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1. Animoto: The No-Infrastructure Startup .

   (09/05/08 09:00 PM)

2. How to Build a Lasting Brand.

   It may have started out as a small outpatient facility, but now, a century later, the Mayo Clinic is one of the top-ranked hospitals in the nation, with annual revenues of nearly $7 billion. How does the hospital balance a 100-year history with cutting-edge research and innovation? In this interview, Leonard L. Berry, a marketing professor at Texas A&M, and Kent D. Seltman, the marketing chair at Mayo Clinic -- coauthors of Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic discuss the secrets behind the Mayo Clinic brand.

   (09/03/08 09:01 AM)

3. "To build demand for hybrid vehicles, the government should implement tax incentives and not let fuel prices d. In an interview with Charlie Rose, General Motors Chairman and CEO, Rick Wagoner, discussed how upcoming Volts are to be priced. While final prices have not yet been decided upon, he indicated that they would probably be in the mid to upper 30s. He went on to underscore that he hopes the government will boost demand for hybrid vehicles by providing tax incentives, and also ensuring that fuel prices don't drop too far. (08/25/08 09:00 PM)

4. Saving the World at Work.

   Working for the man is becoming obsolete. Employees and customers want to work for and support companies that share their ethical values, says Sanders. He believes we are in the midst of a "responsibility revolution" in which sustainable business practices and social responsibility will become something no company can afford to ignore. Ultimately, it's all about doing good at work -- why sustainability and corporate responsibility are becoming easier -- and necessary for survival.

   What do you mean by is saving the world at work?

   (08/25/08 09:00 PM)

5. Wozniak: If You Know You’re Right, Don’t Stop. InformationWeek: Steve Wozniak, the legendary designer of the first and second Apple computer, on Thursday advised engineers working on something new to never waiver if they think they’re right. In an interview at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Wozniak told interviewer Moira Gunn, host of Tech Nation on National Public Radio, that too much input [...]
   (08/25/08 09:00 PM)

6. Summer Reading: Why More People Are Listening to Books.

   So what did you read this summer? Chances are, more and more of you listened instead. According to the American Association of Publishers, audio book sales grew by 20 percent last year. The largest online seller of audiobooks is Audible, which was acquired by Amazon earlier this year for $300 million. Audible offers more than 80,000 downloadable programs from current best sellers to daily newspapers.

   What is popular summer listening this year?

   (08/21/08 09:01 PM)

7. How an 8-Year Old Became Co-CMO. I have to share this story…it’s about how my Son got offered the job of Co-CMO for Bazaarvoice. Last week we had kids-at-work day. I brought in my 8-year-old Son Kyle and 11-year-old daughter Haley in for half a day to experience what I do at work. They were very excited, however, I had a number of meetings and conference calls. During these meetings my daughter at colored, read, and ate ice cream. My son, on the other hand, walked the halls and started offering advice to our employees. Soon, our Partnerships Director suggested he interview for a job. So, Kyle typed up an introductory letter and and started interviewing with our recruiter and several Bazaarvoice managers. I of course, still have no idea this is going on. Soon Kyle gets into Brett’s office (our CEO). Brett interviews him and soon realizes that his skills of giving “tips, advice and opinions” on things like pricing and how to sell products align well with marketing. So he offers him the Co-CMO position -- actually senior to me -- paying $50/mo and 100 shares! Fortunately I make a little bit more than that. In the video below I compiled some video that I and others collected that day, showing his interview with Brett and examples of the advice that he was giving me and our VP of Business Development, Brant Barton. None of this is staged for video, we just captured what was happening. He came up with all of this himself.... (08/17/08 09:00 PM)

8. Building a Marketing Funnel and More Lead Management Tips. I was recently interviewed for an article on lead management by Chris Koch who works for ITSMA, the Information Technology Services Marketing Association. In the article titled, "Building a Marketing Funnel and Other Lead Management Tips," I give the following... (08/13/08 09:00 PM)

9. On Materialism, Living Simply, and Thrill-Seeking. Alpha Consumer’s Kimberly Palmer recently posted a telling interview with professor and materialism expert Tim Kasser. Here are my favorite excerpts: Kasser: (I found) that when people were especially focused on goals that pertained to money and possessions and wealth, they were less happy. A materialistic lifestyle tends to perpetuate feelings of insecurity, to lead people to [...] (08/13/08 09:00 AM)

10. Five Steps to Killing the Scrutiny-Defense Dynamic in Interviews. As a telecommuter, I often bring my laptop to coffee shops in order to find human companionship. Today, I wandered into a new haunt and found no less than three job interviews taking place. Fascinated, I strategically positioned myself so that I could eavesdrop on all of them. Pair #1: Thin, stylish late-20s businesswoman in [...] (08/12/08 09:00 PM)

11. How TerraCycle Plans to Take Over the Garbage Industry.

    Garbage in, garbage out? This old clich? may become obsolete as trash becomes the raw material of innovation and green business. Upcycling, or turning disposable items into new products, is becoming big business. The leading player in this growing industry is TerraCycle, which makes a variety of products from recycled material: fertilizers from worm poop, backpacks from juice pouches and reusable tote bags from plastic bags. Based in Trenton, New Jersey, the 60-person company had $8 million in sales last year and expects $15 million this year.

    (08/11/08 09:00 PM)

12. Have a Question? Ask a Fluther: BP Interviews Fluther.com Founder Ben Finkel. “I hate my mind, how can I fix it?” This question was posted on Fluther.com, a hybrid chat/forum Q&A site, not too long ago. Answers for the disillusioned poster ranged from “Deal with it” to “Listen to Pink Floyd.” Meditation also ranked as one of the more common answers. Fluther isn’t your typical Q&A site. Its strength [...] (08/07/08 09:00 PM)

13. The Irrelevance of Silicon Valley Envy.

    A few weeks ago I wrote about the AEA survey that ranked Boulder as the #2 CyberCity in the US.  I suggested that this was misleading since #1 was "San Jose/Silicon Valley", which is not actually a city.  If you'd decomposed "San Jose/Silicon Valley" into the various cities that actually make up Silicon Valley, they would have been #1 through at least #5 and Boulder would have been #6.

    Ever since I'm moved to Boulder in 1995, the "what do we need to do to be more like Silicon Valley" meme pops up ever regularly.  I've spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley, have lots of friends and colleagues there, and have made (and continue to make) lots of investments there.  It's a special and unique place. 

    Over the years, I've asserted that Colorado has no business trying to "be like" Silicon Valley.   There are lots of things that Colorado can learn from Silicon Valley and a lot of them are happening / being created in Boulder right now.  However, it's a great example of the cliche of "applying best practices" (where Boulder is learning from and applying the best practices of Silicon Valley) rather than strict emulation.

    This came up in an interview with me on ColoradoBizTV that just went up today. I have a three minute riff on why "Boulder, Denver, and Colorado in general ebbs and flows with Silicon Valley envy and that's an error" and why "the Boulder entrepreneurial scene is as healthy as it's ever been."

    

    
    (08/07/08 09:00 PM)

14. Why You Should Have Your Next Business Meeting in Second Life.

    Second Life, the virtual reality site, is reaching out to a new audience: businesses. SL is seeing an uptick in traffic for business meetings, conference calls and classes -- and that's welcome news for a site that has long struggled to retain users.

    How much of your traffic is business and education users?

    (08/05/08 09:01 PM)

15. Interview With Jon Fox of Intense Debate.

    Allen Stern has a great interview up with Jon Fox, the co-founder of Intense Debate.  Jon and Intense Debate were part of the first year's crop of companies from TechStars and are going great guns right now.  They create the comment replacement system that I use on my blog - if you are a blogger and haven't tried it yet, wander on over to Intense Debate and take a look.

    Jon covers a lot of ground in his interview, but I especially like his answer to Allen's last question: "What tips do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?"

    Jon: I would say two things. First, find yourself a mentor, or at least a friend in the business that can help to get you hooked in. If you don't know anybody yet, reach out to a handful. My experience is that these people are generally more than willing to help, and happy to bring someone new into the mix.

    Second, don't be afraid to just dive in. I realize not everyone can do this, but it's really hard to go half way into the startup lifestyle. Recruiting a team, raising money, building a product, etc all require lots of time and effort and you really can't do it only on the weekend. It's a bit scary at first, but once you get in it's tough to believe you've lived any other way.

    As the second year's group of TechStars' companies gear up for investor day in a few weeks, it's fun to ponder how far some of last year's companies have come.

    

    
    (08/04/08 09:01 PM)

16. The Art of Learning. I’ve conducted hundreds of interviews on the Duct Tape Marketing podcast over the last few years and I can’t remember when I’ve had a better time talking with a guest than I did during this show with Josh Waitzkin. It’s not often that an 8-time National Chess Champion, 13-time Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands National [...]
    (08/04/08 09:01 PM)

17. Worker, Interrupted: The Cost of Task Switching.

    Why study interruption?

    I became interested in it from my own personal experience. I moved here from Europe back in 2000. I was stunned by the amount of multitasking that I was doing here in the U.S. and I was wondering if other people were experiencing it as well. Anecdotally, people were reporting they were crushed by all of these different projects. People's lives as information workers involve different kinds of technologies, and they create even more of a force for interruption and different places where we can focus our attention.

    (08/03/08 09:01 AM)

18. BusinessPundit Interview on MarketingSherpa. I interviewed with MarketingSherpa to share some tips on pitching BusinessPundit. Find the interview here. (08/01/08 09:01 PM)

19. Edible Arrangements Puts a Flourish into Fruit: An Intervew with CEO Tariq Farid. Flowers and food go hand-in-hand as traditional pleasure items. What would Valentine’s be without a bouquet and chocolate? What about summer, without lemonade and sunflowers? Enough poetic pondering of the question, and you come up with a fundamental inquiry, the mother of all food and flower combinations: What if you could eat your bouquet? Tariq Farid stumbled [...] (07/31/08 09:01 PM)

20. Goodbye, Mouse. The computer mouse’s days are numbered, according to a Gartner analyst interviewed by BBC: A Gartner analyst predicts the demise of the computer mouse in the next three to five years. Taking over will be so called gestural computer mechanisms like touch screens and facial recognition devices. “The mouse works fine in the desktop environment but [...] (07/30/08 09:01 AM)

21. What Makes a Marketing Champion? An Interview With Matt Strain of Adobe. Matt Strain is director of worldwide relationship marketing at Adobe, where after just three years he is recognized as a Marketing Champion who adds financial value to the company. He has had a distinguished career in technology marketing. He recently took time to share his thoughts about what makes him successful and offered advice to fellow marketers for getting ahead in our challenging and competitive field. (07/29/08 09:01 AM)

22. My podcast on lead generation with Dave Stein. I was was recently interviewed by Dave Stein, CEO and Founder of ES Research Group, and author of How Winners Sell (a great book by the way). During the interview we talk about the following topics: What works to get... (07/25/08 09:01 PM)

23. The 5 Stars of a "Rockstar" Employee. When you say an employee is a “rockstar” you are saying they will have a great future. They are excelling in their job – that’s a given – but to be a rockstar is to say their career is expected to shoot up like a rockstar’s record on the charts! They will scale, and are competent and trusted enough to do well in almost any job. Obviously you want to be a rockstar and you want to hire a rockstar. So what does a rockstar look like? How do you interview for them? On the plane to San Jose this week I started thinking about this, as we’re doing a lot of hiring at Bazaarvoice. In my career I’ve worked with hundreds of people, interviewed a few hundred, and hired over 100 people. A minority of these folks (say 10%) were rockstars, a minority I’d never hire or want to work with (another 10%), and the rest are in the middle. From my perspective, these are the characteristics I saw in the top 10% whom I’d be honored to work with anytime. The 5 stars of a rockstar… 1) Initiative To me, maybe because I see what entrepreneurialism and change leadership can do for an organization, this is the most important characteristic. I’ve posted on this before with my 12 career tips, about taking initiative outside your "triangle" and taking bigger risks. Rockstars must have initiative because someday they will call the shots, and as such they need to be... (07/22/08 09:00 PM)

24. Reporting on w3w3 from Homer, Alaska.

    

    My friend Larry Nelson who with his wife Pat runs w3w3.com interviews me periodically.  I'm always happy to talk to Larry - he's a tireless reporter on the Colorado entrepreneurial scene.  His most recent interview with me happens while I am reclining on my red coach downstairs in my house in Homer, Alaska.

    Note the blue sky in the background.  It's gone now, but it was here for a few days.

    

    
    (07/21/08 09:01 PM)

25. ColoradoBiz TechStars Video Interview #1.

    Part one of a video interview with Mike Cote of ColoradoBiz talking about TechStars.  Get answers to the following questions in under four minutes.

    1. What's the elevator pitch of TechStars (payback for David since he makes all the TechStars teams give their elevator pitches over and over.)

    2. What's the latest crop look like?

    3. Are there any women in TechStars?

    4. How many applicants did you have this year?

    5. What criteria did you use to select them (see me make a nerdy Dungeons and Dragons reference.)

    6. Is it the idea you get excited about?

    Observe also that I have a much larger proboscis than David.

    

    
    (07/03/08 09:00 AM)

26. Coaching Excellence Series Rolls On. My monthly expert interview series continues in July with a live session with David Meerman Scott on Wednesday, July 16th Noon CDT. David is an online thought leadership and viral marketing strategist and author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to use news releases, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing and online media to reach [...]
    (06/30/08 09:00 PM)

27. The Best City for Entrepreneurs. I am doing an interview today with a journalist writing a story about entrepreneurial cities. You’ve probably seen these kinds of articles before, but to me this is such a tough question. What’s the best place to be an entrepreneur? Most of these types of polls take a look at tangible things like access to capital, [...]
    (06/30/08 09:00 AM)

28. George Carlin's last interview... . My friend Jeremy sent me this link: George Carlin's Last Interview. The guy was a genius. h/t to Jeremy. (06/25/08 09:00 AM)

29. How’s Your Personality?. I had a great interview with Rohit Bhargava over at the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. He is a founding member of the 360 Digital Influence team at OgilvyPR, award winning author of The Influential Marketing Blog and author of Personality Non Included, a book that urges business owners to find and communicate a unique voice [...]
    (06/09/08 09:00 PM)

30. Marketing Champions: Interview With Cisco's Luanne Tierney. Luanne Tierney, Senior Director US and Canada Channels Marketing at Cisco, has had a 20-year career in technology marketing?the past 12 years at Cisco, and before that at Apple, HP, and 3Com. She is a "Marketing Champion," because she drives cash flow for Cisco by helping channel partners market more effectively. Excerpted here is her philosophy of leadership in marketing. (05/27/08 09:00 AM)

31. How to Select and Optimize Outsourced Teleprospecting Redux. If you're too busy to listen to my podcast or simply prefer to reading over listening, Sridhar Ramanathan, whom I interviewed on how to select and optimize outsourced teleprospecting partnerships, posted his the talking points on his blog. Pacifica Group:... (05/02/08 09:01 PM)

32. Why did Tata buy Range Rover and Jaguar?.

    As a fan of both Land Rover and Jag, this is a great video interview with a couple of academics on their perspective on how well this acquisition will pay off.

    From: ChristianSarkar.com

    
    

    From a marketing perspective, Tata would be wise to engage the active fan bases of both brands during this process!

    
    (04/23/08 09:01 PM)

33. Which Proposal Would You Rather Evaluate?.

    What do you see when you review your own proposals with an eye toward how they actually look (as opposed to how they read)?  Do you have page after page of text without anything to break up lengthy series of paragraphs? How enticing can that be to the real reviewers who are going to decide whether or not your proposal will make the cut? Reading a proposal is not like reading a fascinating book. Because the language and content of a proposal is often dry and boring, you need to do whatever you can to get reviewers' attention and to make them want to keep reading. One of the best ways to do this is through the use of relevant and attractive graphics.

    Some time ago, my friend Heidi wrote this post on "Getting Started With Proposal Graphics." She gives some good pointers about how to think about and use graphics in proposals even if you are not sure exactly what graphics you are going to use.

    Now The Proposal Guys blog has an interview with the principal of a graphics design firm that specializes in proposal graphics. Years ago, such firms probably didn't even exist. But these days, we often have a limited number of pages in which to tell our proposal story and increased competition for funding. Thus, we need every edge we can get. And good proposal graphics in combination with a well-written proposal can give us that edge.

    One of the things that I like best about this article is the graphic at the very top -- "which proposal would you rather evaluate?"  If this doesn't make a compelling case for the use of graphics in proposals, I'm not sure what does.

    So get out your crayons..

    (04/18/08 09:01 AM)

34. Podcast: How to Select and optimize Outsourced Teleprospecting. More companies than ever are outsourcing operational lead generation processes and teleprospecting functions, however there is very little information on how to select, engage, and measure these vendors who will add that essential human touch. I just interviewed Sridhar Ramanathan,... (04/16/08 09:00 AM)

35. Marketers and Automobile University.

    I remember listening to a Zig Ziglar tape (yes, this was a while ago, college perhaps...~10 years ago) where he brought up the terms "automobile university". I've never forgotten that term and as I'm speaking to more and more diverse groups of marketers who tell me that they 'simply don't have time to read', I'm inclined to recommend that they too enroll in Automobile University.

    Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar coined the term "Automobile University" to describe how time spent in traffic can be used to educate yourself on a variety of subjects. Using audiobooks in your car is a great way to learn almost anything from finance to philosophy, literature to languages. In a year, the average driver can learn about as much as a college student attending a year's worth of classes.

    What's that, you ask? Well, if you're looking for the how-to, you can certainly read this super-helpful piece in e-how. Although, I think that by stating books on CD or podcasts and books on iPod are the likely the best learning devices for time-starved marketers and that listening to any of these in your car on the way to work, to a client or in the airport/on the plane is the best way to keep up on what's new in marketing.

    The next question I get is "what should I be listening to?" Well, here's a few ideas:

    1. Why don't more marketing authors release their books as audiobooks? Now, I'm not sure about the market dynamics of this (perhaps it's cost prohibitive?) but when you look for books with "Marketing" in the title in the audiobooks section of iTunes, you find only 39 titles. So, that's one place to start. Now, not every great marketing book has "marketing" in the title, but look at that list of books you should read that you've been sitting on for a while and see if you can't find a few of those in iTunes and download them.

    2. There are GREAT marketing podcasts out there. There are over 200 podcasts on iTunes that are some how related to marketing, business or PR. You can only choose a few and still keep up a sane listening schedule. Here are a few good ones:
    .....Joseph Jaffe's podcast
    .....Duct Tape Marketing with John Jantsch
    .....any of the other 200 or so podcasts in iTunes that trip your fancy

    3. The AMA Marketing Matters Live radio show and podcasts. Great guests, a great host and solid interviews. Always timely and always helpful. A must listen!

    
    (04/04/08 09:00 PM)

36. Podcast: A new role for sales as expert content filters. I just had a great interview with Robin Carey, co-founder of the The Customer Collective. Salespeople have become the second choice for information among buyers who'd rather just go to the Internet. But this actually creates opportunity for those who... (03/26/08 09:00 PM)

37. Key Personnel Blurbs.

    That's what I'm working on now as part of the Staffing Plan that I'm writing for my client's recompete proposal. I always find it kind of amusing when I have to do this, because writing blurbs is the first thing that I was assigned to do when I was learning to write proposals about a billion years ago. Although they are boring to prepare, good key personnel blurbs are critical if you want to have a winning proposal. 

    I've talked about blurbs in an earlier post and also provided an example of one. For this particular proposal, I have to prepare blurbs for several key people. Each blurb is about one page long but may eventually need to be shortened to 3/4 of a page due to space constraints. When writing each blurb, I keep a hard copy of the person's resume on my desk and go through it several times. My objective is to identify the types of work and activities that the candidate has performed that are similar to the work that will need to be done for the proposed project and that meet the evaluation criteria set forth in the RFP/RFA. I then try to summarize, paraphrase and emphasize each key person's qualifications, skills and experience with the aim of pursuading the proposal reviewers that this individual is indeed the best-qualified person to perform the work. 

    Some people's resumes don't contain enough information for a good blurb. In those cases, you or someone else on the proposal team may need to interview the candidate to gather more specific information. Most likely, the resume may need to be re-written as well.  

    Writing blurbs may seem like an easy task, but it's not. It's time-consuming and it's often difficult to make someone sound like they are the most wonderful person in the world. But that's what a blurb is all about.

    (03/11/08 09:01 AM)

38. 20 Articles on Social Commerce & Word of Mouth. I haven't kept up the pace of posts here compared to previous years. Part of this is because it's been an exciting, busy year. But the other cause is my writing time is fractured between this Decker Marketing blog, our company blog (Bazaarblog) and writing other articles / columns. So, I thought I'd point you to articles I wrote elsewhere over the past year or so that you might find interesting... Some of my columns on iMedia Connection: The Big Idea Behind Social Commerce How to Market Social Media to Execs Get Web Analysis Fundamentals Right Positives About Negative Product Reviews Other articles / interviews: Word of Mouth and Your Business: Bridge the Gap Bazaarvoice's Sam Decker on Fueling WOM Implementation Social Commerce Interview with Sam Decker Sam Decker on Customer Centricity and Culture Selected blog entries from Bazaarblog: Why Customers Write Reviews Can Customers Trust Online Reviews? The NPV of Reviews 16 Insights from Ted Leonsis (AOL) Summary of Answers for "What about Negative Reviews?" New Frame of Reference: Value is in the Quality of Co-Creation 18 Customer-Created Marketing & Merchandising Tactics 10 Clues You have a Marketing ROI Culture "Operationalize" Customer Centricity A Story of Customer Centricity: Discovering Your Customerrs' Perspective Defining Social Commerce The "Waggle Dance" and 7 Steps to Reaching Customer Centricity (12/26/07 09:01 PM)

39. Thought Leadership Marketing is Market Focused.

    Steven Van Yoder posted an excellent summary of how Cisco embeds thought leadership marketing into its culture and plays off this philosophy as its marketing mainstay.

    Most companies give lipservice to TLM the same way that few marketers understand the fundamentals of marketing in that the 'product focus' mentality of the twenties is dead and that we're still very much in the era of 'market focus'.

    Therein lies the inherent power of Thought Leadership Marketing - It's market focused and puts the needs of the market first. More to the point, it puts the credibility, reputation and growth of the company truly in the hands of the customers. Thought Leadership is bestowed upon a company by its customers - it cannot be created in a vacuum without an intuitive revervence for the market or markets served.

    Specific to Cisco, and others that use Thought Leadership Marketing, there are a few keys that make TLM what it is:

    1. Leadership demands that every executive establish and nurture his or her own reputation for thought leadership
    2. Pursue blogging, public speaking, and writing articles
    3. Become an industry purveyor of executive thought leadership
    4. Align your website with with links to research reports, papers, podcasts, interviews and other content from around the industry which supports and furthers your TLM position
    5. Publish newseltters for customer segments and the industry in general
    6. Host thought leadership events that bring together academia, industry, goverment and customers to address very specific topics related to your business and industry

    That is not a be-all end all list to be sure, but it's a heck of a start on your Thought Leadership Marketing strategy.

    
    (10/04/07 09:01 PM)

40. Be Competent, Curious, Creative & Entrepreneurial. I was interviewing a candidate the other day and we agreed on something that is a truism. The resume is 5% of the equation to hiring great people. I once hired a Web Producer at Dell who was responsible for the Systems / PC portion of the web site (multi-billion dollars of online business). She never bought anything online and didn't own a computer at home. But...she was competent, curious, creative, and entrepreneurial (meaning she took initiative). She analyzed metrics, came up with new ideas (curious/creative), could articulate and prioritize those ideas (competent), and quickly execute. She knew how her role impacted the business and customer and took initiative to maximize that opportunity. She turned out to be, in my opinion, the best Web Producer Dell ever had. But her resume didn't say that. My two recommendations: Hire an interview people based on these factors -- general competence, curiosity creativity and entrepreneurism (proof of taking initiative) Be those things yourself to move your career forward I once talked with a COO who said his job was to 'fill the voids'. I'd add to that and say it is also to identify the voids. Any employee can recognize existing gaps when something is broken. Few people identify strategic gaps that are unseen. Few employees are 'maximizers'. So, the few that are stand out! Managers especially should identify the missing opportunity for the business, take initiative, be the leader, pull together people and resources to get it done, and follow through. In... (10/02/07 09:00 PM)

41. It's Been a While. A Few Updates.... Wow...am I overdue for writing on my blog or what!?. It's been busy since the last post. Lots of traveling, tradeshows, etc. We raised $8.8M at Bazaarvoice, after becoming a profitable company several months ago and launching in the UK. We launched several new capabilities and have been hiring (interviewing) like crazy. Some other things keep me busy such as leading Austin Texchange, the Board of WOMMA, contributing magazine columns, and being an advisor to a few companies. My first blog priority has been to our company blog at www.bazaarblog.com (around social commerce and word of mouth). My 4-year old Decker Marketing blog has suffered. But now, after completing our biggest tradeshow of the year and an overdue vacation, I'm feeling a bit refreshed... Rarely do I share a "personal update", but this is a big one...we're expecting our third child! In March we will have a 10 year old, 8 year old, and a newborn. It will be like starting over! My wife and I talked about it for two years and talked to a lot of families who had a big birth separation with no regrets. My friend, Thom Singer, is the youngest in a family of 8 kids (I think). He said it was a great growing up with older brothers and sisters, and reminded me that our older kids are built-in baby sitters. My wife and I were anxious at first (we'd lose our newly-gained freedom from baby care), but now we know what we're doing... (09/26/07 09:01 PM)

42. Six Must-Ask Interview Questions. http://content.monster.com/articles/3478/19162/1/home.aspx?WT.mc_n=MNL000283 (08/03/07 09:00 PM)

43. Inquiry management and search marketing strategy. BtoB Magazine's Carol Krol interviewed Kevin Lee, executive chairman of Did-it Search Marketing on Effective Search Strategies. I first met Kevin when we were both were speakers at MarketingSherpa's Lead Generation Summit in 2004. I liked what Kevin had to... (07/30/07 09:01 PM)

44. 9 1/2 Ways... to Generate and Follow Leads. Marketing writer David Ward shares 9 ½ techniques to generate leads without spending too much. I was interviewed for this short article along with Bob Bly, Tino Buntic and Guy Maser. If you're involved in a complex sale, I'm sure... (07/30/07 09:01 PM)

45. Tips for CIO / CMO Relationships. Forrester just published an in depth research paper titled Partnering for Success: The CIO - CMO Relationship They interviewed me months ago for this paper based on my experience working with IT in startups and Dell. Bottom line: the most important aspect to good relationships is open and frequent communication. Here was the sidebar on my answers to these questions:How can CMOs and CIOs build a more effective partnership? In my experience, there are four key principles for a culture ofeffectiveness: 1) agreement and accountability, 2) face-to-face work with no “over the fence” mentality; 3) open communications andsharing of plans and results; and 4) investment by the CIO, CMO, and their employees to build relationships. What can marketers learn from their IT peers? Marketers can learn that IT is interested in how its solutions impact the business and customer, and, by sharing this, IT is more invested in their work and have a better understanding of requirements. IT thinks in terms of architecture and how things are done. It needs to fully understand the spirit, intent, and detailed requirements of what needsto be done in order to avoid missteps. The more that marketing shares with IT, the better.... (07/18/07 09:01 AM)

46. Disruptors Video: Turning Bits Into Atoms (Desktop Factory). This week's New Disruptors video is up. I visited Desktop Factory, an Idealab startup in LA, and interviewed CEO Cathy Lewis as well as Idealab CEO Bill Gross. Most people probably remember Idealab from the 40-some Internet startups it launched in the late 1990s. Those included some duds like eToys. But also some major home runs like CitySearch and GoTo.com (which pioneered the concept of paid-search advertising, became Overture, and was eventually bought by Yahoo). I was surprised to learn that Idealab has a lot of atoms businesses these days (as opposed to bits businesses), including Desktop Factory. Desktop Factory is developing a 3-D printer for the masses. It literally prints out three-dimensional objects made from a gray plastic powder. Most rapid-prototyping machines cost $50,000 and up. When Desktop starts selling its machines later this year, they will cost $5,000. And they eventually want to get them down to $1,000. Not only will more businesses be able to use 3-D printers to iterate their designs faster, but consumers will be able to afford them too. I'm sure this will be a niche business at first, but I can also imagine all of those Second Lifers printing out their avatars and all the virtual clothing, buildings, and vehicles that they already design online. Gross and Lewis want to encourage users to share or sell 3-D CAD designs online, so that people can find objects online to download and print as well. Watch the video. (Full transcript after the break):... (07/06/07 09:00 PM)

47. "50 Who Matter" Radio Interviews. I recently did a long radio interview on an Atlanta-based talk show called Technology for Business Sake. The topic was our July cover story: The 50 Who Matter Now. I talk about how the list was put together, and discuss some of the people who made it, including Steve Jobs, the Fake Steve Jobs, Susan Decker, Michael Moritz, Arrianna Huffington, and Mark Zuckerberg—and those who didn't—like Bill Gates and Kevin Rose. (Rose, as it happens, came in No. 9 in our reader poll, after attracting an impressive 295,314 votes. We decided to put Digg CEO Jay Adelson on the list, instead of going with the more predictable choice). I also did a WSJ Radio interview on the same topic. I start about a third of the way in.... (07/05/07 09:00 PM)

48. Podcast: Interview with MarketingSherpa's Anne Holland. Are you a technology marketer who’d like to be inspired by fresh ideas for marketing and lead generation tactics? If so, MarketingSherpa just released their “Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007-08” and I had the privilege to interview, Managing Editor... (06/29/07 09:00 PM)

49. 10 Mistakes Managers Make During Job Interviews. http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/careerArticlesPost.html?post=138 (06/26/07 09:01 AM)

50. How to Harness Word of Mouth (Article from MyCustomer.com). When I got back from London I got a call from Neil Davey from MyCustomer.com, who interviewed me for this article... Quoted from http://www.mycustomer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=133068: Everybody's talking: how to harness word of mouth marketing - 14 Jun 2007 By Neil Davey, editor Word of mouth marketing and customer advocacy have got a lot of people talking in recent years. Studies by the likes of the London School of Economics have found that word of mouth advocacy is a statistically significant predictor of annual sales growth. And this has generated no little excitement in marketing departments around the globe. Nurturing and harnessing this powerful medium has therefore become a growing imperative. As a board member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, and VP of word of mouth marketing firm Bazaarvoice.com, few are more aware of the surge in interest in this field than Sam Decker. Read More --... (06/18/07 09:03 PM)

51. My Interview on Invincibelle.com!. Invincibelle.com just put up an interview they did with me. Check it out here and then check out the rest of the interesting interviews and site features. It's a very cool place and I am honored to be included. Invincibelle.com... (06/14/07 09:01 AM)

52. Podcast: The New Rules of Marketing & PR Interview with David Meerman Scott . Before the Internet and social media tools, companies could only communicate through the filter of advertising or media ink placed by a PR firm. But fortunately the rules have changed. I just interviewed David Meerman Scott author the new book,... (06/08/07 09:01 AM)

53. Favorite interview questions to ask?. I'm getting ready to interview some people and was wondering what are some of your favorite interview questions? Ones that I really like to ask are: 1.) Tell me about the last 3 books you read 2.) Tell me how you handled a difficult situation at work? 3.) What moment are you least proud of? 4.) What moment are you most proud of? Sort of typical, sadly, however I'm looking more at generating a conversation... (04/27/07 09:01 PM)

54. Podcast: Lead Generation via Podcasts: An Interview With Paul Dunay. Are you interested in podcasting to create demand and generate leads? I interviewed Paul Dunay, Director of Global Field Marketing for BearingPoint. Paul also writes the insightful Buzz Marketing for Technology Blog. This year, Paul is going to do over... (04/19/07 09:00 AM)

55. A Little Creativity, Please? . I write about it a lot, and talk about it all the time with clients. Being creative is possibly one of the most important aspects of success in the sales profession. Listen to my interview with Clayton Shold of Salesopedia... (04/06/07 09:01 AM)

56. Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. I recently did a phone interview on Lead Generation for the Complex Sale with Nettie Hartsock for Allbusiness.com's Must Read Business Books column. The brief interview covered the following topics: Who are the right people to engage? Do you have... (02/28/07 09:00 AM)

57. Podcast: Interview on the Cullinane & Green Report. I was interviewed by podcasting experts Joe Cullinane and Roger Green on the Cullinane Green Report. I encourage you to check out their other interviews with Mike Bosworth, author of Solution Selling and co-author of CustomerCentric Selling and Jackie Huba... (02/28/07 09:00 AM)

58. Podcast: What Sales Really Needs From Marketing. John Jantsch, small business marketing expert and author of Duct Tape Marketing recently interviewed me and sales expert Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies about what sales really needs from marketing. This podcast was conducted for the marketing... (02/28/07 09:00 AM)

59. Podcast: Tradeshow and Event Marketing with Ruth Stevens. Are you finding that trade shows or events are a “waste of time” for lead generation? You may want to think again. I interviewed Ruth Stevens, author of Trade Show and Event Marketing, to get her views on what marketing... (02/28/07 09:00 AM)

60. Podcast: Marketing and Sales for Big Complex Selling (pt 3). I wanted to share the final installment from the podcast series I did with 800-CEO-READ. In this podcast, Todd interviewed me and Jill Konrath on the critical interface between marketing and sales. Here's what Todd says about it: Here is... (02/28/07 09:00 AM)

61. How to Put Customer Oxygen In Your Company – FREE Teleseminar (2/22/07). On February 28th at 4:00PM CST, Linda Ford of Ford Business Consulting is interviewing me in a teleseminar titled How to Use Customer Oxygen to Breathe New Life into Your Business! This is a a topic I feel very passionate about, and have written about in my blog and DM News. I’ll share principles and learnings from my experiences in four startups and 7 years at Dell leading change initiatives and customer-centricity strategy. Topics include: Why customer feedback isn't enough How your culture will change if customer centricity is real What works (and what doesn't) to get customer oxygen into your organization How to get everyone in your organization focused on the customers' needs How to make your business more successful by putting your customers to work And learn about the Peacock and Woodpeck (verbs) I believe customer-generated content can drive more than merchandising and marketing strategies. It can impact multiple layers in the culture and company strategy. I believe that only happens by operationalizing the customer voice in your employees day to day and showing operational results. Listen in to hear more. Register here and put it on your calendar. And post a pre-seminar question here.... (02/20/07 08:59 AM)

62. Career Tip #7: Connect to a Visible Brand. Sometimes it's helpful to have something recognizable on your resume. My first interview with Dell in early ‘99 was for managing Dell’s Small Business site. I was a finalist with someone who had no online experience. But, she had worked at Coca Cola and Deloitte. So, the small business division ended up choosing her. Fortunately, they liked me enough to refer me to the Consumer division for a peer position. I was hired and enjoyed a prosperous career at Dell. What happened to her? Well, long story short, she didn’t receive her two year appreciation certificate. Did you go to a well-known school, work for a well known company, work on a visible project, or work for a well-respected person? If so, you have an advantage. This is a tip that goes under the “do as I say, not as I do” category. Prior to Dell I helped launch and grow three startups you probably n ever heard of (User Group Connection, ThirdAge.com, Telepost). I appreciate what I learned from these companies, but the names didn’t help open doors. I’ve seen less talented people get through the door because of the brands listed on their resume. As unfortunate as that is, it’s an obvious advantage considered for a job or promotion.... (01/15/07 09:00 AM)

63. Bullseye Interview: Rich Lloyd (President, Peruvian Connection). As part of the Marketing Bullseye series I will interview people who 'get it'. Rich Lloyd is one of those people. Rich Lloyd and I worked together for 7 years at Dell. While I ran the consumer web site, he built the email and My Account capabilities for Dell. When I ran Consumer CRM, he was leading Dell's Global database infrastructure CRM efforts. Rich has an extensive background in database and direct marketing and has a Harvard MBA. That's enough to say he knows his stuff. And on a personal note, he's an all-around good guy! Rich recently joined Peruvian Connection, a multi-channel hig-end apparel retailer, as President. Rich understands measurability and word of mouth, and looks to several key principles to get as much return from imited resources as possible. Here are a few questions I posed to Rich. When you joined Peruvian Connection, how did you figure out what was or could be the most effective marketing? A big part of this decision was looking at historical performance and realizing we'd had a successful, but fairly one-dimensional marketing approach. A beautiful and efficient catalog had been successful, but was tapping out in terms of reach, and needing to be augmented with a broader portfolio of marketing tools with different price points and different audience reach. Online marketing, in particular was an attractive area to ramp quickly on both of these dimensions. eMail and search have been very efficient and effective thus far. What key principles would you suggest... (10/22/06 09:01 PM)

64. Just like other bloggers. So, why does Hugh have so much traffic? Consider this thought from an interview we just did: It's so easy for a blogger to try to be like other bloggers, merely because there's so much input available. Resist!... (08/26/06 09:03 PM)

65. What happens to radio?. I did an interview with Mark Ramsey about the future of radio. Here's a little squib about the four ways I think the medium might go: Scenario A: Everyone has Wi-Fi or WiMAX in their car. Once that happens, we're... (08/23/06 09:01 PM)

66. What Basic Information Goes in a Press Release?. In addition to the news itself, your press release should indicate where your company is headquartered and who to contact for more information ; or to set up an interview. Both of those things, along ...
    
    (08/22/06 09:00 PM)

67. Fun at Work. Being connected and engaged at work increases productivity - Lori RichardsonMy fellow All Business blogger, Lisa Haneberg, who is a great management consultant and author of the new book, Focus Like a Laser Beam, interviewed me on the power of... (07/29/06 02:29 PM)

68. DirectIndustry, or Direct Access?. On the last page of July's Test & Measurement World, there is an interview with Corentin Thiercelin, CEO of DirectIndustry.com. I haven't talked much about DirectIndustry here, but it is a directory targeting world-wide B2B supply.
    
    The interview is typical of what you would expect, with bits like this:
    
    

    "Google is so exhaustive that it can sometimes lack the order and logic necessary for professionals to compare products and brands effectively. As a search engine specialized for industry, DirectIndustry returns this order to the search, saving professionals time and headaches."

    
    Info-commerce geeks and directory clients who read this blog should find the article somewhat interesting, which is part of the reason why I've posted it. This article leaves me with three questions, however:
    1. Is this good content?
    I've praised T&MW's content here before, but why this piece? Are engineers interested in the business of directories? The page subject is "Viewpoint, An exclusive interview with a technical leader". The most interesting part may be that Corentin was once a test engineer, which is why his website is lopsided towards test.
    
    2. Is this a play to an advertiser?
    DirectIndustry has been running a series of ads in T&MW celebrating their growth and longevity--is this why this interview is here? It's lack of typical editorial relevance smacks of direct access for advertisers. And the interview is all about his company, not really the 'role of the Web in purchasing decisions', as the intro promises.
    
    3. What about loyalty to KellySearch?
    T&MW is a Reed publication, which also owns KellySearch.com, a DirectIndustry competitor. T&MW has KellySearch as a tool on its website. Are the editors passive-aggressive towards their forced association with Kelly? Or trying to look unbiased?
    
    What do you think? (07/29/06 02:28 PM)

69. Seth Godin Q&A on Blogging and Marketing. Since I interviewed Guy (#2 marketing blog), I thought I'd ask Seth (#1 marketing blog) to answer some questions. I met Seth Godin in the early 90's searching for a book expert for advice as I wrote my first book. This was just before Seth became the marketing guru he is known as now (after Permission Marketing). He's a lot more busy and popular now, but he is as gracious to answer questions now as he was back then. (Note: Now that I have the top two bloggers, maybe I should interview all the other bloggers who have more popular blog than mine until I can get back to interviewing myself! #21 :-) Which blog posts have gotten you the most impact (not necessarily traffic, but actual personal or business impact), and why?Actually, it's not a post by post thing. There's no question in my mind that it's cumulative. Do a google search for MARKETING CHOCOLATE and there I am. Go figure. It adds up. And over time, it tells a story. You can't fib for four years...Here's how I'd summarize the main points in your books...feel free to modify these. Permission Marketing = customer is in control. Idea Virus = ignite consumer networks. Purple Cow = be remarkable. Marketing are Liars = tell a story. What's next? What else?I have actually tried to summarize my books at www.squidoo.com/seth {note from sam: there is a download there for Seth's new ebook, Flipping the Funnel} What are the three biggest mistakes... (07/29/06 02:28 PM)

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