Mo’ Better Mo’ Blogging (yes, for business)
2008 Update: Sadly, we lost Mark last December. He suffered a massive heart attack and left us way too soon. He is missed.
I love living in New Mexico. I simply sit in my quirky burque and the world comes here. Today, Mark Orchant, ZDNet blogger, and Oliver Starr, a pioneer blogger and serial entrepreneur, spoke at a NMITSA lunch meeting about blogging as a business tool. Both are also involved with sorta-past-startup Foldera. Mark as “Chief Evangelist” and Oliver as a senior VP. Some key takeaways:
1. Neither of them used Powerpoint (Thank you, thank you!)
2. Oliver turned the CEO of Foldera on to blogging. The CEO then spent hours responding to, commenting on any mention of Foldera anywhere on the Web. Huge spike in visibility and web site traffic.
3. Quote: “A company has to have a true commitment to transparency.” - if they want to be successful in blogging.
This means - yep, lurking readers, one has to be “fearless”; be able to say “mea culpa” and be able to take criticism.
4. Oliver writes his passion, mobile technology, since - thanks to a timely cell phone call - he wasn’t on Flight 77 on 9/11.
Another cool thing is that I invited a fellow marketer, Mary Ellen Merrigan, to the meeting. She not only came but was telling everyone I was her mentor in her blogging. This when many would see us as competitors. And, sure we do a lot of the same things, but we also learn from each other. And, I believe if you operate from abundance, you’ll get abundance - particularly since - thanks to the Web and blogging - Mary Ellen and I have a potential market of - gee, I dunno, about 10 million clients. I think she and I can split that up nicely!
P.S. Turns out Mark lives right here in Albuquerque…and here I’ve been linking to ZDNet all this time. Small world, both physically and virtually.
If you’d like to leave a comment, please do so. It may take a bit to show up since I hate making people type in little letters (I can’t read most of them myself) - so I moderate all comments. Feel free to disagree - debate is healthy - but be a grown-up. And, I’ve blacklisted the worst obscenities, including the “f” word, as part of the troll wall.
Tags: blogs, blogging, marketing troubleshooting, Foldera, Mark Orchant, Oliver Starr
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May 31st, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Mary - glad you enjoyed the conversation. Oliver and I had a great time sharing some of our thoughts and ideas about blogging but mostly enjoyed the questions and comments. I love it when a room full of people really participates – something made a lot easier when you refuse to succumb to the easy trap of reading slides to a room full of smart people you’re convinced have suddenly lost the ability to read.
;^)
It was a delight meeting you and Mary Ellen. I hope to see you at future NMITSA gatherings. Oh… and I’m happily subscribed and look forward to joining in the conversations you’re building.
May 31st, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Hi, Mary. Your comment about abundance reminded me of a story I told a few years back on a listserv. I searched it out and send it along here. I think you will like how it happened . . .
A long time ago, I watched a good lesson in collaboration versus
competition. At the time, several lawyers including myself recently had been
trained in mediation. Many of the trainees were from Sonoma County in northern California; I was from the Bay Area but was close friends with several of them so knew how this all unfolded.
The Sonoma group had a meeting and decided they had two options: they could compete with each other, or they could all together promote the concept of mediation knowing there were enough clients for everyone. They chose the latter option, collaborated on many activities such as public education talks, and when I left California a few years later, there was more mediation happening per capita in Sonoma County than in any other county in the country.
I know they talked about several things when they made their decision. Most
important, they felt they had to model amongst themselves the way they wanted their clients to be. So, if they competed, they were coming from a concept of scarcity, something they hoped would not get in the way of their clients’ resolutions. They wanted to model that there is enough for everyone.
Also, they believed in the concept of mediation and their particular version
of it, which involves seeing people as whole and competent even when their
behavior appears inconsistent with that vision. They believed that furthering
their version of mediation in a competitive way was contradictory.
Finally, they looked at the role of judgment as it affects the mediation
process. They had to model what they hope for in their clients here, too.
Each of them had their own style and valued that as well as the styles of the
other mediators. They made a conscious decision not to judge each other.
So, were they in competition with each other? Yes, in the sense that clients
would chose one or the other and not all of them. Were they competing with each other? No, I don’t think so. They chose a notion of plenty for all, and furthering together a concept in which they all believed.
Some not involved but observing called this a Pollyanna-ish approach to
business. Maybe, but it worked for them
June 1st, 2007 at 6:23 am
On operating from abundance…
I have to agree with you that it never hurts to have a little competition. My own product is very specific (beautiful covers that funeral homes drape over loaded gurneys when retrieving human remains from a place of death) and I have little competition.
But when I introduced my own brand of covers (an alternative to the ugly, fake fur covers that were industry standard) I knew that I need my competitors. So far, I’ve got two of them.
One lady makes quilts that drape the gurney and a gentleman in South Carolina makes covers similar to mine.
I’m EXTREMELY happy that they are both still in business, because all of their marketing efforts help drive the market toward our type of products and away from the old, ugly versions.
I once had a heated conversation with my nearest competitor in which he accused me of badmouthing his company (I still insist that my product is better than his, an objective opinion based upon testimonials, and I don’t mind telling people that I’ve got the superior product) and being too expensive.
I explained to him that I don’t want to drive him out of business, because I need him. His product helps contrast mine and his marketing helps tell the world (of funeral homes) about what we make.
I’ve grown much faster because he’s out there, telling people about his product, that I would have had I been the only one talking.
June 13th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
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