Jupiter Research's Gary Stein highlights a discussion taking place between Matt Galloway, Jonathan Carson of BuzzMetrics and a few others on whether the companies who "blathered on about Word-of-Mouth marketing" at the recent WOMMA Conference in Chicago ought to have their own corporate blogs.

Gary says not:

I believe (obviously) in blogs and their ability to build relationships with consumers and brands. I also believe in sponsorships, television ads, informed call-centers and holiday greeting cards. I consider blogs to be a good way to market, particularly if you're in the Thought Leadership business.

But that tactic is distinct from the rest of your core competencies. In fact, much of buzz marketing should be taken up in listening, rather than talking. If a company is fully plugged into the buzzspace, but not talking, they have proven their mettle as a WOM company.

My sense is that those companies who don't eat their own blog food are going to agree, and those who do will disagree. It won't come as a huge surprise therefore to hear that I am a fully signed up member of the practice what you preach school of philosophy.

Whilst I agree with Ron's comment on Jonathan's post about WOM not being synonymous with blog, Gary makes two interesting remarks:

Firstly, that blogs are a good thing if you're in the thought leadership business.

Every business-to-business marketer is in the thought leadership business, the problem is that few of them realise it. So if you sell stuff to other companies you should seriously consider a blog.

Secondly, he says that much of buzz marketing should be taken up in listening rather than talking.

I'd argue that blogs are more about listening than talking. By writing this post, I'm encouraging others to join the discussion exactly so that I can listen to those views. The post is just a means to an end.

I'd also draw his attention to the first paragraph of our employee blogging guidelines:

By experimenting with the medium – personally or on behalf of the company – our staff will learn more and be able to advise our clients better and more credibly.

The key concept here is credibility.

Whilst there is no rule written in stone that says you must practice what you preach, if you decide not to don't wonder why people want to know why, or question your credibility to advise them.