Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

There's no ROI in Likes. The ROI is in Connection.

Ponte Vecchio, Firenze, Italia. Photo by me. This article first ran on LinkedIn Pulse. It will not run in the new email subscription, because that is only for new articles on Conversation Agent. You don't get connection from status. You get it by enlivening each other other, making people stronger through engagement. Status may give you self-esteem, but alone it does not create change. It's social energy that drives civilization. But we need to figure out how it works and how to use it to benefit from it. One month ago, I posted an open invitation to talk to 30... Read more →

Welcome to Conversation Agent

Since 2006, I've been working with people who want to build sustainable businesses. This fourth reimagination of Conversation Agent, will explore ways to reframe thinking and doing that give you an advantage for the evolution of work. More on my story here. Subscribe here. Read more →

How to Practice a Culture of Innovation

“Creation is the most valuable part of learning,” says Dave Perell#. Getting started is key. You could remix or re-frame ideas. Remixing paves the way to learning. Re-framing ideas is a useful cultural practice to take them further. This has been a positive outcome of the web — facilitating serendipity and providing access to people (almost) anywhere in the world. A creator mindset enriches interactions. When we move with the movement of ideas, we gain momentum; when we resist it, we get stuck. Cultures embrace and resist change Our thinking is often the product of mainstream culture. Culture and cultural... Read more →

Brand Building Toolkit, Personal is the Best Form of Personalization

Personal is the best form of personalization and is stronger than a faceless company brand today. Connection is a result of interactions that over time leads to trust and often love of the kind you cannot bribe. We respond to knowing whose hands or thinking have made something. Influencer marketing is hot because it's about human impressions. Friends and people we trust are our closest influencers. Facebook's organic reach continues to decline. While many mainstream brands distributed through retailers are declining, many direct to consumer products are connecting with people. Publishing on your own domain is still the best way... Read more →

We Have two General Models of Storytelling. One is Ancient. One is New. It is Only a Matter of Time Before they Collide.

We're all storytellers with an audience. Telling stories is how we make sense of our lives. Stories have an infrastructure of data and information. When things change in the data — we have more, or different inputs — the story gets updated. Whoever is able to find more accurate information that is up to date and reliable and can connect the dots and see the hidden patterns has an advantage. The essence of all storytelling is the way events change, says Christopher G. Moore#. Whoever owns the digital storytelling platforms wins. He puts forth an interesting thesis. Today we have... Read more →

Customer Lifetime Value

There's a reason why you've been on hold with customer service for an hour says the Wall Street Journal, that company may have decided you're not profitable. It's one of the stories I shared in the most recent Learning Habit issue. Algorithms determine Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) by keeping a tally of how much money a customer spends. It's important to remember that CLV is about profit and not just revenue. Companies determine the CLV of a person as a score. The score may include geography — the zip code of where we live — and the number of returns... Read more →

Ignoring 2 Billion Internet Users is a Missed Opportunity

Of the 4.2 billion people online in the world#, only a little over 2 billion are on Facebook (mostly mobile use#.) This is not an overlooked opportunity. Access is not the same as reach ― especially the kind of reliable reach a business builds by creating value. Other means of communicating and interacting with clients that have not gone out of fashion and are algorithm-free to deliver value to brands and clients (win/win) are: Websites ― an ad-free product experience easy to underestimate, including product updates. blogs ― subject matter expertise, behind the scenes that humanize a business, translating technical... Read more →

Social Media is Growing up, Good News for CMOs

Every second, 11 new people sing up to use social media. Think about that for a moment. The world has four billion Internet users#, and more than three quarters of them are active in social media, thanks to more affordable smartphones and mobile data plans. Nearly a quarter of a billion new users came online for the first time in 2017. In the U.S., where smartphones, tablets, and desktops have been ubiquitous, the people tuned into social media are approaching 70 percent of the population#. It's a mature market. And a well formed habit, with frequent check ins ― in... Read more →

Sizing up the Problem

If innovation is part of your goal, then how you work and who's working on the problem matters even more. The first questions to ask are what's the size of the problem we're trying to solve? Then figure out the scope and who you need in which role based on it. Design the organization so that every function contributes to advancing toward the goal. Talk about what needs to get done, and time frame. Use feedback to highlight what works in the moment — hey, what you just did there was great. Do more of it. Stop doing everything else... Read more →

Google and WPEngine: Building Platforms Inside Businesses for the Long Term

Two technology announcements this week that impact marketing. Google is retiring AdWords, the word, and DoubleClick, the name. StudioPress (Genesis) was acquired by WPEngine. Beyond the need to find and hold on to product value, which I'll talk about further down, they're both interesting in different ways. Wearing the business consultant hat: Whether you're an entrepreneur, a business owner, in an agency, or in a group inside an organization, marketing happens more and more online. It involves both owned presences to serve earned mentions and attention, and paid support to bring the right people to you — wherever they happen... Read more →