In the future, there will be another maturing form of product promotion. Like traditional advertising, it will still shout about features and benefits, but unlike traditional advertising, it will also create the most genuine relationships with consumers yet. It will be living, breathing, real-time advertising that tells a story over a whole day, a week, a month, even a year – not just over 2 seconds like a poster ad. Or 30 seconds like a TV spot.

And it will be founded in blogging. 

For example, you’re thinking about buying a new car. It’s not a decision you make in 5 minutes. The chances are you’ll spend a month researching, asking questions, and test driving. So imagine a car ad that lasts a whole month. An ad that actually helps you research, that responds honestly to your quesions, and that shares your experiences as you test drive the car. Instant, memorable relationship.

How would it work? A manufacturer would give a blogger a new car for 31 days and they’d write about their experiences as they used it – and answered questions from readers, both in the comments and in email. They could podcast, vidcast, whatever. As long as they’re honest.

It’s a risk. As we all know, bloggers aren’t always going to say what you might want them to say. But if you’ve got a good enough product, it’s a risk that might just pay off.

Or, imagine you’re looking for a new apartment. You’ve heard that there are some old warehouses being converted down at the waterfront. And they have a blog that covers the entire development and conversion process. You can read every detail about how the developers are chosing the tiles for the bathroom floor, about how they are designing the kitchen, about which forest they sourced the wood for the decking from. Reading it, you’re excited about the apartment and you haven’t even bought it yet. Again, instant, memorable relationship.

But they’re just speculation. They might not even be good examples. But they’re not what this post is about. What I really wanted to talk about was how commercial blogs like these might be delivered in 4-5 years time. And by who. After all, this blog *is* about blogging careers.

I think that by 2010, if not before, we’ll begin to see dedicated Blog Agencies that will operate in much the same way as traditional advertising agencies. And I think that this will open up a whole bunch of new career options for people involved with blogs.

People like these, for example…

Agency Director – This person would be the head of the Blog Agency. They’ll oversee everything the ageny does, and get involved in top-level networking and generating new business. They probably ran a successful blog network in the mid-90’s.

Account Managers – These guys would concentrate on loosely planning and scheduling topics as part of a team that also included the client and an agency writer. They’d be the agency’s contact point for existing clients, and they would also get involved in pitching ideas to potential new clients. Blog account managers would probably have a few years’ experience in a similar role, managing a business-related blog on the client side.

Account Co-ordinators – This lot would be involved in day to day client liaison – confirming information, fact checking, making sure dates and figures are correct, etc, and maybe proofreading longer blog posts. They’d also be responsible for preparing weekly reports for clients for traffic, subscriptions, and the like. This will probably be their first real job out of college, although they should have some experience of running a personal blog.

Creative Director – The Creative Director would be responsible for overseeing whole creative process, helping the writers/client to develop a consistent tone of voice, and making sure the design and layout of the blog is appropriate for the target audience. Essentially, it’s about building a solid ‘brand’ for the blog. This person would have plenty of experience creating personal blogs, and would probably have owned, or contributed to, at least one high-profile blog throughout the 90’s.

Blog Writer - Agency writers would either create content from scratch or spend time with the client, helping them develop their copy. They’ll often be based on-site with the client, where they’ll immerse themselves in the business, and build a deep understanding of the the client’s products. They’ll have blogged extensively before, either personally or as part of an established blog network, and they might also have traditional advertising agency experience.

Designer/Art Director – The blog designer would be responsible for generating the visual designs and layouts for blogs, making sure they could be integrated within the client’s existing site. It’s not just pure design – it’s also about information architecture, too, so experience of both designing blogs and building more traditional websites would be vital.

Developer – The blog developer would either leverage the power of existing blogging software, and be able to tweak it to fit the needs of the client, or would start from scratch and build bespoke blogging engines that match client expectations perfectly. Again, blog developers would probably have contributed to open source blogging software during the 90’s, or worked for one of the big players in the sector.

Sound familiar to anyone?

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