My husband and I have Sigg water bottles. Have you heard of the brand? It’s what all the cool kids use to cart around their water. Better for the environment than plastic bottles and better than a lot of sports bottles because they’re BPA-free. BPA, or Bisphenol-A, is considered toxic by some countries (Canada has banned it) and is a source of controversy here in the States. Nevertheless, the environmentally conscious, and certainly Sigg’s consumers, are all about BPA-free bottles. So Sigg promoted themselves as BPA-free and they basically lied. It turns out their liners do contain small amounts of BPA. They did a little verbal sleight-of-hand by saying that their bottles didn’t “leach” BPA in tests.

They knew what they were saying. They knew it was dishonest. That they didn’t know they’d get caught is shocking and stupid.

I honestly don’t think there’s enough BPA in the bottles for it to be a problem. But I’m pissed that they lied and I, like millions others, will never buy another Sigg bottle again. This is a bummer. I liked them so much I’ve blogged about them on my personal blog. Even bought a cute custom wrap for my husband’s bottle.

And the CEO of Sigg does not seem to know a lick about damage control. Sure, he claims to be reading and responding to emails personally. But then he goes and says stupid things like, “if retailers keep our old bottles on the shelf, there’s nothing we can do about that.” (I’m paraphrasing slightly.) Dude! You should be out front, apologizing, replacing bottles like crazy, getting independent testing to verify that your bottles and liners are now 100% BPA-free, etc. Actually, you should resign and let someone else clean up your mess. Because you lied. You double downed on your lie when questioned about it, and you’ve broken the consumer’s trust. That’s hard to win back. And since nobody will trust a word you say, you should step aside and let someone else try to mend the fences.

I would not want to be this guy’s PR firm.

I once worked for a guy who asked me to lie to the media. I looked at him like he had two heads and refused. He told me that I was his Vice President, that I was playing in the big leagues, and that I needed to do what was expected of me. Regrettably, I didn’t tell him to go f-himself. Fortunately, the magazine did not pick up the story and none of us had to decide whether we were going to do as we were told or risk losing our jobs.

If Sigg’s CEO had really come clean and reached out as I described above, his customers might be forgiving. As it is, he just handed his competitors several market share points. Kleen Kanteen, here I come!

Footnote: I tried to link to Sigg’s Facebook page but it’s disappeared. Is some ticked off fan messing with them? Or are they shutting down their community to avoid letting people have a place to post negative messages? Do they actually think the conversation will stop? No, it’ll just move on to someplace else where they won’t get to insert their voice . . . like Twitter or blogs. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Hi there.  We are currently working on exporting our blog from Blogger platform to WordPress.  I’ve put this off for too many years now.  Once we have it up and running on WordPress, we’ll be adding new features that I hope will improve your experience.  Bear with us for a few days.  Thanks! — Sherean

Not a huge surprise, but there is data now demonstrating the huge influence bloggers have to influence shopping decisions. I read a blogger I like and trust; she recommends a product or service and I’m likely to trust that recommendation. It’s the old-fashioned word-of-mouth method that marketers consider the holy grail of marketing (and soooo tough to accomplish), only amplified with more “ears” to hear what one is saying.

This has huge implications for marketers who are always trying to get in front of the influencers and generate that buzz. Here at NTM, we are finding more and more clients who are interested in reaching out to bloggers and we continue to develop models to make that happen (and track the response).

Read the NY Times Article: Drilling Down – Blogs Find Favor as Buying Guides

So your company has started a blog, but lately, your have found your posts are rather lackluster, and have become discouraged by the lack of traffic to your blog. Don’t fret. Here are some ideas to beef up your blog:

Remember, Content is Still King

It can be very difficult to come up with a new blog post every day that is relevant and engaging. A good way to get around writer’s block and post great content is to consume content! What is everyone talking about right now? Watch the news, read other blogs, check out the most popular stories on social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Newsvine, or Del.ici.ous, listen to the radio and read magazines and newspapers. Compare your findings with Google Trends, which gives you a search “snapshot” of what’s on the public’s mind. Write about these topics, and give it a little perspective on it.

• Keep interesting postings, notes, pictures, punchy copy –whatever strikes your fancy– in what I call a “Resource File”; which is a folder that you can turn to whenever the creative well runs dry.
• Keep track of your blog posts that were popular. Re-purpose this content and update this topic regularly.
• Use pictures and video whenever possible! Allow for others to share this collateral.
• Encourage a conversation. Remember that your blog should establish you/your company as a valuable resource that offers useful information. Try not to become just another squawk box or advertorial. Ask for feedback or additional insight from your readers.

Promote Your Blog- the Smart Way.

• Link love is the best kind of love for a blog and a surefire way to build traffic. Check out Zemanta, a cool new plug-in that instantly shows other relevant blog posts from around the world and immediately builds tagged links between your posts and others.
• Make sure your RSS are functional and visible.
• Connect your social networks and your blog. This will elevate your profile and alert people about your blog.

Remember, your blog should be an experience for your audience. Always keep them in mind when developing content and the rest shall follow.