Corporate Rock Stars Speak

Quite frequently, people have bad experiences as a customer and reach out to a company looking for help. So many times, as I’m sure you’ve experienced, you’ll end up on the line at a customer service center in Bangladesh with a nice guy named, Phil. Phil will listen to your problem and offer advice in broken English. I actually use the name “Phil” as an inside joke to myself, but I have experience with emailing a “guy” named “Phil” who seems to work 24/7 and always signs his name followed by a “T” and a double digit number. For example, an email will say,

“Your request have been forwarded. Thank you, Phil. T38”

Unfortunately, the “Phil”s of the world aren’t always able to solve problems. This leads to many blogging about their experience or performing an “executive email carpet bomb.” Surprisingly enough, some CEOs and high-level executives are reading blogs. They must have been smart enough to setup a Google Alert with their company’s name.

Even more surprising, some of these higher ups, are even responding to blogs. I had Chris Baggott, from Compendium Blogware, comment here. And I was recently reading a post where Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh commented. Though, I’ve not bought from Zappos (I’ve tried buying footwear online and so far it hasn’t worked out), I have heard from many people that Zappos’ customer service is excellent. (One of my workers’ brothers actually works there—I believe they have a location near Louisville, Kentucky.) So when Tony Hsieh from Zappos or Chris Baggott from Compendium or any big time business person comments on blogs it adds a more personal face to the company.

I read many prominent national bloggers on the Daily Fix and Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist; and for the star-struck bloggers like myself, reading a comment by a CEO is like being in the same room as one. I don’t have any of them giving me advice or meeting me for a drink, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless. While Slash, Willie Mays, or Sean Connery would be awesome to meet, I’d actually rather meet a successful business person like Warren Buffett or the aforementioned CEOs. I’ll never have the talent of Slash, Willie Mays, or Sean Connery, but who knows, I could be a successful business person someday. And if any successful business people have advice, I’d be more than happy to listen to the corporate rock stars speak. I probably just have to be a majority shareholder in their company to get noticed…

Care To Borrow A Brain?

I always enjoy a good quote. Rarely can I remember one verbatim, but sometimes I remember enough to find it with a quick Wikiquote search. As I went around reading blogs this morning, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the following quote often attributed to former president Woodrow Wilson:

“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.”

I thought of that because, after getting some work done this morning I signed up for Compendium’s next webinar hosted by Chris Baggott and read a post entitled “Top Experts Dish with their Best Kept Marketing Secrets” by Anita Campbell.

Not just as a marketer, but as an employee and more importantly as a human, it’s essential that we continually borrow all the brains we can. In the social world of blogs, networking sites, and forums, there’s always discussion. There are authorities on every topic and almost always someone willing to help you out.

© jj_judes

When I was a biology teacher, I would say “if you don’t understand, ask.” A lot of times the kids would say they don’t want look dumb and my response “who looks smarter the person who asks the question before the test and has an A or the person who asks the question after the test because they got a D?”

So whether it’s Compendium about corporate blogging, Anita Campbell about marketing, or myself about promotional products, never hesitate to jump into discussions, shoot an email, or otherwise ask a question. Remember, you’re never too smart to borrow some brains.

Corporate Blogging as Marketing

This afternoon I took part in an hour-long webinar on corporate blogging hosted by Chris Baggott, founder of Compendium Blogware. I’ve actually been enamored with the idea of corporate blogging since the moment I first heard of it. Compendium is based here in Indianapolis and I actually had some contact with Chris between the time that Compendium’s formation had been announced and the time Compendium went live. I would have jumped at the chance to work for him if for no other reason than I think his idea is so innovative, but all impressions that I’ve gotten are that he not only knows what he does, he’s a real good guy.

So Compendium handles the behind-the-scenes of corporate blogging. Blogging is an important way to be found for businesses—especially small businesses. Blogging is just the current (and one of the most effective) marketing trends. If your company wants to start blogging, but wants to only focus on the content and not hiring an IT guy just to run the blog, Compedium is the type of place you’d go. To give you an analogy, if you want pizza you could get all the ingredients and make it by hand or you could call the best pizzeria in town. Either way, you’d be eating good pizza for dinner, it’s just less hassle when you don’t have to make it yourself. (There are a lot of pizza examples here on Marketer Synergy, aren’t there?).

Long story short, keep an eye on Compendium’s website for the next webinar if you’re interested in the new wave of corporate marketing. I’m going to send my boss to the next one he offers, which based on their attendance today, will probably be again in the next month or two.

And with as much respect as I have for Matt Mullenweg, he offers a completely different product, so I don’t feel like they’re competitors at all. If I knew Matt, I’d probably have just as many nice things to say about him. And I do love me some WordPress!