Jerry Aulenbach raises some good questions

My original post - "Actually there is a right way to blog" generated a couple comments and this post is in response to Jerry Aulenbach in particular.  Jerry's comment is below.

The only reason I read the whole darn thing is because I know you are for real and know your stuff. After reading it, I'm certainly doing some serious self-examination to find where I'm guilty and how I need to change my approach. I'd like to think that I'm not guilty of these offenses, and that my online participation is more than a take-all approach. It's difficult to know where to draw the line. How do I maintain an online presence while not selling myself? Or is that not what you're suggesting? Is sending out frequent mail to past clients and potential future clients a sin? Am I to blog my heart away and hope that, through osmosis, the people of Edmonton flock to my site and call me day and night? Must I curb my enthusiasm for what I do in public so as to not offend others who aren't interested in what I do? Is it possible to convert the Walter Schwabes of the world who have (seemingly) written off Realtors back to wanting, needing, and trusting Realtors (or at least one or two)? This raises more questions for me than it answers, but they are very important questions, because the answers will likely guide what I do on a daily basis.

-Jerry Aulenbach

RESPONSE: Push marketer vs. magnetic attraction.

• Taking a moment to stop and look at your business, your processes and your philosophy is very good to do from time to time.  
• So many operate with the "push" method of communicating and marketing.  Some even go further and get ridiculously aggressive and flood the market with their face, working with the volume approach.  Despite losing credibility these business owners are about total advertising domination.  This shotgun approach is expensive, unimaginative and impersonal in almost all cases.  Further, it propagates the whole "customer is just a listing attitude."  Consider with each post, tweet, comment, email, picture and video whether you're simply playing the numbers game.  Do you really think the average person really "loves" advertising?  I would argue that if the advertising is very creative, inspiring, emotive and maybe even has educational value then it will hold attention for a fleeting moment, but to say that someone "loves" advertising or push marketing on a mass scale and enduring thousands of marketing messages per week??? I don't think so.
• Certainly you have to somehow compete with your colleagues and others for attention.  How can you be "remarkable?"  There's a difference between communicating something of value and "selling yourself."  Can you describe the customer experience that clients go through with you?  
• Frequent emails or automated systems out of the blue really turn me off.  I show people respect and take interest in them as human beings, these types of impersonal blasting activities do not support my philosophy.  So when someone does that simply to push content they've lost my interest in most cases.
• Time is valuable, so if blogging supports your desired outcomes then do it, if not then don't.  Certainly, it takes a long-term commitment and patience and actually "osmosis" is pretty accurate.  There is a wrong and right way to blog and promote your blog.
• Certainly you need to be aware of your activities.  Politics and religion are two subjects that polarize.  If you engage in discussions or promotion of either of those two subjects in particular then realize that you are associating your business/brand with those issues, views and beliefs.  That has consequences potentially.  Whether that matters to you is a personal decision and then the client is now forced to consider whether they align with you based on those views in some way and it's less about your levels of service.  Think of a pebble in your shoe detracting from an otherwise comfortable fit.  This is not right or wrong, just a choice.
• I suspect that conversions will depend on personal understanding and rapport building abilities and how that translates to the overall experience of working with you.