Feb
19
Written by:
Myra Norton
2/19/2008 6:28 PM
Greetings!
It is with excitement and a little bit of trepidation that I write my first blog post. The whole idea of writing this post seems counter-intuitive to me – I am much more comfortable responding to questions or ideas rather than posing them. So, I suppose my hope for this first post is that it will spur questions and ideas from all of you, and that we can begin a conversation from which we all can learn.
In the months of preparation for the launch of this website, all of us at Community Analytics spent a lot of time talking about messaging and language, images and aesthetics – what face would we present to the rest of the world? The truth that came to us in that process is that we were asking the wrong question – the question is not, “What do we want to say?” The question is, “Who are we?” – it’s a question of identity. What you see on this site is a reflection of our identity – the principles we believe in and the philosophies we live by.
Doesn’t that seem a little backwards? Aren’t marketing messages (and let’s be honest, that is what a company’s website is – a conglomeration of marketing messages) supposed to speak to what the audience wants to hear? In fact, here is the definition of marketing from Wikipedia:
Marketing is a societal process that is needed to discern consumers' wants; focusing on a product/service to those wants, and to mold the consumers toward the products/services.
In trying to reconcile the commonly accepted definition of marketing with our approach to this website, I realized something that is at the core of what we believe: If you have a genuine relationship with the community you are trying to serve through your products and services and if you seek to meet the needs of that community on their terms, then articulating who you are and staying true to that identity is all the “marketing” you need.
Take a look around – get to know us a little. What you see is what you get.
Feel free to add a comment to this post with questions or ideas you would like me to address in the future.
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2 comments so far...
Re: Welcome to the Community Analytics Blog!
Hi Myra,
Welcome to the blogosphere. A bit of trepidation may be right, as with any new venture, but I'm sure you'll be great! I'm certainly looking forward to hearing more about your work and thinking -- and to participating in the conversation you'll spark. So here's hopefully a pretty easy but definitely important question you might tackle to get us going: if you're with a small company looking to accelerate your brand awareness and interest, how might you get started in mapping out the influence networks most important to your firm, and do that with only modest resources?
Best,
Rob
By Rob Leavitt on
3/10/2008 4:07 PM
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Re: Welcome to the Community Analytics Blog!
Great question, Rob! For small firms, mapping those influence networks can be extremely valuable because you don't have a lot of time and resources to be chasing down the wrong folks - understanding who is critical to the success of your business and in what ways will help to focus resources in the optimal direction. For companies with limited resources, my advice is always to start underestanding the influence networks impacting your organization from the inside out. So, look at the key client relationships held by folks inside your firm - are there individuals in your firm who are at the nexus of all client activity? If so, model their relationships and look at ways to help others in the firm replicate that type of network. In the same way, look at the overlap of client relationships held by individuals in your firm - are there mutliple touch points within certain client organizations? If so, are there opportunities to create more holistic client relationships by coordinating these relationships in a more intentional way? You'd be surprised at what you can learn about the influence networks impacting your firm when you take a closer look from the inside out!
By Myra Norton on
3/17/2008 7:56 AM
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