As we say around here all the time, blogs are conversations, and marketing in blogs requires that you engage in conversation, or at least be aware of the conversation that is going on. Interruption-based advertising - "Hey, I know you are talking about search, but let me tell you all about my hot new laptop..." is probably not going to do so well in this environment. But if you invite the audience in, if you engage them within the rules of decorum standard to most polite conversations, why, that could be something else indeed. "Hey, since you read Searchblog, you're probably interested in cutting edge technology. Would you like to help us design our next generation laptop?"

In any case, this article from ClickZ makes this point well (and gives FM a plug!). From it:

...what if we identify 10 of the most ardent, creative fans of whatever brand we're currently working on, then ask them to come up with concepts for our next online campaign? Would these smack of more authenticity than ads created by professionals? How would you turn those ideas into professional-looking ads without losing the authenticity you're striving for? Results of a project like this could be quite interesting.

These kinds of thoughts are fun... and a little scary. We're used to managing our clients' brands. That's what our clients pay us to do, after all. The idea of giving up some of that control can cause many a sleepless night, on all of our parts. The consumer is wresting that control away from us -- whether we like it or not.

It's long past time we started thinking about how we can work with our brands' customers rather than how we can simply talk atthem.