Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Best Conversations of 2008

Even the most difficult endeavors begin by taking the first step. In business, as in life, "we may convince others by our own arguments, but we can only persuade them by their own." [Joseph Joubert] Marketing is business, communications is a technology that provides the lifeblood of thriving relationships, conversation is the opportunity to get out of our own way and see things from a different perspective. If you have been watching the social media space from where you sit and are still unconvinced that it is here to stay - take the plunge. 2009 is the year of execution... Read more →

Thank you

Thank you, dear readers, for your time and attention. Without you, this wouldn't be as much fun. Thanks also go to all of you who comment and those who link, Stumble, Digg, Twit, and share in other ways. I know how challenging it is to have only so many hours in a day and I am grateful that you would spend some of those precious moments here. Thanks also go to my Twitter listeners. I'd like to get to know you, and please do not feel offended if I have not added you. I am listening and I do care,... Read more →

How did You Get What You Wanted?

"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it." [Peter Drucker] Here's the tricky question for you - are you reasonable as to what you want as a customer? Do you check The Consumerist and track down company executives phone numbers? More than one year ago, I wrote about how customer service is a mindset. In that post, I highlighted a database that allowed you to skip the recorded phone trees at companies and get to a human. Clearly, when all is well and there... Read more →

PR 2.0 is Free

It really isn't, but it is freely distributed. That is the benefit of it when intended as communications to all stakeholders. Good PR comes at a cost - research, the experience of knowing what's important, the relationships we build to offer content that people want to make part of their lives. New media helps do the rest - it helps reinforce the publics' decision to pay attention to you and your business. Will public relations continue to become more high profile in the year to come? In its most basic definition, public relations is about helping organizations and individuals communicate... Read more →

Memo to Obama: Remake the Bully Pulpit

When asked what advice would you give the new President by Reader's Digest, Michael D. McCurry responded "remake the bully pulpit". McCurry, who was White House press secretary between 1995 and 1998 says: Nothing will help your presidency or threaten its success more than how well you communicate with the American people. The "bully pulpit" of the presidency (as Theodore Roosevelt called it) needs a remake for the 21st century because we are still using communication techniques that date back to the first President Roosevelt. He then proceeds to offer the following advice, which is also great advice for companies:... Read more →

The Art of Receiving

"Receiving isn’t easy. If it were, more of us would do it with grace and gratitude. Is there a way to change that? Can we learn to receive so we can be nourished and empowered? These are crucial questions, not just because the holiday season is a time when giving and receiving are part of our daily experience. The ability to receive is, in fact, essential to physical health, psychological ­balance and spiritual engagement." [Ode magazine, The Art of Receiving] “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” [Winston Churchill] "At... Read more →

7 Observations and a Challenge to Marketing Types

Seven is a prime number and the sum of the first four Fibonacci numbers. There are seven colors of the rainbow, seven days in the week, seven continents, and seven directions: north, south, east, west, up, down, center. The seven new wonders of the world voted online in what was said to be the largest poll ever included the Colosseum in Rome. This is my response to the recent meme that has been making the rounds - thanks to Marc Meyers, Michael Haberman, Brian Branca, and Annie Hackenberger for thinking of me. You will forgive me, I tend not to... Read more →

The Future is Now

And if that is the case, what's next? Extrapolating insights from what we can forecast about the future comes from experience. I never envisioned myself in research, but if I ever did make such move, I would work as strategist at a "think and do" tank. Two of my strongest characteristics are connecting and contextualizing. What you see here is an image of the 2008 Map of the Decade by the Institute of the Future. You may download your copy here. As the center itself explains: The view this year is distinctly biological. Even in arenas more social than biological,... Read more →

Quality Customer Service

Conversations with customers can teach us a lot about how our products and services are received and used. They also offer other opportunities. When a customer calls with an issue, you could set out to solve their immediate problem, or you could also take a deeper look at the issue to prevent it from happening again - with the same customer or with other customers. There are business decisions and implications that stem from this approach. For many a company, the tech folk still sit in a different location from the customer support people. The value of solving a problem... Read more →

The Break up: PR and Media on News Embargoes

A news embargo is a request by a source that the information or news provided by that source not be published until a certain date or certain conditions have been met. If the embargo is broken by reporting before then, the source retaliates by restricting access to further information to that journalist and publication, putting them at a disadvantage compared to other outlets. Brian Solis has a very detailed post about the recent announcement by TechCrunch that it will no longer honor embargoes. In it, he states: The problems are two-fold: a) Unethical or opportunistic bloggers or reporters looking for... Read more →