Why you are wrong about marketing automation

Content Marketing - Marketing Automation - Drip Marketing - Lead Nurturing - Inbound Marketing...

Great buzzwords for those of us in marketing, but is there really anything behind all of it?

Yes, but also no.

What I mean by this is there is great power behind the marketing machine, but only if you are making your content and automation decisions based on data. Too many marketers are doing things like listening to the CEO or other non-experts that tell them they need to send out more emails, or worse, they need to do a newsletter? Seriously, if you are still doing a corporate newsletter stop right now.

Ok, so that is a pretty simple example but the reality is a lot of marketers still operate this way - they are creating content  based on what internal forces are telling them they need to do to push a message, yet Inbound Marketing only works if you take the time to listen to what your audience wants. Your ears in this case are data points that are collected via the socialsphere, your website analytics, your email metrics, your automation tool and also your CRM system. That is a lot of places to gather information, but your audience is that diverse. You may think you are only targeting a very niche audience - but is that person with buying authority doing the front end research to get your brand top of mind? Is that person with buying authority that lives in Silicon Valley responding to marketing the same way someone on wall street does? In most cases the answer is no.

But here is the thing most of us don't like to hear (especially our CEOs) this all takes time. I know we go to conferences and hear stories about how company X created a really cool infographic and all of a sudden the floodgates opened and leads started pouring in and it led to to the company increasing revenue 500% in 6 months and all sorts of other crap. The truth is it does not work this way - you need to look at what your existing data tells you and start creating multiple content pieces targeting what you think the audience wants to hear (most important thing to note, they sure is hell don't want to hear a sales pitch). Create the data and put it out there and collect more data to see what is working and then create more content and constantly refine that way - then use that content and refine and repackage - wash, rinse, repeat.

Don't worry about how it fits in your nurture flow - because if you have a 20 step campaign that takes someone down a path of highly refined timed emails that you created no one is ever going to get to step 20 and if they do the content you provide them at that point is already going to be a bit dated. You need to always be creating new, fresh content - you need to stop thinking like a marketer and start thinking like a publisher. You need to develop editorial calendars that are there, but not set in stone and leave flexibility for market changes. You need a writing and editorial staff (you don't necessarily need to hire new, but you need a commitment from internal thought leaders that they will hit assigned deadlines. You need design creatives. You need to create a listening and responding machine (you can't let a blog go dormant for years like I did here).

I know none of this is earth shattering, but I see way too much marketing garbage that I had to speak out and bring this blog back to life.

Be a CRM Smart Marketer

Your CRM system, often the bane of a sales reps existence is a vital tool for the progressive marketing department. While sales teams utilize the tool to forecast and track opportunities through the sales funnel smart marketers are leveraging the data held within the vault to influence and drive their marketing decisions.

As marketing continues its quick shift to metrics and ROI based activities it is important to know what impact you can drive throughout the sales process.

It is easy to set a few lead source options and build out a few basic campaigns to dump names into – but what is this doing for you? What does the data mean other than marketing was able to throw a few accepted leads over the wall? How often does that initial lead that attended a webinar turn out to be the catalyst tied to the opportunity? Was that webinar even worth the money spent? If yes, why?

Marketers, specifically those in Marketing Ops roles need to work in tight symmetry with their sales counterparts. They need to understand the data going into the CRM system and follow closely as the leads convert and opportunities materialize to understand the true impact their team is having. Following is a simple list of things you can get in place now to better understand what is going on with your leads and what influence you may have over all deals in the pipe.

1)    Go beyond lead source – if you have an internal sales development team work with them on the lead triage process. From there build out a field within your CRM system that measures the “Reason for Engagement” that propelled the team member to make the call that landed the meeting. You could have a lead living in your system for months that suddenly became warm based on a drip campaign – while you may not have been responsible for the lead source you are responsible for the lead moving to the next stage.

2)    Track both engagement and source – as stated above marketing is not always responsible for bringing in the lead that matters the most – but by creating reports that track both engagement and source you will get a bigger picture of the percentage of deals closing that were touched by marketing.

3)    Utilize a marketing automation tool – my recommendation would be to use one that integrates cleanly into your CRM of choice. Aside from creating the drip campaigns and landing pages, when utilized to its fullest a marketing automation tool can provide a wealth of touch point data that can be rolled up to give you a clearer understanding of how many times and ways marketing touched the deal before it crossed the finish line.

4)    Use Campaigns – if you are going to do something – make sure you can track it. Campaigns are a good resource in understanding how your marketing activities are truly performing. Was that event that only had 30 attendees a bust? Not if 1/3 of the attendees resulted in generating opportunities. Same goes with that awesome webinar that had 1,000 attendees – unfortunately sales rejected 90%+ of them because they were bad titles or in the wrong industries. In addition by setting multiple statuses within your campaigns you can get a better understanding of where the leads are and what they are biting on – linking your marketing automation tool to the campaign can seamlessly integrate this process.

5)    Create a dashboard – if you are going to track everything, your data will need a home. Some CRM systems offer the ability to create dashboards which is very beneficial in getting all your reports in one clean snapshot – but I recommend taking this further and entering your data into a spreadsheet (so archaic I know) – this way you will have everything you need lined up weekly so you can monitor trends and react and plan accordingly. Track your responses, your lead acceptance, pipeline contribution, reason for engagement and their impact on meetings scheduled and occurring, look at each general area and its effect (email, web, webinar, event, etc). But don’t look at marketing in a vacuum – look at what sales is doing without marketing’s influence and see if you can draw out data. Do marketing leads convert to meetings faster? Do marketing generated ops close quicker? If you have the data you have the answers.

6)    Play nice – everyone has a difficult job – everyone is strapped for time. If you step down from the Ivory tower you will see that sales is on your side, but you need to understand what drives a seller. You are more likely to get more people on board and filling out the fields accurately if you are providing results.

11 things to consider when evaluating Marketing Automation

With all the hype swirling around about Marketing Automation it is easy to get caught in the buzz, or think you are missing out. The fact is… you are.

I am a big advocate of using marketing automation as a tool to support marketing programs like management of demand generation campaigns, improving quality of leads to sales, email blasts, lead nurturing, lead scoring and analytics. Now, Marketing Automation won’t do this alone, it is a larger part of the overall marketing program – but it is one that needs great emphasis and attention.

No longer are B2B marketers just judged on awareness and throwing any lead over the fence and then passing the buck to sales. Today’s marketer needs to demonstrate a greater impact on the pipeline and produce quantifiable ROI. While we still need to make the flashy brochure, be at the right shows, launch targeted webcasts, produce high quality websites, launch social media campaigns, give attention to SEO and SEM, etc… we are being asked to do even more every day.

Marketing Automation tools make this a much easier task. As someone who has used many and recently went through the process of  selecting a new vendor after working with a different platform many years I thought I might share a list of some of the important questions to be thinking about while evaluating vendors and their unique technologies. Some of these will be obvious to some, but I am hoping this might spur a few “a-ha” moments to those of you looking at the multitude of tools available to you today.

11 Things to Consider:

1)    Will you be able to dedicate a full time person to managing this tool? (some tools require a more technical person to administer, while they can be quite powerful be aware of the additional investment)

2)    Do you have the in-house talent to design templates, or will you need to outsource? (some tools make it easier to quickly design landing pages and emails, but note they can only do so much without the proper touch of an experienced design professional)

3)    How accessible do you want this data for your sales team? (some technologies allow almost full visibility with their enhanced CRM integration, but often times at an additional financial cost)

4)    How many licenses will you need? (consider the point above, also,  what level will sales need, what about product management and other teams that send large volumes of emails)

5)    What CRM system are you using? Are you using a CRM system? (many of these tools are best used with a specific CRM system, make sure you make clear up front what tool you are using)

6)    Will you want to host the forms/landing pages on your site, through the automation tool or your CRM? (this is important when considering flow to sales/CRM and ease of form creation)

7)    What other technologies beyond CRM are you using, will they integrate? (pretty straight-forward)

8)    Will they give relevant references? (what customers switched to them from another vendor you are looking at, what other companies are in your industry, your size, your place in the cycle when launching)

9)    How robust a tool do you really need? (will you be using this just as an email blast tool, how many emails will you be sending, will you be scoring leads, will you be creating multi-threaded nurturing campaigns, will you use landing pages, will you integrate your PPC program, do you need advanced integration into CRM, etc)

10)    Is the vendor innovating? (is this a tool with buzz for all the right reasons, do the references look forward to what is coming next or is this a company resting on name recognition)

11)    Have you evaluated enough vendors? (sure, you might fall in love at first site, this happened a couple times in the evaluation process for me – but I wanted to throw you a list of names I evaluated to consider – these cover all ends of the spectrum in terms of price and robustness of the tool: Aprimo, Eloqua, Exact Target,  Genius, Marketo, MarketBright and Silverpop)

This is just a launching pad for the questions that came up in the process, please feel free to add your own in the comment section below.

Why I'll Never Be A Social Media Expert

By now you have probably seen them… the people claiming they can help you earn unlimited profits by setting you up on social media. These people claim to be Social Media Experts. What these people are doing is actually turning a valuable marketing channel into a wasteland of spam and incoherent babble. The truth is, there are some great people out there that do know what they are talking about when it comes to utilizing social media, but too often they get lost in the noise.

I did a quick search via tweetdeck on the phrase “social media expert” and well, there is a lot of chatter. I then went over to wefollow.com and did a search on “socialmedia”, the result 24,231 users have tagged themselves with this. Now, not all of these people are claiming to be experts so I thought I would look a bit deeper and went over to twellow.com, did a search for “social media expert” and wouldn’t you know it, 656 results. Justtweetit.com, 414 listings for “social networking” and the old standby – I did a Google search on the exact phrase “social media expert”… 1,450,000 results (at least the top results were others lamenting the other “experts”.)

The issue comes down to what are the services these people truly provide? How many of these experts actually have helped a company earn true ROI utilizing this channel? (You know actual dollars and not just some stupid babble about engagement.) How many of these experts can actually help you track if your efforts are producing sales or influencing buying behavior? How many of these experts helped companies integrate social media into their current marketing mix? How many of these experts know social media is more than twitter, Facebook and Youtube?  How many of these experts actually have marketing experience beyond setting up their own pages on twitter and facebook and pimping out their own services?

The problem and actually the excitement behind social media is there is so much unknown and it is a constantly evolving space. I think it is great that so many people are on board and I think it is awesome that companies and marketers are finding ways to utilize SM. I just get infuriated when I think what damage these “experts” are actually causing.

This is why, I never want to be considered a social media expert.

Purdue, a Timeout and a Loss of Hope

I have had a few hours to digest the Purdue loss - but it is still one of the worst I have experienced as a Boiler fan. I don't think anything will surpass the Orton fumble game (at least I hope I never.) The thing is, I came into the game expecting a loss, when you lose to Northern Illinois you kind of figure that your season is garbage. But that changed in the second half of the ND game, that is until the final drive... and one of the worst coached series I have witnessed since Jim Colletto roamed the Ross-Ade sideline.

I have been a critic of Joey Elliiott all season, but in the second half he had me believing he was at least Billy Dicken... the problem was Coach Hope wasn't Joe Tiller. I know we all need to give Coach Hope time, but when you basically give away a game there is only so much of that the fans will be willing to take (you know, the fans that finally came to life last night and had the stadium roaring.)

Why, why, why do you go into a prevent...ever? Especially when your defense finally had a swagger they had not had all season. They shut ND's scoring down the entire half, until that ridiculous coaching decision - ND marched down the field, and as a result scored... meaning we will have to hear about the miraculous Jimmy Clausen for years (is he is courageous as Brady Quinn now ESPN announcers?)

But even bigger than the prevent defense... how, oh how do you call a timeout when you stop the other team inside their 5 with about 30 seconds, the clock running, on third down, when they have no timeouts? They would either have to rush a play or spike the ball making it fourth down. Guess what, your D stopped them on third down (on what might have been fourth if not for the timeout.) How do you call that? Because you have no faith in your defensive players to stop them and you want to preserve time. What kind of message is that - what kind of message is that when you include that with forcing the D into a prevent? What that does is deflate the players and you have to hope it does not carry over into future games... or you have lost them, and for how long.

Every loss to Notre Dame stings - but this one stung more. It stings because Purdue should have won, should have had momentum, but bad coaching lost the game. I can't take another lost decade of Purdue football.

Official Google Blog: Now S-U-P-E-R-sized!

Have You Googled Lately? Blog.SAVO

My Apologies to Moby

OK, in a blog I recently posted about baby products for dads I made some pretty unflattering comments about the Moby Wrap. I believe my exact words were: "It is a baby carrier that once you get it all on you look like a ninja or a star wars fanboy." I also said I could never see myself wearing it. Well...


I guess this is where I apologies for that. 


Why am I doing this? Well, earlier tonight I wanted to make a sandwich, Torry was finally getting some time for herself after I got home and Logan was really getting upset. I knew that if I held him I could get him to calm down, but I also needed my hands to make the sandwich. Then I thought about the Moby. If I just threw it on quickly to make the sandwich (and eat it) it would be over quick. So, I put it on and got Logan into it.


Surprisingly it was really comfortable, and I had almost complete mobility. So after my sandwich I kept Logan in the wrap for some time after - it was kind of cool how calm he was and how natural it felt. So, for opening my mouth before even trying something I apologize. And, in truth, I didn't look half bad (however I would have looked much better in black to cover my love handles.)


On a somewhat more serious note I will add that I am someone that radiates heat and after an hour with Logan that close to me I was getting very warm, so if any other dad does try a Moby keep that in mind.


So in closing after further review the Moby would get a 4 out of 5 in my newly created (like just now) Dad Star Rating Scale.

Marketing to Dad

Over the last few months I have spent a lot of my time focused on all things baby and making sure we had everything set when Logan came home from the hospital. What amazed me was how much things had changed from when Bailey was born eight years ago. Especially when it comes to products specifically designed for dads or with dads in mind. It was actually nice that businesses finally realized that there are a lot of dads out there that actually do try to be a big part of the raising of their children, and carrying a pink diaper bag that looks like a purse is not high on our product wants list.

One huge difference now is baby strollers - back when Bailey was born we had what basically amounted to a one-size fits all stroller, it was big and it was ugly. But now there are about as many options in the stroller market as there are in the auto industry. What is amazing is you can see there was some thinking in mind about the fact that dads will be pushing these around. In fact Uppa Baby strollers were actually designed by a dad. In the end we chose the Bugaboo Frog. First, the thing just looks cool, but beyond that it is increadably practical from the suspension system to its easy manuverability, this thing glides through the city. Bugaboo makes other models that include really smart features like an extendable handle for the taller dads out there - while these aren't necessarily a dad product, they are a product a dad will love to have.

More specifically targeted to dads are all of the new diaper bag options. In fact, there is an entie line out now called "Dad Gear" - Gone are the pastel flowers and Winnie the Pooh, they have been replaced by messenger bags with skulls and flames. Personally, that doesn't really fit my style, but the bags with collegiate logos are very cool (but where is the Boilermaker Bag?). Another very cool option are what look like fleece vests or jackets that actually have hidden components that function as a complete bag. In the end my wife and I decided to go with a bag that worked for both of us, and settled on Columbia Treckster bag - which is a lightweight backpack that is easy for any of us (including Bailey) to carry, or, with its handle straps it easily can be attached to the handle bar of the stroller. I still may consider the fleece vest, and if the Boilermaker bag ever comes to the inventory list of course I am going to get that. But for ease of use, looks and price you can't go wrong with the Columbia.

One of the things my wife did buy that I just can't see myself using is a Moby Wrap. It is a baby carrier that once you get it all on you look like a ninja or a star wars fanboy. It actually looks cute when Torry wears it, but I would have preferred the Baby Carrier by Ergo. Once Logan starts getting heavy I am pretty certain that we will be getting one so I can help carry him in public.

These are just a few examples, let me know if you have any products that you think a dad shouldn't be without. I will continue to post my favorite products for dads.

All the Pieces are in Place

I don't often talk specifically about my day job on here, but I felt the need to do so since I am excited about some of the work I have been lucky enough to be a part of.

For the past year I have been working on launching and building the Social Media presence of SAVO. Yes, the past year. The process was long, but well thought out and well worth the effort. The final piece of the puzzle was put in place last week, Blog.SAVO.

Blog.SAVO offers the company the opportunity to extend the conversation and share expertise and experience with the public. One thing that is noticeably different compared to many other corporate blogs is that multiple voices, from all levels in the company are represented. This is core to some of the central thinking at SAVO that Tribal Knowledge can come from anyone within the company. I am lucky to work with a lot of very talented people every day -  and in time, as the content on the site grows, this wealth of information will be shared well beyond the walls of the company.

For me this marks a very exciting time - my vision is coming together. While we have implemented multiple pieces of the strategy already, the blog is my personal crown jewel (if it weren't for the birth of my son Logan three weeks ago I would have called it my baby.)

I see you... Who are you?

A factoid that might interest only me… I use Google Analytics behind the scenes on the blog here (side note, if you have a blog and you aren’t using some sort of analytics you need to be doing so) – anyway. Since I wrote the piece title Little Green Truth I have had a bizarre trend in my analytics. Each day I get at least one direct traffic hit to this article, even more interesting to me is that it comes from either Haverford or Havertown, PA. Whoever you are, first, I love you. Keep coming back to my blog every day.

It makes me wonder why, or what the reasoning is. Could it be a bot? I thought maybe it was some weird AOL thing, but if I am remembering correctly it would be a hit from WV not PA (I could be way wrong on this but it is what I remember.) Or, is it someone who is trying in someone strange way to help me drive traffic to this article? I know that isn't how it works, but a Google search for little green truth does find the article in the #1 spot. ;)

I use analytics all the time in my day job, monitoring traffic sources, patterns, etc – and maybe I just overlooked a similar anomaly occurring elsewhere on other sites, but this one is just a strange one to me. If anyone else has experienced something like this, or knows something I don’t – please fill me in.

#twitterbirth - the birth of a social media baby

contractions have already started (5:15 CST). #twitterbirth

With that post I began the process of updating the twitterverse on the pending arrival of Torry and my new son, Logan. In addition to keeping a running journal on twitter of short updates I continually updated my Facebook status for our friends and family.

Why did I do this? I am not really sure.

It helped calm my nervous tension - it helped connect so many people to one of the biggest moments of our lives - it gave us something else to focus on - it gave me a personal log of how I was feeling at any given time during the 23 hour process - and there is a lot of downtime in that 23 hour process.

But in truth, to me the biggest point was the connectivity. I was able to push out messages and emotional status and I had many people (mostly on Facebook) thanking me for the updates - I am sure there were just as many wanting me to shut up, but the great thing about social media is that you don't have to act on a conversation unless you want to.

I first became aware of the #twitterbirth hashtag on August 7 in a post from @icelander as he and his wife were preparing for the birth of their child. I thought it was a cool idea so I decided to give it a try - if it seemed odd or intrusive I would have stopped - but it didn't, it was actually pretty fun.

In the process I also read about other people in the twitter world having babies at the same time, some examples were @kellytirman and the birth in the first family of twitter @ev and @sara.

There are so many uses for social media, but in the end it is about connecting people and sharing what is important or valuable to you - to me, the birth or #twitterbirth of Logan is as important as it gets.

Welcome to the world Logan, you have a great big brother in Bailey and the worlds greatest mother. I am already in love.

I said I was done, but I guess I am back for more

OK, you know it, I have slight twinges of hippie – shocker. And I am going back to a topic I thought I would never touch again on this blog… diapers.

Why am I doing it again, because I think when studies are done and presented surrounded by ads of one of the key beneficiaries, I just don’t like it. Even as a marketer.

What am I talking about? A WebMD piece that claims to be solving the diaper dilemma, but did they?

The biggest issue I have with the piece is that it does what other industry sponsored pieces have done – hype up disposable advantages (in this case diaper rash and day care usage) and basically poo poo’s (heh) any advantage gained in using cloth.

The article, or center, is funded by Huggies. According to WebMD center funding means:

Content under this heading is funded by a third-party and independently created or chosen by WebMD. This content is subject to the WebMD editorial review process for accuracy, balance and objectivity. The content is not edited or otherwise influenced by the supporting company except with the possible suggestion of the broad topic area. For more information, read the WebMD sponsor policy.

OK, I can be cool with that – you say it is balanced and objective by your editorial review – but it is funded by a third party – in this case one of the big winners in the piece. :/

Now since it is WebMD of course they don’t want to touch on the financial differences in choosing cloth vs. disposable – I can look past that. But the fact still remains that this cannot be seen as objective analysis the way it is presented.

On the topic of diaper rash, the winner for disposables, only one pediatrician is quoted? Where is the actual data to back this? That is what people want, not just opinion. In the end it may be true, but at least be fair in the assessment. I know from the experience when our first born was in diapers – he came home from day care with diaper rash often. He wore disposables. Does this make it fact that kids who use disposables and go to daycare will get diaper rash? No, obviously. So I won’t try to make people believe that, if I had scientific fact to back it then I would.

But this is not even my main point – my point is this information is pushed out as fact because there are big bucks supporting it. If WebMD had published this piece without tying Huggies name to it I might have given it more credit – but they didn’t, so I can’t.

Like I said in an early post on this topic, and to its credit the article does too… this choice is really up to the parent. People have different lifestyles, different values and different views. This is a good thing – but if we do want to make a choice and want to research it first it would be nice to have noncommercial examples to help inform us.

Really, I think this will be my last diaper post ever (until I get another bug up my butt that is.)

The Danger of rushing in to Social Media

As an advocate of how social media can be effective when incorporated into a corporation’s larger marketing program, it is painful for me to see when companies do it wrong.

A recent example of this was Marsh supermarkets and its Facebook Coupon. Marsh sent a $10 coupon to their Facebook Fans thinking that they would forward it to a few people – the result, mass produced coupons and some being sold for individual profit… Question here, what is the going rate for a $10 coupon?

As a result Marsh has decided not to honor the coupons resulting in an expected backlash. A Marsh statement reveals that this is one of the company’s initial initiatives to use social media as marketing.

This should serve as a lesson to any corporation jumping into social media (be it Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc) – make sure you have a solid plan in place, and like all marketing initiatives think through the campaign completely before launching it to the public. Something KFC hopefully learned from the Oprah debacle.

Social Media is hot, and it is smart for corporations to get in on it now… but only after you have decided what your desired outcomes will be. I think the Marsh coupon idea was a smart idea, but in my opinion they should have limited it to the actual Fans.

I don’t think Marsh should suspend future Social Media plans, but I think they need to realize the power of viral before launching the next campaign. I also think this should serve as a lesson for any other company wanting to jump the gun without having a plan in place.

Brand Bombing on Twitter

This past Friday I came across an interesting question on LinkedIn posted by Emily Luiz - The question was: Calling attention to negative review of competitor product via Twitter: Cool or not cool?

The post in question was tweeted by Red Mango and said the following: "OMG - The New Worst Drink in America Cold Stone Creamery PB&C Shake, with 2,010 calories + 131 grams of fat!!!!" The tweet linked to this article in Men's Health.

I will admit that I have never heard of Red Mango prior to this, so in a way it did a good job by raising awareness, heck, they are getting a blog post by me out of it - but, the question Emily posted is a very good one, is this a cool strategy or not?

A look at the answers to the questions shows that people view this as a bad move and in poor taste. But is it any worse than when Subway calls out Burger King and McDonalds in their ads, and on their napkins - spelling out that Subway is the much healthier choice and if you chose the other options you are basically a cow?

For the most part we accept this tactic when it is used in traditional advertising, of course Subway never starts and ad with OMG or calls a Big Mac the Worst Sandwich in America (that would be a straight out lie, at least to this dough boy.)

But is social media different? Is a move like this a poor attempt at a brand bomb? And in a case like this are you actually doing more harm to your brand than that of your rival?

Social media, twitter in this specific example, has become a place for brands to interact directly with consumers and prospects - it has changed advertising from interruption based to an actual dialogue where the end user has a voice - The brand takes on a living breathing role, there is a person running these accounts and it is no longer just a pushed message from the faceless corporation - that is why this specific brand bomb resonates.

I am sure the folks at Red Mango had to love the fact that a rival got called out, a few high fives at corporate were probably had - but to post the link to twitter, from your account, directly tied to your brand? That does hit a little low - because it is no longer the cold faceless corporation and an ad agency - it is your social persona, and your persona just came off as kind of a dick.

In reality, is a move like this any worse than what Horizon Group did when they sued a tenant over a tweet? To me they both are poor examples of how to participate in the message community, one example happened to get picked up by the MSM, the other just kind of passed through the Twitter silo.

I think this does give an opportunity to open the dialogue on what should be expected out of brands as they migrate to social media. Let me know what you think - was this brand bomb laid out by Red Mango a smart move? Or is it in poor taste and an example not to be followed?

Going Green - Where to start

Being a friend to the environment is something I truly believe most people strive for, but how to get there can be a challenge for some. That is why I wanted to introduce you to a very cool website, Green571.com. (5 Oceans - 7 Continents - 1 Planet)

The purpose of Green571 is to create an online community for people committed to creating a greener lifestyle. The site lists tips and information on everything from greener living around your home, to health care and nutrition (and all points in between.) Are you a big time investor, but you are in touch with our inner flower child? Green571 even has advice for you. And of course, of interest to those of us with little ones on the way, the site offers tips on green for your baby. In short, it is a one stop shop for almost anything you can do to make an impact to help keep our planet green.

Another cool project from the people behind 571 is just that, Project571. Officially licensed collegiate apparel made from organic cotton, bamboo or recycled polyester. The only problem to date is the lack of Boiler clothing, the site does say it is coming soon so I will be checking back.

I am always interested in finding out more about similar resources, please let me know if you have a site that offers resources for the eco-friendly.

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The Fears of the Father

Any time in the next month, Torry (wife), Bailey (son) and I will be welcoming a new baby into our lives. This moment, of course, has brought a lot of excitement into our house. Bailey cannot wait to be a big brother, which is a role I know will suit him perfectly. Torry, although the pregnancy has been tough, is already in nesting mode and is so ready for this. Me, I am excited, but I am scared beyond description.

When Bailey was born just about anything that could be different was different. He is eight years old now, and Torry and I were 24 and 25 years old respectively when he was born. We lived the typical suburban life, even at that age. Both of us were employed and pretty fresh in our careers. For us everything was new, it was all exciting in a way most young parents can relate to.

Over the years Torry and I progressed in our careers, Bailey spent a lot of time in daycare and eventually moved on to Kindergarten and now is preparing for third grade. We have made a couple of significant moves, to Fishers, IN and then to our current location in downtown Chicago. Basically, the last eight years have been a whirlwind. But now, everything is different, but not in a bad sense.

We are living in a city environment and are out of the ‘burbs. Torry has put her career on hold and is doing a great job as a stay at home mother and care giver. Bailey now has a full time parent at his disposal, as will baby number two. And I am eight years older, and I feel every one of those years in my now out-of-shape body.

In those eight years we have experienced the horrible events of 9/11, we have seen our once strong economy decay, we are also more aware of the impact that each one of us has on the environment – it is just a different world to bring a child into. Add to the fact that we are living in Chicago and not the vinyl suburbs and the anxiety level rises. It is just an entirely different ballgame this time around.

In the end, I wouldn’t change our decision to add to our family for anything in the world. I know I am going to lose control of situations, but that is just part of the journey. It is going to be a crazy ride, and fear is a part of that, but I am glad to be taking it with Torry and Bailey.

Social Media and the #IranElection

In a world where our nightly news gives us stories about the love affairs of Jon and Kate and the trivial goings on of Heidi and Spencer it was hardly shocking that when news of protests came out of Iran main stream media was not leading the story. The protests, based on the controversial election results, came through the blogosphere via social media, and only now, days later, main stream media is trying to catch up on news that has become common knowledge to those who actively utilize social media.

Twitter has become the main source of information where a handful of trusted people are tweeting out of Iran, and at a high risk to their personal safety. The tweets are carrying messages about what is happening on the streets, warning people of dangers and countering the messages being put out by the state run media. Even more impactful are the images and videos being captured on cell phones and uploaded to photo sharing sites and youtube. The images are sometimes graphic and show a firsthand look at an uprising in the making. These images are not the ones that are typically screened and edited before making their way to the nightly news here in the US.

Another site, not really a social media site, is news aggregator Fark. This site has been an incredible source of information and conversation about what is happening real time, specifically from a regular poster that posts under the name Tatsuma.

What we are witnessing is not only a potential revolution in Iran, it is a revolution on how we consume news and information. Personally, as someone who is a consumer of social media I appreciate being one of the first in the know - however, as someone who frequents social media I know how fast misinformation can spread. This is a time where the world is starving for information from trusted sources, has this "revolution" shown us the irrelevance of traditional media? I hope not.

“Do you want to have access to baby food anymore?” - The Strange Battle Over BPA

With the recent news that members of the California Senate narrowly approved a proposal that would prohibit the use of a controversial toxic plastic additive from baby bottles, the issue over bisphenol A (BPA) has been getting a lot of attention. So much attention that according to scienceblogs.com a BPA Joint Trade Association Meeting on Communications Strategy was held on May 28 with the goal of developing a potential communications/media strategy around BPA.

Now, as someone who knows a little about marketing, I understand crisis communications planning and about developing PR strategy. But there is something to be said about not leaking your minutes from your meeting (or else you might need a crisis committee meeting on how to handle crisis committee meetings.)

Why do I say this?

Well, what is really interesting about this report is some of the specific tactics mentioned including this line that appears on it, "Attendees suggested using fear tactics (e.g. “Do you want to have access to baby food anymore?”) Which, to be honest, I am not completely sure how this tactic and this comment go together, unless they are talking about the BPA that is in formula containers.

Or there is this line in the report "The committee doubts social media outlets, such as Facebook or Twitter, will work for positive BPA outreach. The committee wants to focus on quality instead of quantity in disseminating messages (e.g. a young kid or pregnant mother providing a positive quote about BPA, a testimonial from an outside expert, providing positive video, advice from third party experts, and relevant messaging on the GMA website). "

Is this what it all comes down to now? Fear tactics and a young kid or pregnant spokesperson giving positive quotes about potential toxins? .... Seriously? Even though the FDA says BPA is safe at currently set levels there are scientists that accuse the FDA of using incomplete and unreliable data.

While I really would like the FDA to do as complete an analysis as possible, I am more concerned that there are group meetings being held where ideas like these are being developed, as opposed to facing the fact that companies may be selling a product that is harmful. It kind of reminds me of the current anti-smoking ads where they read old internal big tobacco documents. This will be an interesting story to keep an eye on to see what actually does come of these meetings and what tactics do make it to the public.

Toxic Baby? How safe are the products you use on your child?

As a parent with a baby on the way I constantly ask myself if I am doing everything to ensure the safety of my family. I don't believe in putting my family in a bubble, my son needs to get bumps and scrapes - he needs to be a boy. But there are issues that should concern any parent, things you take for granted that are safe because you have never been led to believe otherwise. 

Something that recently caught my interest was a report put out by The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics - now, to be honest I don't often read up on cosmetics but this report definitely struck a cord. The March 2009 Report, No More Toxic Tub, found that dozens of children's bath products are contaminated with formaldehyde and 1,4 dioxane (chemicals found to cause cancer.) It wasn't just one or two small lesser known products, the CSC tested 48 products and had some pretty startling results.

61% of the products tested contained both of these chemicals, 82%  contained formaldehyde at levels ranging from 54 to 610 parts per million (ppm) and  67 percent contained 1,4-dioxane at levels ranging from 0.27 to 35 ppm. I will be honest, I am by no means a chemist, but I have to ask, any exposure that is repeatedly administered over a long period via multiple products can't be a good thing, can it? Especially if it can be avoided. And when China pulls your product off the shelves out of concern, well that is saying something (note, they did lift the suspension of the products.)

In looking at the CSC website I found a very cool link to Skin Deep, a database that ranks the safety of products including multiple baby products. The database bills itself as "filling in where companies and the government leave off: companies are allowed to use almost any ingredient they wish, and our government doesn't require companies to test products for safety before they're sold. EWG's scientists built Skin Deep to be a one-of-a-kind resource, integrating our in-house collection of personal care product ingredient listings with more than 50 toxicity and regulatory databases." It is an interesting site that I recommend at least taking a look at.

Like I said earlier, I know as a parent I can't completely take risk out of the equation, but I can take the formaldehyde out of my child's bath.