Having a bad day? Tired of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (as fired by clueless)?

Paste one of these on your forehead and keep your loved ones out of harm's way. Or e-mail to a an unstoppably annoying client...

Courtesy an apparently zany Bonnie Boots at WriteSideOut.com

Today is Elmore Leonard's birthday, and while Leonard wrote fiction (and a lot of it), he once said something every copywriter or blogger should stick on their monitor.

When asked why his books were so widely read, he simply said "I leave out the parts that people skip."

This doesn't mean every marketing effort must measure out at less than two paragraphs.

But it does mean you'll never bore anyone into saying "yes."

Make your next piece of copy a tribute to Elmore Leonard. Focus relentlessly on your point. Pare away every bit of fat, leaving only lean, active words.

And - most importantly - know when to stop.

This might surprise you.

Because the single most critical element in a successful corporate blog pitch (or almost any business marketing project) isn't a killer PowerPoint presentation.

Or an animated Flash demo.

Or even a heaping pile of head-turning statistics.

It's a Champion.

What's That?

A champion is someone inside the organization willing to help you navigate the maze of fiefdoms, departments, politics and turf battles which infest most corporations.

They make sure your pitch gets in front of the right people (and stays there). They keep your pitch moving forward. And they can smooth over the little hurdles and misunderstandings which often derail good projects.

Think of the corporate pitch process as a minefield. Your concept is sound, the numbers are good, but without a guide through the minefield, your odds of success are low.

How to Find a Champion?

If you don't already have a contact or champion within the organization, you'll have to look for one. I'd suggest making contact with a couple of likely job titles (suspects), and see who responds.

Your insider needn't be a VP. In fact, mid-level technical, marketing & PR people often have surprising pull with their bosses, and they're far, far easier to reach than Director/VP level people.

So before you simply aim your proposal high up the corporate food chain, devise a strategy (lumpy mailer, unique offer, information hook, etc) that puts your idea in front of several potential champions.

See who bites. Keep them motivated. And let them guide you through the corporate minefield.

In earlier comments on Performancing, I argued that writers should pitch their own blog projects – cherry picking the organizations they want to write for.

But what if your target doesn't sell direct? What if you can't tie the blog project directly to the revenue stream? What if you're lost in the space between PR and CRM?

How do you make a compelling pitch based on blogging for the brand? Simple. Ask...

Ask them...

If they've created an online community for committed product loyalists – a place that offers customers a voice, but doesn't sink into the “cesspool of content” that typifies message boards.

Ask them...

If their customers can talk back to a $10,000 ad. Or if they've noticed the ROI of those “interrupt” ads shrinking.

Or why they're spending thousands on ads making one impression of one message instead of a blog delivering dozens of impressions of a dozen messages (weekly!).

Ask them...

Why their PR staff aren't leveraging a channel that rapidly disseminates information in an insanely networked world – one that multiplies the reach of your information instead of diminishing it.

Ask them...

Why the CRM tool that actually engages customers (instead of “managing” the relationship via largely cold, impersonal media) isn't a part of their arsenal.

Ask them...

When they're going to add humanity and passion to their marketing mix, or how they'd feel about a steady flow of Web traffic so qualified that no search engine or sales effort matches it.

Of course...

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