Perceptint Musings

The past month has been a merry go round of creative brain sparking in the search for a name for the new product I’m working with some associates on. I realized this morning, it’s like spearing pickles in a barrel of jello, trying your hardest to strike upon and retrieve the right one.

At the same time the left side of my brain is trying to help capture that elusive pickle and figure out how to structure a new company, the right side of my brain is knee deep in organizational issues working with my direct client. The overlap has been great though lately because I feel more engaged to tackle both sides.

And in the midst of stepping outside this whirlwind to write a new post, a new name popped to mind that I really like. I need to send this one out before it’s gone. Back again today or tomorrow with more.

I’ve written previously about how my current work with a client has grown and I was looking to diversify my interests to spread my risk out. Having those feelers to the ground, sniffing for moments of opportunity, is a great feeling. I would highly recommend it to anyone feeling caught up or lost in their current job.

And because I was out looking around, an opportunity has come along that’s really set my antenna twitching. I’ve been asked to run the domestic operations for an undisclosed startup that is in the early planning stages. This company would reunite me with some former colleagues I enjoy working with, as well as expose me to a whole new group of challenges and potetial rewards.

I wanted to let those of you who do stop by to read the blog know why you’ve seen even less of me. One post in a month was never my intention. As time progresses I’ll be able to share more details about the new company and what we’re doing. In the meantime I’m going to do my best to post something at least once a week, more frequently if I can.

But I’d like to know from any of you, do you find there were times where you had an opportunity that you knew you needed to take on? Or not take on? What came of it and did it pay off? I’d love to know if my experiences are similar to others. Thanks again for your patronage and I’ll see you soon.

So lately, I’ve fallen completely off the blog wagon. Partly due to being busy with other things and partly due to needing a little bit of a jump start.

I’m also trying to make sure that when I publish something to the blog I believe in it 100% and I think it has value to anyone who might read it. Like I said early on, I don’t just want it to be a “commenting on the daily news” type of blog so it’s been a few weeks since I’ve had anything I thought was valuable to write about.

Until today, when I have to express my sheer frustration with blog spam. In the past two and a half weeks off, I have received over 60 comments on several of my posts. These aren’t comments that have anything to do with the topic, they don’t contribute anything to the conversation, and they are really starting to annoy me to no end.

So far, I’ve gotten comments from people pushing porn, gambling and ringtones. I had no idea that ringtones ran with such nefarious partners. Especially free ringtones. And I didn’t know that free ringtones needed so much help in advertising themselves. If your product is free, you’re halfway to producing a good transaction for someone looking for something free.

The comments that confuse me the most are the ones that appear to be full of gibberish and gibberish domains. Like a monkey sat down at a domain registrar and just registered every combination of keystrokes it could come up with.

If the best way to market yourself is to pretend to contribute to blogs or other sites you have nothing to do with, you really need to get outside more often. The Internet might be the wrong avenue for you. It’s like selling tickets to a street race and then showing people a documentary on butterflies.

So to all of you out there trying to monkey market your business, I say step away from the keyboard. I’m just a little old blog on the fringe of the web read by a few hundred people at best right now. If I’m a target, I can’t imagine what some of the blogs with larger audiences are sifting through.

Who’s with me on this? Is anyone else suffering from the burden of spam like I am? Let me know what you think and if you’ve had any horrible spam experiences to share with others.

With the continuing growth of digital marketing technologies, many companies are faced with the challenge of dipping their toes into new channels they may not be fully prepared for. Given the complexities of new channels like mobile advertising and social media, to move from a pilot marketing program into an official marketing protocol is a tall order.

That’s why I firmly believe that most companies need a digital risk center. This would be a marketing group that’s sole charter is to experiment with new channels and help guide the company through the potentially rocky roads without exposing the entire corporation to a greater risk. They are like the digital Sherpa’s, setting the ropes and ladders for the greater hordes following behind.

Here’s a quick list for how it could work:

1. Digital Risk Center is formed. Their charter is to identify new channels that might satisfy current marketing goals.
2. The group would have a separate budget from overall marketing. They would be responsible for vendor management.
3. From the first pilot of a new campaign, the group would be responsible for documentation and case studies of each new channel.
4. From the case studies, best practices for the organization should be developed. Once best practices are in place, the group would be responsible for partnering with the appropriate internal sponsors to turn the best practices into official marketing protocol.
5. As channels are approved and move through this process, the group would be responsible for assisting in the hand off of the channel to the larger marketing organization.
6. Repeat and rinse.

In this model, experimentation and learning are actively encouraged. One of the goals is to ensure that someone’s job isn’t hanging in the balance due to a lapse in judgment by their use of a new channel and subsequent failure. This model accepts that failure will occur, but understands that failure with learning’s can help the overall organizational health. It is also an acknowledgement by the company that they need to mitigate risk and create a method for keeping up with the ever-changing digital marketing picture.

What are your thoughts on this digital risk center concept? Does your company actively take chances or does your corporate culture wince from the thought? As always, your thoughts and opinions are welcome.

Until next time, may risk and the proper handling of it bring you and your organization the rewards they deserve.

This past year, it seems everything around me is going green. From the rise in organic foods at grocery stores to the explosion of green cleaning products and more energy efficient lighting, it seems consumer preference has shifted completely into the green camp. And marketers are certainly capitalizing on the idea like never before.

But what is harder to tell is if the dollars are chasing the hype? I know in my household, we are trying more and more to buy “green” products if they are available. We’re not exactly sure they’re going to help, but it makes us feel better trying to make a difference.

A recent episode of Oprah featured “freegans” - people who get all of their food and household goods from discarded items in dumpsters. It was amazing to see the sheer amount of waste of perfectly good products and food. Even though it produces an emotional first reaction of “that’s gross”, to see the people in action was actually quite inspiring.

What’s your experience or feedback on the movement to go green? Are you making a conscious decision to buy green products or are you sticking to your 20th century ways?