So much to talk about but so pressed for time.

Spring is a time of intensity. Things seem to take on frenetic pace as though we want to cram in as much energy as possible when it is so available.  

Lots of tech marketing activity – as always. Lots of new “social media” activity – as always. Lots of things to distract and entertain – as always. 

I have been quiet here for a few weeks mostly because I have been absorbing it all. I have pondering the complexities of copyright in the digital age. I have turned over in my mind the practical concepts of The Trust Web. I consider how to help fix the systemic security issues in the delivery of online advertising.    

In short, so many things are blossoming at once that I find myself basking the thrill of it all. The work I am doing now in social media is delivering metric based results for brands. Since I treat social media like direct marketing, I can deliver campaigns that a brand understands how to work with. It is refreshing for them.  

There are some exciting projects in the near horizon, like the initiative to create security standards for the online ad world. Or the possibility of a social/ DM platform for campaign creation.  And the growth of our network called MingleMediaTV so that even though it just a few weeks old it has began to rank well in Alexa.  

So many possibilities. So much to learn. So little time it seems.  

But it’s what makes Spring so wonderful and I am enjoying the ride.  

Judy Shapiro

Is Chris Brogan worth $22,000 a day? You bet… BUT.

This was too tempting a subject to pass because of the reaction to the revelation that Chris Brogan (celebrity blogger and author of book; Trust Agents”) gets a consulting fee of $22,000 a day.

My initial reaction to the news was a simple “A bi gazhunt” to Chris which is Yiddish for “be well”, but really means “My hats off to you”. Why shouldn’t a company pay him $22,000 if it will save them 10x that if they try and learn about this stuff blind.

But this revelation from Chris launched a vibrant conversation with a diverse range of opinions from indignation to envy to those who shared my personal reaction; “well done”.

The topic was quickly losing interest for me except Chris himself came out to declare this was the; “smartest post yet about my pricing post:http://bit.ly/aP4l9w (anchoring. Neat term!)”. I was curious so I went to check it out and in this post, the author believes that Chris now set the “anchor point” – a water mark for what “this stuff goes for”.

Whoa Nellie – this is when this conversation went silly for me.

I don’t buy for a second that Chris’ rate establishes anything, and certainly not an anchor point unless of course you want to be totally self serving. Chris is able to garner these fees TODAY because expertise in this area is still at a premium and there are few credible sources. In about a year, when there will be more “supply”, the rates will adjust accordingly.

And oh BTW – here’s another reality. Chris has to charge so much for a day of consulting because there’s not a lot of repeat business consulting on social marketing. This stuff is not hard and after you’ve told them the basics they are usually good to go. He has to extract as much as he can from them because it’s probably a 1x only appearance.

If you doubt this truth of this conclusion – think about it for a moment.  Would Chris have to create the “The Third Tribe” service or his New Marketing Labs or all his other self promotion stuff if he could regularly snag “two or three” gigs like that a month? I don’t know about you, but if I could reliably do $500K/ year by working 24 days – I wouldn’t be doing all the other stuff or maybe I wouldn’t be charging anything at all to most, (and I cheerfully congratulate Chris on how much of his smarts is freely available).

Chris was clever to have cultivated credibility in a space that became very important very quickly. This is a quintessential case of right place at the right time and he is milking it for every thing it is worth. I congratulate him on his skill and luck. But let’s not see his fee success as anything more than a temporarily aberrant blimp in time and it is certainly no anchor point. Hey, if tomorrow someone figures out that they can substantially grow their business learning the secrets of Hasidic philosophical spirituality – then I’ll be worth $42,000 a day! But only for a while. I know I’ll milk it as long as I can.

Judy Shapiro

The Marketing Measurement Maze: measuring marketing is a mess.

Forgive the illustrative nature of the headline  – but I had to laugh out loud about this whole thing or else I would cry.

This post is a follow up to my previous post about how fragile measuring marketing technology really is based on a real time experience I was having with Technorati regarding the authority ranking of this blog.    Unhappily, my initial concerns about marketing measurement were realized so it is worth recapping.

About a week ago, by accident, I learn that according to Technorati this blog, getting a mere 1,000 visitors a month, vaulted 4x in authority rankings to about 400 when previously I ranked about 100. For about a week, I jumped up and down a few times going between 400 and then 600 (see pictures in my previous post).I contacted Technorati and told them I think there is a glitch. I got a very polite answer to tell me they are updating their rankings system and some blogs are radically shifting in position as a result.  Sounded rather fuzzy to me, but hey – what do I know?

After that response, over the course of the next 3 days, my blog bounced around some more in the 400 to 600 range and then yesterday I seem to have settled back into my original humble ranking of about 100. OK – I think – that sounds more reasonable – except now I am not even listed in the directory at all!

I went from a blogger superstar to a non entity in just three days and it is still not “unglitched”.

To put this into perspective, I get that when you are making improvement to a site, things go weird for a bit. But since Technorati is largely viewed as the authority on blogging ranking (and thus ad value), this whole episode is ample proof of the sorry state of measuring marketing efficacy. You often can’t trust the measurement data because of innocent technology glitches and then you have no way to verify the accuracy of the measurement reporting data you’re getting.

While it’s tempting to brush this aside as some little blimp in the world of marketing measurement – you can’t because the financial consequences can be significant. Imagine if my blog was a commerce oriented site or if I am advertiser trying to assess what’s the audience reach of all these blogs. Such variations in rankings can mean a lot of money gets spent or not depending on which side of the glitch you happen to fall on.  And this type of glitch is just the tip of the iceberg. I have seen measurement issues across the marketing landscape from traffic reporting to ad buys to data you get from PPD or CPL marketing programs.

Bottom line. It’s time to get serious about measuring marketing efficacy. Now it is a mess!

Judy Shapiro