CK's Blog

Everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask...

As marketers, data is our friend. We use it as a tool to better understand our target audiences, we leverage it to build strong business cases and we rely on it to help guide where our marketing spend should go, and why.

Many times we pore through the Web to find free research data. Other times we need to pay for reports. Or, when we can’t find relevant data that suits our needs, we retain researchers to conduct a survey. 

But we can’t always afford to do so… especially at a time when our budgets are on the chopping block.

Wouldn’t it be grand if we could tap our collective intelligence and create our own marketing survey while someone else takes care of the expense and the legwork? A research project that that was truly “for marketers, by marketers”? Now we can.

Yep, right here, right now. Hey, there’s no time like the present.

Put on your thinking caps folks, because we’re going to develop 10 of the questions that will be part of a comprehensive survey distributed to over 50,000 marketers—ranging B2B and B2C marketing professionals in large and medium-sized companies and agencies.

Please find out all, add a question or tell us which questions that others have submitted that you most favor... it's all right here.

Everything old still applies (at least stuff from a year ago)

I still get a steady stream of search inquiries and new links to this collage that aired last November. But the poll supporting it ran a year ago this month. Yup, a year ago August I asked you folks what the value was in all this blogging and then I compiled the results into a pretty collage.

Why? Cuz I like making pretty things for you cool bloggers--especially when those pretty things communicate the value of this conversation.

I find it funny that people still check this out since I thought, "Hey, that rush is over." And then it occurred to me...new people are joining this conversation all the time (um, duh!).

So--for anyone who has not yet seen this collage--you can read the story here (and yes I will update the collage with the new comments when I can).

You might find it helpful to show this to your companies, clients, friends, marketing departments, or use it in presentations. Basically you can do...or not do...whatever you please with it. Why? Because it's not mine, it's everyone's (it's the Share Economy after all). 

The above graphic is a snapshot of the collage and the PDF has the full-size collage (easier to read) as well as full answers to the question. And, thanks to NXTbook media, you can see the rich media version here, as I understand they're hosting it for life (for free).

How do we feel about anons?

Anon (a-non/noun): A person who blogs anonymously be it through a character, another name or, just as "anonymous."

I've had this question a good bit lately. And I think the more that people start joining this rockin' convo, the more anons we'll see. A lot of authors write under a pseudonym or alias and that seems OK. And we vote privately and that seems to be able to ensure no bias.

But when we blog as anons it seems to be different...

My view? I don't really mind anons so long as the person is blogging that way in order to blog their authentic views. Sometimes one needs to blog anonymously in order to be able to blog at all (because of employer rules). Heck I'm still amazed that the army let Sgt. Joshua Salmons blog as long as they did (he's since changed blogs, I'll figure out the new one soon). And then sometimes someone blogs as an anon because they're scared (maybe they need my lion?).

I will say that I'm not OK with one assuming another name in order to hurt others. Scratch that, I'm actually not OK with others hurting others when they use their real names. That said, disagreements and constructive debates are necessary and can be very advancing. Now, I don't think one can get as close to their audience sans showing themselves. But I think anons can still advance the convo.

Then again, maybe truth and honesty aren't the same. Dunno, I'm still figuring my way through this question that's been asked of me a lot.

Oh, and being a creative gal, I do think if people are going to blog as anons there should at least be some creativity to it--like, be it animal, mineral or vegetable, choose a name other than "anon"! So, whaddya think? And of course, please answer anonymously.

(Just kidding.)

PS: Lewis has a post exploring this over here that's worth the read. And Lewis just won my heart by posting the first "All Heart Award" (Lewis has a groovy new book on "Leading with your heart" coming out soon enough and I innocently suggested he start an award series to honor marketers who set hearty examples...and he did it. Yippie!).

Can I ask you a personal question?

We talk a lot about the professional value and professional benefits of blogging. And we should. But this time I want to get (a little) personal.

I'm not talking value like I did last time I polled your opinions (at which time I asked: What is the single greatest point of value you receive from blogging?).  Nope, this time it's strictly personal...

Sure, personally it gives us community, support, colleagues and friends. And professionally we learn a whole lot about a heck of a lot.

But what personal attribute, quality or trait has blogging given rise to in you...or made stronger for you?

How's about I go first? Blogging has given me more confidence. My lion helps a lot too, being I went and mouthed-off at year's beginning and committed to less fear. (Btw, it was the best decision I've made in my entire life).

Why am I more confident? It's not because people agree with me, though I sure thank you for the kind comments and emails. Heck, many times, if not equal times, people don't agree with me. But I learn a lot through the differing views.  Actually...it's probably the disagreements as much as the praise that bolster my confidence being I'm not afraid to post about something, be wrong about something or be in the minority about something.

I'm just grateful to be learning and discussing.

Plus, since blog software makes it so easy to be "out there" --a la the 'publish' button -- I tend to become more comfortable in my own skin since I'm 'out there' anyhow. But that's just me. I'd just love to know what it's given YOU.

(I hope that wasn't too personal.)

Disclaimer: Never fear, I'm NOT (!) creating a collage from the answers like before. I'm just mad with curiosity as to the personal attribute it's given you or made stronger for you.

Oh Marketers, Your Motives Are Showing (and you shine).

I wanted to create something that reflects what we value about this medium--and it's just not fair that posts get all the play when the comments have so many insights, and so much heart. Remember way back before Labor Day when I polled you guys? Of course you don't, a lot has happened since then. All the better...surprising you was part of my evil-genius plan.

I asked you one question. A BIG one: What is the single greatest point of value you receive from blogging? I sought the single, the uber, the most rewarding, robust and important point of value you receive from embracing these tools and investing your time.

The question centered on value because everything we do stems from there. Take choices: what we choose to do with our careers, which candidate we vote for, whom we choose to be our friends and how we choose to spend our time all rest in value. Same thing with motives: we're motivated and driven by those things and thoughts that hold the most value for us. So value isn't just a telling factor, it's the tell-tale factor.

With a bevy of wide-ranging results in hand I was going to make a video. But then everyone's comments flew by too fast for a 2-minute piece. So I was going to do a podcast...but having all your comments in my voice killed the whole point. It needed to be visual. Truth be told, I really wanted a mural. But where to find the wall? Plus, I can't paint for the life of me.

Most of all, it needed to depict everyone's individual contributions and then show how a lot of individual voices make for a larger, dynamic and far more powerful conversation. After all, that's what the blogosphere is, right?

So I settled on a collage (PDF here). A compilation of why--above all else--we invest the thought, time and trouble to blog. Look at what it reflects. Then look at what it doesn't. (psst: what's not on it is just as important as what is.)

I see a lot of value attributed to smarts, relationships and growth...not so much attributed to money, power and fame. In a time where marketers are called every name in the book, when findings show we're increasingly at a remove from our markets and articles claim we care far more about money than relationships, it gives me great pride to show the motivations of the marketers in this community--which increases in voices and power every single day. Thank you.

While I could only fit the keywords on the collage, full comments from each participant are listed on pages 2-5 of the document. Take ten minutes and read through them sometime. You'll likely draw the same conclusion as I but come up with different observations--yet another point of value we gain through blogging, eh?

Feel free to take a copy of it, it's yours after all.

PS: If you don't prefer downloading a PDF, a rich media version of the collage is right here.

Voice-In: Unethical Practices in the Ethical Medium?

I'm sorry it took me so long to publish this post, but my paid-hosting service wouldn't save it; I guess the third time really is a charm. Been having a lot of issues with TypePad. And I'm far from alone.

With all the ups, downs, lost posts and time long lost I started to wonder: does TypePad pro-rate my bill when its 24-7-365 service falls short? Be it the entire service experiencing an outage, or a portion thereof? I pay for the full package. Not just a portion. So surely it must. Right? Wrong. At least not on any of my credit card statements.

Take Time Warner Cable, a company that also makes the brand promise to be available for our viewing pleasure 'round the clock. When it goes down, in part or in full? It reimburses me. When my electric takes a dive and I'm left in the dark? Con Edison lightens my bill. Heck, Con Ed even reimbursed me for perishables lost in the '03 Blackout. I'm still wondering how they recovered from that shortfall.

So, in not pro-rating our bills when not maintaining full-service integrity, is TypePad committing an unethical business practice? Worse still, is it committing this offense in this, the most ethical medium going?

Mind you, we TypePad users don't want reimbursements, we simply want for every feature of the service promised to us to deliver--and to be better communicated with when it doesn't.

I've written to TypePad. Several times. They'll likely tell me that in my service agreement (who reads those?), I agreed to pay when I couldn't use the product. But I hope not. Because I like TypePad. I've offered to give them several recommendations to ensure their brand improves, maintains users and, well, delights us. And I'll do it for free.

I'll spend time with them on the phone. I'll even take an extra day to meet with them when I'm on the West Coast next week. We'll see if they respond. Be foolish not to get closer to their markets and get 100%-discounted advice from a marketer who is otherwise paid well for it (that said, please don't tell my clients I'm giving away freebies; I'll be hanged!).

For all you TypePad users: If you'd like to offer some suggestions on how they can improve our experience...feel free to leave it in the comments. I'll keep on them. Naturally, I'll be sure to give each person credit for their recommendations--they're yours, after all (and anything else would be....you guessed it...unethical).

Voice-In: Give a girl 5 minutes and 2 cents?

For an upcoming piece, I'm polling the marketing community (that's you, dear reader). It won't take but 5 minutes. Then again, you may need to ruminate on it for a day and then give me your $.02. It's only 1 question. A big one. I really appreciate your time and thought on the following:

What is the single greatest point of value you receive from blogging? New business? New friends? Newfound smarts? Fortune, fame or creative freedom? I'm sure you've found many points of value, but what I seek is the single, the uber, the most rewarding, robust and important point of value you've gained from embracing these tools and investing your time. Just one. And a few words explaining why. (Hint: every answer is right.)

Once I compile the piece everyone involved gets credited and I'll share the results, of course. To start the thread, I've included my two cents in the comments. Should you rather e-mail me your comments, that's great, too. Thanks so much.

**Update (11.08.06): What I did with all your comments is right here.

Marketers Weigh In on Net Neutrality: freedom for all or marketing free-for-all?

In this week's Mad Ave Journal column, I'm polling marketers on the hotly debated net neutrality regulations currently circulating Congress and the blogosphere. Proponents of regulating a "neutral net" say it's an issue of securing freedoms, opponents argue it's an issue of securing investments to keep "tomorrow's net" running at optimal levels. Since this decision could equate into competitive advantages--the ace in a marketer's deck--I'm interested in how the marketers weigh in. Below is this week's poll excerpted (but if you want to cast your vote and see real-time results, you need to go here).

Poster boy for net neutrality, Craig Newmark, the founder who put the 'Craig' in Craigslist.org, advocates an Internet that's neutral, fair and free. A level playing field in cyberspace, just like now. Craig fears the deregulation legislation, passed by the House last Thursday, paves the way for telecoms to play favorites among Web players. The next stop is Senate and, if this bill becomes law, Craig portends telecoms, in addition to controlling the pipes you use to view Web sites, will also control which sites you view--and how you experience them. Newmark foresees some sites loading faster, some slower, all contingent upon who's paying whom. While the telecoms say they can be trusted to provide fair access, some execs have already admitted that paying premiums for site access--akin to paying Fedex for overnight delivery, or purchasing a first-class seat instead of coach--is a model that works in consumers' best interests.

Read Newmark's full commentary here. Sign the petition here. Or, for some fun with your politics, check out the singing neutral-net ninja here.

On the other side of the debate sits Mike McCurry, partner at Public Strategies Washington Inc. and former press secretary to Bill Clinton, who opines the very companies lobbying for a "free Internet", including Google and eBay, are worried less about freedoms, more about finances. McCurry posits net neutrality is a thinly disguised ploy for dotcoms to pass the buck for much-needed upgrades--due to increasing demand for bandwidth-heavy apps like online gaming, video and phone conversations--onto consumers.

Read McCurry's full commentary here. Sign the petition here. (sorry folks, no singing ninja for this side).

While freedom may be free, securing a level playing field is not. Would you spend more to ensure the same advantages apply to all? Or do you prefer passing the buck onto corporations, wherein telecoms could set the net's new cost of entry? Do you support a free net (cost to consumers) or a marketing free-for-all (cost to corporations)? You can vote here.

Roxy, Rex & I: The War over Winning.

In my Mad Ave Journal Poll this week, I'm working to resolve an ongoing debate over when marketers win--and with whom. I've included an excerpt below, you can vote here.

One of my friends, I'll call her Roxy, and I have an ongoing debate. Each time Roxy's friend, I'll call him Rex, brings on a new client, he boasts, "I've won a new account!" Roxy thinks Rex's use of the term "won" is spot-on...I don't. While Rex has landed a spankin' new account, he hasn't truly won--not yet.

My reasoning: You don't win an account, you win over a market.

Winning, I tell Roxy, should be associated with customers, not clients. Battles may be won or lost in the boardroom, but the war for market share is waged well outside corporate confines. The hard work isn't getting greenlit after five presentations, it's cutting through the clutter of the modern marketplace.

Maybe Roxy's right. Or maybe companies like Rex's care more about dotted lines than bottom lines. You tell me: Does the hard work end when you've secured the client, or has it only just begun? Is your company more focused on clients or customers? Is your battlefield the boardroom (winning clients) or the market (winning customers)? Vote here (thanks!)

Where...oh where...were YOU marketers?

In my Mad Ave Journal column this week, I discuss last week's Syndicate conference--that was jam-packed with information....but oddly void of marketers (wtf?). The write-up is below but...you gotta vote here.

Just off of last week's Syndicate Conference held right here in the BIG apple. Boasting legends, luminaries and social-media stars from Technorati, Buzzmachine, Linux Journal, ZDNet, Rocketboom, Brightcove, Mommycast, Spinfluencer, The Content Wrangler, SNP, Denuo and many, many more.

Attendees spanned syndicators, aggregators, bloggers, buzz analysts and podcasters but, where...oh where...in the Web 2.0 world were all the marketers? Last time I checked, isn't NYC the so-called marketing capitol of the world?

So we marketers that did show got handed a world of hurt. My on-site polling results are bleak at best: seems marketers are "in denial", "don't get it", "think it doesn't affect B2B markets" and "treat bloggers like suits", since I gather enough of us are sending them 3-page press releases as a buzz-building tactic. Oy!

But the no-shows' loss was this girl's gain. With no moshpits of marketers to claw through, I freely chatted up CEOs, best-selling authors and thought leaders. Talking was good, but listening provided the real payoff: when bloggers realized I was genuinely interested in their beefs, and far outnumbered, I was afforded an unbridled, unhindered Q&A with some of the most influential people in the disruptive era--from which I'll be publishing insights shortly. Stay tuned.

Come to think of it, with the large, loyal following bloggers have amassed--in but a handful of years--I might even say they're some of the smartest marketers I've met. So while the show most definitely lacked marketers, it hardly lacked marketing savvy. The next Syndicate Conference is October 24-25 in San Francisco. I hope more marketers will show (if not, all the more opportunities for me).

As for this week's burning question: What HOT reason do you have for NOT being where your market was? Cast your vote here!