NSA Blog Review 4: Marilynn Mobley – Remain Relevant in changing times

Remain Relevant in Changing Times is a PR professional’s blog from a Senior VP at Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations firm.

Very Good

Blogging since: July 15, 2005
Posting Frequency: 2-5 times a month
Post Length: 500-800 words
Aesthetic Appeal: Clean look and feel of a standard Blogger template, corporate, dark blues and light greens
Graphics: none
Categories: none
Blogroll: none
Target Audience: Corporate communications types, PR professionals
Comments allowed: Yes, but only after you sign in via Blogger
Trackbacks: No (except for the Blogger facility to ‘Create a Link’ to your own blog)
RSS Feeds: No (only available on Blogger Pro)
Alexa.com traffic ranking: 5,735,835
Sites that link to this blog: 9
Yahoo Links: 437

Review:

I well remember Marilynn’s excellent break-out session on speechwriting at my first NSA Convention in Atlanta last year. I was delighted to find at least one other speechwriter at the Convention. She totally impressed me with her two decades of experience in a field I’d only been in for four years. She presented herself as an independent speechwriter who had worked for major CEO’s such as IBM’s Lou Gerstner. Since then she’s moved on. Nowadays she is very much the corporate employee, a Snr. VP who rides the elevator to the 29th floor while, literally, quizzing people on their elevator pitch.

But she hasn’t lost her independence. She’s into Country Music, George Carlin and movies such as When Harry Met Sally and Frieda. She might be a suit with a 2006 Lexus, but she’s not an empty suit. Her blog clearly shows that.

She’s passionate about the importance of blogging. She claims “The blogosphere has become one of the most relevant forms of communication on the planet.” And states: “That’s the beauty of blogs… they’re immediate, real, uncensored and equalizing.” Marilynn ignores concerns about “How can I make money from blogging” (as perhaps only those of us with corporate jobs can afford to?). Not that she’s shy about ways to monetize content. Her blog is filled with innovative ideas. Example: pre-loading video iPods with the DVD content professional speakers sell at the back of the room. Example: tips on creating and selling a ‘blook’ (a book written from blog content).

Marilynn promises readers that they will “Find out what it takes to remain relevant in the face of change. Learn from good – and bad – examples how relevancy drives longevity.” Her strategic counsel centers on what it takes to be a SPUD (Strategic, Proactive, Universal, and Dynamic). She shares insight and opinions on the relevancy of everything from movie theatres to the Olympics and greeting cards. She heavily skews her examples of relevancy to ‘the good’. I found one scathing critique of Oprah and some mild disapproval of adulterous women, but no other examples of ‘the bad’. Perhaps a few more barbs would spice things up?

She engages in meaningful discussion with her readers who leave comments, going so far as to give her office number and asking one person to call.

I think Marilynn could benefit from sexing her blog up. Take a leaf out of fellow Edelman staffer and A-list blogger Steve Rubel or her boss Richard Edelman who both have much more customized, fully featured and attractive blogs. More functionality would be nice, such as adding RSS feeds.

Oh, and lose the spam comment to this post. I don’ t think the screed on Nano Superlattice Technology is that, ummm, relevant.

3 Comments so far
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Ian, I am with you. I LOVE Marilynn’s blog. In fact, she’s inspired me to be more on the edge with my dating blog. I love her insights and especially her humor. Great that you’re featuring her!

As a brand new blogger with only 8 posts to my name, these reviews are a great way to help me sort out how to leverage my own expertise through this medium. Thank you very much for all your help and encouragement to date and for including me on your NSA blogroll.

[…] I recently reviewed NSA member Marilynn Mobley’s Remain Relevant blog. Marilynn’s colleague Steve Rubel reports top PR agency Edelman has launched a special landing page to aggregate blog content from their employees around the world. Currently the Edelman Landing Blog includes links to 16 different bloggers as well as two podcasts. Marilynn’s is listed in 9th place on the Edelman page. Technorati Tags: Blog Reviews, Edelman, marilynn mobley, National Speakers Association, NSA […]



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