You Are What Your Customers Call You

Posted on November 2, 2007

The other day I spent a large amount of time working on messaging and positioning with a young and successful company. One of the challenges they were having was the comparison between the robust product they deliver and the simpler products on the market that solve only part of the problem. They are stuck because of this they were stuck between a bunch of simple “me-toos” and enterprise apps that took 12 months to deploy. So they decided it was time to create a new space. And our first response was NO!

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Media Training

Posted on October 29, 2007

We all know - some people have the gift of gab and some folks just don't. This is just a quick plug for media training. It is essential that everyone in the organization go through the media training process. Not only does it force a company to develop and deliver a single coherent message, but media training often helps you find out which colleagues should not be spokespeople. And you never know - you may find your best spokesperson on the engineering team - It could happen!

While it is important to have several people media trained not everyone is comfortable with the job. Sometimes, even the CEO isn't up to the challenge. And while it is essential for senior staff to learn, they may need to be paired with someone who is more comfortable in front of an audience. Net Net, train a lot, train often and be prepared to tell even the most senior people they either need more training or might not be the best for media events.

Building and Consortium

Posted on October 16, 2007

I have met several companies in the last few months that are building technology consortium. It has been an interesting process for all of them. Each company has been in completely different market spaces. Bringing companies together for a common good can have successes and failures. Here are a few keys takeaways:

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Le Tradeshowapalooza

Posted on October 10, 2007

In case you hadn't noticed Europe is on fire with technology shows and conferences. Future of Web Apps in London last week was reportedly a great scene. Here are the few worth attending and demonstrating at:

DEMO Germany - October 15th
Web 2.0 Expo Berlin - November 5
Le Web 3 - Dec 11

oh and don't forget Web 2.0 Tokyo - November 15th!