Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

BrandingWire: Right Size Marketing

This month's BrandingWire challenge in the B2B space involves a small marketing consulting firm that is losing contracts to lower priced bids and to bigger companies. After three years in business, the firm's growth has slowed down considerably -- many of their clients buy one-off projects and may not return for subsequent engagements. The firm's client profile is important to consider They have been working exclusively with companies that have 150 employees or less, generate revenues between $1-25MM and are based in North America. So far, they seem to have concentrated on companies that operate in the high tech and... Read more →

Meet the (New Media) Editor -- Gina Trapani, Lifehacker

I liked her instantly, how could I not with a name like hers? Allen Stern published a great chat with Gina last year at Center Networks. Gina Trapani is the Editor of Lifehacker, a publication founded in January 31, 2005. One of the hot properties of Gawker Media, the online powerhouse considered one of the most successful and visible blog-oriented media companies. Lifehacker is about life hacks (hence the name) and lives by the motto: Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the software downloads and web sites that actually save time. Don't live to geek; geek to... Read more →

Join the Conversation that is Right for You

This was quite a week for conversation. After spending an evening and a full day with a group of smart marketers at DMAW (thank you, Donna and Geoff) and learning about some of the projects Jim Long and Stephen Marino are working on, I feel quite energized. I know I will be back to both for an in depth look at what they're up to to share with you. If I had to summarize it all in one call to action I would say: join the conversation that is right for you. That also means start your own in whichever... Read more →

Is "Conversation" Overused?

I think it might be, especially by marketers as everyone is trying to find the next right answer to growing a business. And maybe doing so without spending too much time on the actual business plan. I'll pick that one apart another time. The issue, as I see it, is that the term "conversation" is being misused -- or misunderstood. After dinner with Geoff, C.C. Chapman, and Doug Meacham last night, we shot an impromptu video while we each replied to the question -- do you think that the term "conversation" is getting overused? Has it lost some of its... Read more →

Are Blogs Becoming More Like Old Media?

Or are we talking about a whole different ball game altogether? This could be a case of mistaken identity. Perhaps we mean online publications. A recent article by the Financial Times states that publications born online are the same thing as blogs. The Huffington Post might have been started by Arianna Huffington with the explicit goal to inject ample doses of opinion in the immediacy of an online tool. According to FT: These days, Ms Huffington and her partners tend to recoil slightly when the Huffington Post is called a blog. To them, blogging is merely the latest technology tool... Read more →

Deep Dive has a Whole New Meaning

I love the sea and for a time had the fortune of sailing the ocean in Newport, RI, one of the capitals of New England charm for many reasons, one of which is its people. I find that people who live close to the sea tend to have a fluid quality to them that agrees with me. Acclaimed ocean explorer Robert Ballard made that same impression on me last night. Dr. Ballard is also professor of oceanography and currently serves as Director of the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography, at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography. That is... Read more →

Why Being in the Conversation is Good

On Thursday I will be sharing what I learned about conversation with a group of marketers at The New Media Marketing Day dubbed The Era of Conversation. There is an impressive line up of practitioners, including C.C. Chapman, Geoff Livingston author of the companion blog for his upcoming book Now is Gone (November 12, 2007), veteran NBC news camera man Jim Long, IBM new technology adviser (to government organizations) Mark Cleverley, and Stephen Marino who works at OgilvyPR 360 Digital Influence. The conversation has been a critical consideration for years when selling in the service business -- who is not... Read more →