I recently published a Forrester report titled Marketing's New Key Metric: Engagement (more detail here on the Forrester Marketing blog). One interesting aspect of this research was presenting the idea that the marketing funnel is more complex than we may think. I initially presented to my fellow marketing analysts an idea that suggest the funnel was dead. That didn't go over so well, which demonstrates how sacrosanct the funnel is to marketers. However, they also...

In my previous post about brand transparency, I talked about brand’s dirty little secrets being exposed. In that same line of thinking, transparency has some big implications for companies down the line. Ultimately, transparency means that companies can’t hide the flaws of their products and services any more. And as a result, I think we’re heading toward a brand meritocracy. Products and services have to actually work, be relevant, and be needed — they need...

Companies are having a real tough time dealing with the uncontrollable exposure they receive at the hands of social media. At Forrester, I cover emerging channels and help companies figure out what’s going on and how they can use these technologies and channels. I constantly get calls from clients asking how to deal with feedback that is outside their control (positive or negative). But control is a big issue for firms, that’s largely what the...

Bruce Nussbaum of Business Week had some interesting things to say about design and the role of the CEO several weeks ago. It really starts to touch on a point I've been struggling with in my head for some time now. Bruce makes some great points about the design discipline and the role it is playing (or should be playing) in the commercial world. As a Forrester Analyst, I'm exposed to many business ideas that...

I'll return Pete's serve one more time here. Today he talks about the 3 P's of personal social publishing. He offer's the following: 1. Personal 2. Professional 3. Public I'm going to take another stab at it. Here's what I suggest: 1. Personified -- To encompass what Pete included with both "Personal" and "Professional," I feel this is more inclusive and flexible. We present outward appearances to different people all the time (family, friends, close...

So Pete tagged me with the "8 random things" meme. So many things about me are random it's hard to choose where to start. But here it goes: 1. One of my first words as a baby was "birdahonk" -- hence the name of by site. My family teased me about it for years. On my 15th birthday, my entire family played a recording of me saying it and they were all dying to know...