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Thanks for the time to write! 10 Articles which I’m glad I posted

I’ve been working on my annual list of things I’m thankful for and one of the obvious things I am thankful for is being able to sit down and write a little.  While I haven’t had as much time as I would like and I definitely don’t have enough interesting ideas, I was able to find 10 posts which work for me and I now see them in a little different light the farther I am away from the original post date.

  1. Execution and Strategy are not just a function of big ideas, but also principles
  2. Sometimes a target market is small and that’s ok.
  3. Product Management doesn’t need to be hard, but it is more often than not.
  4. Product Roadmaps are typically not more than telling a story.
  5. There are way too many smart people and you need to listen more than you talk
  6. Social Media is changing how most of us are doing our jobs.
  7. You always need to think about how what you do is received by others.
  8. Brands and Products have to be easy to build and buy.
  9. Brands, Products and Cultures are not easily separated
  10. Increasing Market Share is a brand strategy, not a product strategy
November 25, 2009 by
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Year 3 Kick Off: Build/Buy/Partner Analysis – 3 of 3

With 2 parts out of the series down and the market research in place, I completed my last item of reviewing items starred in my feed reader and bookmarked pages – basically the final input which ultimately represents the functional equivalent of a 360 review of  last year’s content.  There are several key things I learned which will influence what I do going forward:

  • Search is a really quirky thing.  Odd really how it all works out, not only do I still own giggly quotes on google – it accounts for the majority of new visits – imagine that.  Hmmm, search drives where people go online, while intuitive and logical, it’s always interesting to look at the metrics for a fact based approach.
  • People share and engage just because they got something to add. I’m not sure I have any better an idea than before the effort, but just like the twitter network audit I did last year, I know a little more about the ‘shape’ of things.
  • There are a bunch of real smart people doing cool things out there. Through the interviews I did, the feedback, the links and articles other people wrote which I read, I’m just humbled by cool people I know and the stuff they did last year.

After reviewing all the metrics and content, I’ve been able to identify 3 key persona’s which I think happen to find this place.

Product Management/Brand Marketing Type: A little too busy to really read or surf and is looking for a technology product management filter.  Main value drivers is “quick hit content” and they appear to come back more so than not – I think.

Randoms: Some vaguely relevant search term got you here, but only like 3% show back up. So not sure there is a value driver for this group, but I think they just are out looking for random stuff/questions to be answered.

People I know: This is the most fun group and since you are people I know, you probably don’t have an opinion one way or another, but still chime in on topics every now and again – either on facebook or through comments.  OK, perhaps they have comments, but are polite enough to stay nice and say something in person.  This group is also more or less technology wonks, product marketing types and brand enthusiasts who I may have met at a tweet up, the panic show or some other random career activity.

So since I think I might have this persona thing for Spatially Relevant down, I’m off to putting a plan in place to:

  • Encourage More Conversation
  • Identify a Better Way to Understand the Readers
  • Link more cool people up together

Achieving the Plan: Build or Buy or Partner?

There are many things I could do to drive forth on these initiatives on my own – commit to 2 pieces a week which aren’t random business slides to see what richer metrics I could get which could allow me to meet more cool people.    If I wrote more, I could potentially work towards achieving them on some sort of incremental YoY scale.  Not that interesting to me, since this blogging stuff is tough stuff and I think it makes you gain weight.  So I need a different option.  The option I settled on was partnering with some cool people I know to help build out content, 2 which currently blog, 1 one that hasn’t and 1 that continously says she will.

John Mecke – A technology operator, product management type who really prefers to browse Hoover metrics more than anyone I know. Full disclosure: I worked for John, with him and previously written with him before most recently on a piece to be published in November.

Keith Finger – Met Keith randomly thanks to Erik Wolf, the lead principle at Zero G Creative.  He’s been a very interesting cat whom I really starting to like.  He focuses on brand’s and how integrating a nurturing initiative can dramatically increase a products position in the marketplace.

Sheryl Altschuler – She say’s she’s going to blog, not sure she will.  But one of the best writers I know and she continuously providing feedback to me via email and phone on stuff I write.  I wouldn’t call her a luddite, but she does definitely prefer real life activities.

Stephen Smith – I’ve known Stephen for just over 2 years and he is just one of those cool people you find in life.  Smart guy, motivated and genuine – oh the people you can meet on the internet.

Many thanks for your patience as I worked through this years strategic plan with y’all and let’s see if the 3rd year of Spatially Relevant is as much fun.

If you want to find out more about these folks, just visit the contributors page – did think about calling it the partners page, but wouldn’t really make sense outside of this post.  I also have some random guest posts on the way as well.  Cheers!

~jon

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July 26, 2009 by
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