite this blog for me.

Checking them out, I found they would charge a little under $20 per blog post and that they hired freelance writers to do the work.

If the writer splits the fee with Blogmutt 50/50, the writer is getting paid ten bucks per blog post — a pittance, to be sure.

I expressed my dismay at this to Blogmutt, saying that at this pay scale they are exploiting naive writers or wanna be writers — those who don’t have the resolve or smarts to get a fair fee for a fair day’s work. 

A Blognutt representative defended their pay scale, saying writers were happy to take it and it was better than working at Starbucks. Also that their clients were satisfied.

Am I right to think Blogmutt is the bottom of the barrel of the freelance writing game, paying subpar wages to amateur writers?

Or are they providing a valuable service to clients — and an opportunity to their freelancers to write and get paid for it?

What say you?

A hotel in England has replaced the Bibles in its rooms with copies of Fifty Shades of Grey, a graphically explicit erotic novel.

In what to me is a surprise shocker, of 12,461 online readers polled by NBC News, 44% said the erotic novel belonged in the hotel rooms, while only 36% chose the Bible (20% voted “neither”).

I would think parents on vacation would not want their kids to find erotica in the room. I certainly wouldn’t.

Yes, I know erotic movies are available on the hotel  TV system — but I am against that too.

Recently the Jim Henson Company announced that they would no longer permit Chick-fil-A to give away Muppet toys.

The reason: The CEO of the Jim Henson Company supports gay marriage and the CEO of Chick-fil-A does not.

Wouldn’t the CEOs be better off keeping their politics and positions on social issues private?

How could announcing them not alienate at least a portion of their market?

On the other hand, maybe you admire them for taking a stand.

Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, just passed away.

His obituary mentioned that the book sold an astonishing 25 million copies.

Sure, it’s a good business book. But there are lots of good business books. Why do you think Covey sold so many copies?

Does everything in marketing come down to the subjective opinion of the marketer?

Or are there hard and fast rules or axioms in marketing that should always be obeyed?

If the latter, can you tell me a marketing axiom that guides you in your business — and maybe give me an example of how it worked for you?

Thanks!

Full disclosure: I am asking you this question as research for a book I am writing on (what else?) marketing. I won’t use your name in the book unless you permit me to.

Social media evangelists rabidly promote their new medium, apparently unconcerned that it is largely unproven and in many cases ineffective.

I resist them because I live by this adage: “Be not the first to cast the old aside nor the last to accept the new.”

Early adopters are often unwise because they gamble on a technology or methodology that has not demonstrated its value — and therefore the chances of failure are high.

I believe in the old observation: many pioneers have arrows in their backs.

My late father told me never to buy a new car the year the model is introduced. He said: better to wait until the bugs are worked out, and then buy.

This can apply equally to marketing. Let the pioneers test out unproven methods and take the arrows. I’ll wait until they are successful, avoid costly mistakes, and profit from their channel or method using the proven techniques that work.

How about you?

A commercial for the Toyota Corolla proclaims the car has “legendary miles per gallon.”

What does THAT mean?

The viewer takes it to mean that Toyota is not revealing its mpg because it isn’t that good.

The Corolla’s mpg does not have to be the best — mpg isn’t the only factor deciding whether consumers buy a car.

But it should be good … at least 30 mpg or more.

If so, say what the mpg is.

If not, then don’t mention miles per gallon at all; focus on other features.

But “legendary” is Madison Avenue “adspeak” the consumer rightly interprets as B.S.

Stephen Booser sent me an e-mail today in which he notes that GM has pulled its advertising program out of Facebook due to lack of results.

“Could this be the beginning of a realization by those who have things to sell that they have been sold a bill of goods by the young marketers most of whom, it seems to me, have never asked a closing question in their lives?” he asks rhetorically.

He suggests that “social” is not a synonym for “sell.” I believe the trendy marketing imperative of “having a conversation” is not the same as “selling  a product.” In fact, having a conversation may be the fall-back position for those marketers who don’t know how to sell.

Your thoughts?