I have to chuckle though at the thought of Steve Jobs and Phoebe chatting while waiting at the gates. He’d say something courteous like hello ma’am and then strike up a conversation with a question like what did u do with your life? My gran would say something like well, I raised my children, and was a foster parent to over 140 children. I worked for UNICEF, and traveled extensively teaching and learning. I opened the first SDA church in Sanniquellie, Liberia and I also ran a 300 acre farm that was primarily rubber and cocoa but also grew other things like pineapples.

I’m sure Steve would have the generational sensitivity to understand that Gran was 93 and had no idea what a iPod was but I imagine he’d tell her about his family and that he co-founded a company that changed the way we use and see computers.

This odd pair share some real commonalities though.

1. very strong personalities.
Phoebe stood at a maybe four feet, six inches but she had a 6’7″ personality. They were both demanding, aggressive, and sometimes forceful. I think that sometimes it was intentional because they knew people needed to be pushed.

2. pioneers to lead the way
Phoebe Amanda Reeves Logan was born in 1917 in Liberia, West Africa. How common do you think it was that an African woman would and could lead a 300 acre farm and have a career as an educator, traveling to foreign companies? Steve left Apple, started over and ended up having his old company (Apple) buy his new company (NeXT) for a pretty penny. The whole time, he was clear on his objective and comfortable in the low moments that came along with his vision.

3: the void they leave:
Not sure if the death of a 93 year-old should be shocking but there’s really no other way to explain it. She’d always been here. At the funeral I heard my dad say “I never thought my mother would die.” We didn’t know life without her.

When I heard about Mr. Jobs i paused in disbelief. How could they let this brilliant guy die? I was disappointed that we couldn’t keep him longer and I wondered how Apple would continue to innovate without their not so secret weapon. They both expected greatness, showed fearless leadership and lived with conviction

- and they will both be missed.

madia

I am feverishly writing my third album and thanks to life, I have a lot to write about.

I’m also working hard on the digital marketing front. There are lots of innovations happening and I want to talk a little more about that stuff in detail.

more to come.

Metrics are all the rage now.  Get on board.   As demand for understanding the impact of all this web stuff meets expanded capability in tracking web activity, we find ourselves a little measurement happy.  It’s tempting to create report after report about where people are clicking, who’s tweeting what, and on and on and on.

I’m not going to lecture long because, well that’s not my style.  I’m a bullets and more resources kinda girl, so here goes:

• Meaningful measurement takes time.  If you develop the metrics based on your goals, you will better understand the progress you’re making.
• I believe that measuring also allows you to test different types of content and content delivery.  Don’t be afraid to experiment.
• When we’re thinking about websites, we don’t just want to know how many people went there but did they do what you wanted them to do?  Did they make the purchase, sign up for the newsletter, forward the article?

I’ve been going through a self-paced certificate program on web metrics.  Okay fine I’ve been reading books and blogs and that’s more than a lot of certificate programs.  So there.  Let me share some of my great reads so far:

• Avinash Kaushik is Analytics Evangelist for Google.  He’s written two books, both worth reading:  Web Analytics: An Hour a Day and Web Analytics 2.0.  He also has an awesome blog:  http://www.kaushik.net and you can find him on twitter @avinash
• If you need site analytics, Google Analytics is pretty great, and free.
• Klout.com – Free twitter analytics tool.  Pretty interesting…

Remember, focused measurement can be a powerful tool in helping your organization achieve it’s goals!

If you’re a marketer, you should probably be joining some professional development organizations.  This helps get you networked, stay in touch with industry practices, and up to date on new trends.  Here’s the list of organizations I know about.  Did I miss any?

• Social Media Club |   http://www.socialmediaclub.org/ – My local branch in DC is pretty active: Shout to http://smcdc.wordpress.com.  They do many events around the DC area where digital marketing professionals can meet up to discuss best practices.  It feels a little less stuffy than the more developed associations but it depends on what you’re into.  I paid the membership fee immediately, because I could pay from PayPal!  You also get good discounts to events.  I’m not sure if I’m attending the online marketing summit, but it is one example of how joining the SMC could be a good thing.  http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/2010-washington-dc/
• American Marketing Association | http://www.marketingpower.com – I joined the AMA in 2006 and have been off and on with my membership.  They produce a quarterly journal that can be helpful.  They also have a great job board that is open to site visitors.
• Society of Digital Agencies | http://www.societyofdigitalagencies.org – I joined SoDA the earlier part of this year.  There was no membership fee, though I would have paid something for all the value I got.  They manage the site through a Ning network and did a awesome digital marketing outlook document.  Some people want to know that SoDA began as an Adobe venture but I don’t have a position on that.  It’s a great org that gives you access to great resources and allows you to contribute meaningfully. I cross post marketing blog posts on their site and check out the other contributors.

Are you:

• A marketing professional?
• Curious about why Americans are such consumers?
• Curious about how the masses bought in to democracy?
• In PR or any related field, (like marketing or communications)?
• Just curious about what I’m talking about now?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to watch a documentary that I’m watching.  It’s called – Century of the Self.  It was a British documentary that focused on the “engineering of consent” and the influence of the masses.

The eye-opening film shows how powerful people found ways to influence and in most cases manipulate the American people.

“Bernays had manipulated the American people, but he had done so because he, like many others at the time, believed that the interest of business and the interest of America were indivisible… but Bernays was convinced that to explain this rationally to the American people was impossible because they were not rational.  Instead one had to touch on their inner fears and manipulate them in the interest of a higher truth.”

The origins of this influence came from studies Sigmund Freud did in psychotherapy.  There was a focus on how to work of Sigmund Freud, his nephew Edward Bernays, and his daughter Anna Freud.  You can find the clips on YouTube and I’m going to do more posts about the marketing focused parts.  Stay tuned!

madia

I’ve been challenging myself to come up with one slide that shows the digital landscape and I think Brian and Jesse theconversationprism.com may have beat me to the punch, but I have trouble seeing this on a slide. It has to be on one slide. Anybody else seen anything great?

I’m working on something… something great.

And I’m not doing that anymore.

If the last five years haven’t proven to you that digital marketing (communications, media, etc…) is important, well I’m just not sure that reading my blog is going to be that convincing push you need.

Today, Feb. 23, 2010 I am shifting my focus. I am putting my energy into seeking out other people and organizations who believe to create an impact. I want to work with businesses who have a brand worth believing in to get them an audience of customers that share their values.

If that’s you… reach out. me@madialogan.com.

The excuse that digital media is new doesn’t work anymore. There are books, case studies, agency experts, and other things that help people understand what it is, and how to interact with it. The lack of planning is lazy and it reminds me of a quote from a book I’m reading now called Start with Why. “They never have time or money to do it right, but they always have the time and money to do it again.” and it’s true. When a large part of the rework required on these types of projects could have been avoided with planning – well there’s some missing accountability there. Why didn’t you anticipate this?

Just because you can make mistakes at a cheaper financial cost doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get the very best first product as close to right as you can. There are real risks to your brand perception and those risks should make you want to get as close to right the first time as you can.

I am a marketer, and a pretty serious one.  I am a writer.  I emphasize getting a point across – one on one or in a group.  I am a speaker.  Clearly I like to talk people and I’m pretty good at it.

I am a singer and a songwriter.  I’ve released two albums and am finally back in the studio working on the third.  My albums have digital distribution and can be found online at iTunes, Napster, Amazon, and other marketplaces.  Yeah Madia does music and Madia [a.k.a. logan] does marketing.

I always thought people should pick something, and get good at it.  It wasn’t because I didn’t think people could be good at multiple things.  I did and I do!  I think that when we summarize people in our head, we can only fit one thing.  As people we define other people in a very small box.  I think most mental summaries are a word or two.   Mother.  Musician.  Marketer.  Writer.

We define people by the role we know them to play or the role that is most prominent – and because of that, I conformed to the idea that I have to be one thing now that I’m a grown up and can no longer pass for a college student.  (maybe a grad student…)  People told me I had to pick something.

So I’m coming out to multiple groups that I have worked very hard to keep separate.  Why?

• It’s bound to happen.
• I might as well control the message. (inner marketer)
• If we’re friends you’ll hopefully make my box a lil bigger.
• If we’re not friends, maybe you’ll resist putting others in a box.

If you’re a person of multiple talents, I think letting the walls down is good.  It shows you have multiple strengths and sometimes unique insights as a result of your multiple perspectives.  They told me to pick something… but I’m ignoring that advice.

Remember Michael Porter?  He wrote a couple winners for the Harvard Business Review. Don’t be too hard on the image.  He’s a strategy guy to the core and from the look of it a passionate speaker.

I picked up an old copy of an article he did called Strategy and the Internet.  Some things are dated.  The article was published in March 2001.  It’s astounding that so many things he talked about in the article are still relevant.

“We need to move away from the rhetoric… and see the Internet for what it is: an enabling technology – a powerful set of tools that can be used wisely or unwisely, in almost any industry and as part of any strategy.”

Yes I am the same blogger that talked about being free to experiment yesterday – but the point here is that even if you are testing approaches, you are paying attention to and quantifying the value you hope to gain from your digital marketing.

Porter, also known for developing the 5 forces analysis hits on some other key points that I needed to hear:

• “The most successful dot-coms will focus on creating benefits that customers will pay for, rather than pursuing advertising and click-through revenues from third parties.”  Right on Porter.  We’re all distracted by advertising but for most sites shall not live on ads alone.
• “By creating separate internet strategies instead of integrating the internet into an overall strategy, companies failed to capitalize on their traditional assets…”
• “Virtual activities do not eliminate the need for physical activities, but often amplify their importance.”

Ah sound strategy.  It’s like hearing your parents tell you to do your homework.  You know you should.  You know it’s best and somehow you drag your feet anyway.

I will throw in a plug for Harvard Business Review because… well I like it.  I get it at my f/t for free in the library and I read it all the time.  When I was in business school I signed up for the free online version and still get it so that works too.  They have some new blogs that one could get some value from.  http://hbr.org