A Short Christmas Break. Petit congé de Noël.

After a first full year of blogging and a major rush at job last fall, I will enjoy a few days with the family. I just want to wish you a wonderful Holiday period. I take this opportunity to thank you for your comments on this blog or on twitter during the past year. I have made very special online friendships in 2009 with social media. Check the personalized Christmas ornament I designed for you here.

During this period, take time to relax and chill with your loved ones.

I look forward to exchange with you in 2010.

Peace.

Etienne

Après une première année complète de blogging ainsi qu’un rush majeur au travail l’automne dernier, je vais profiter des quelques jours de congé avec ma famille. Mes 3 ti-prouts grandissent si vite… Je veux simplement vous souhaiter une merveilleuse période des Fêtes. Je profite de cette occasion pour remercier tous les contributeurs à mon blogue ou ceux qui prennent le temps d’échanger avec moi sur Twitter. Je me suis fait beaucoup de nouveaux amis en-ligne cette année grâce aux médias sociaux.

Je vous transmets mes voeux de manière virtuelle cette année. Allez-voir ma bouille de Noël ici.

Pendant les Fêtes, prenez le temps de relaxer et de prendre l’air avec vos proches.

J’ai déjà hâte à 2010 pour échanger avec vous.

Allez en paix.

Etienne

Blogging Break Vs Blog Robotization?

Last week I knowingly disconnected myself from the virtual world. I took a ski vacation week with the kids with no easy Internet access except on my Blackberry, not very blogger-friendly.

I really enjoyed this week full of sun, snow and fun although I was eager to get back to work , blogging and twittering. I feel renewed, refreshed and my mind is up and running  to share new stuff with you.

Lots of bloggers feel guilty when they do not post for more than a day (or two). Not me.

Many twitterers feel guilty if they do not send tweet for 2 hours. Not me. ( Although I sent a couple of tweets during my vacation just to share the joy of skiing I was experimenting but no business tweets ;-). Note also that it was really, really hard to avoid checking  Twitter on my Black berry but I resisted most of the time. Thanks to my dear spouse who managed to gently let me know that vacations were not vacations with a Blackberry in the hand.).

I really believe in the human side of the web; the whole  idea that there are real people, with real lives, behind their blogs and twitter avatars. Real people who do take vacations to be more productive in their professional lives and in their blogging lives.

That is why I have problems with bloggers who take blogging too seriously, to the point it invades the other aspects of their lives. The only exception I would see is professional bloggers: bloggers who make their living with their blogs. And even with them, when they start to sound and look like big corporations, I tend to drop them to read smaller-scale bloggers. More human. When I read a blog is for its human touch.

I do not have/want a post editorial calendar. I prefer the live and direct  aspect of my posts. What I have in mind at a very specific moment often translates into a post.

I do not want to rush in the week before a vacation/business trip to write 2-3 posts in advance and keep the constant flow of content on my blog. I think you loose the essence of blogging with such action.  And yes, your blog stats drop slightly. So what?

To sum up, you start to loose the essence of blogging when it becomes like a business with all its burdens and obligations. Blogging is freedom. No?

That is why there was no post on my blog in the last week. I will slowly get back to my blogging routine in the next weeks. Continue to get back to my blog. I know you are there and I appreciate all your comments off and on-line.

Do not worry, I will not become a blog robot, I will rather take a blogging break.

Quick Survey- the language used on my blog?

In order to better know who reads my blog, you will find a survey box  in the right section of this page . You can vote to let me know in which language you read my posts. Look for this box here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks!

Sondage rapide- La langue sur mon blogue?

Question de mieux connaitre mes lecteurs, vous trouverez une fenêtre dans la bande droite de votre écran. Vous pourrez y voter à propos de la langue des billets que vous lisez sur mon blogue. Recherchez ce encadré.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merci!

 

Etienne

How many times a week should you visit my blog?

Since I started blogging (and this is quite recent…), a few people are asking me how I can write posts on such a frequent basis?  The question should be in fact, how can you write original and insightful posts on an almost daily basis knowing  that you have a day job and 3 kids that awaits  for their dad at home? I do not pretend that is what I did so far but at least, this is what I am aiming for. Follow me on this blog and judge by yourself!

In terms of post frequency, there are several schools of thoughts in the community of bloggers. Some are saying you should just post ultra-original content even if it only happens once or twice a month.I disagree. It is a matter of perspective. Your content could always be original for someone. It is a matter of reaching these people. Some others are saying, you should post a minimum of 2-3 posts a week to keep your blog alive. It could be true…

Seth Godin , the famous marketing guru, is posting on a daily basis since many months, see the Advertising Age interview here about his posting frequency strategy. His blogging goals are:

1. To spread ideas
2. To put his ideas out there and get them out of the way of the next idea
3. To encourage people to add alacrity to their diet

You could also add, to relentlessly build HIS brand, which is a very noble objective when your day job is to write and sell marketing books.

Mine are somewhat different.

My objectives with this blog are to:

1. Create an exchange platform where marketing decision makers could spread and share ideas and experiences. If I can act as an igniter or at least an idea funnel, this will be a great achievement.
2. Build a better marketing practice. Especially within Small and Medium sized Businesses that are often struggling with the challenges brought by modern marketplaces.
3. Have fun! This is why the tone of this blog will NOT be 100% serious and professional.

To achieve that, I will post every time I think I have something that could help me attain one or many of the above-mentioned objectives. It could be daily or once every 2 weeks. 

I am my own editor so if I fail to bring you content in-line with these objectives, be honest and drop a comment. I will rectify.

PS: For the non-geeks, RSS feeding is an amazing tool. Subscribe to it for free on this blog and receive the headlines of my posts directly in your reader. You will be able to filter by yourself what is interesting for you.

Bienvenue dans mon blogue

Comme je n’avais fait mon premier billet d’introduction qu’en anglais (ce billet date du 17 décembre 2008 ) et que je souhaite maintenir ce blogue dans les deux langues officielles ici au Canada, le revoici donc en « franssa ».

Bienvenue dans mon blogue!

J’ai finalement trouvé ma voie dans la blogosphère. Il y a un an à peine, j’avais un préjugé défavorable à l’égard des blogueurs. Il faut dire que je ne lisais pas beaucoup de blogues…à ce moment. Je pensais que les blogueurs étaient une gang d’antisociaux qui se cachaient derrière leur écran d’ordinateur parce qu’ils n’avaient pas de « vraie vie » . Il faut dire que c’était des préjugés qui, comme la plupart des préjugés, venaient d’une méconnaissance quasi-complète du monde des blogues.

Je vous demande pardon car j’ai carrément viré mon capot de bord.

Je suis une preuve vivante que n’importe qui peut changer d’idée sur n’importe quel sujet, en particulier un sujet évoluant à une vitesse folle comme le web 2.0!

Mon but avec ce blogue est vraiment simple: « connecter avec d’autres personnes partageant les mêmes intérêts personnels et professionnels ». En somme, partager, discuter, apprendre.

Le format du blogue rend l’échange d’idées et d’expériences ultra facile. C’est devenu évident que ce medium s’avérait le meilleur moyen d’exprimer toutes les idées qui bouillonnent dans ma tête.

Dans ce blogue, je veux principalement discuter de stratégies marketing dans les petites et moyennes entreprises manufacturières (PMEs). J’ai principalement oeuvré dans des PMEs au cours de ma carrière et j’ai toujours cru que les cours et les manuels de marketing étaient totalement déconnectés de la réalité de ces entreprises qui constituent environ 80% de notre économie. Dans un environnement qui bouge plus vite que jamais où les « retours sur les investissements marketing » , le « web 2.0 », les « taux de conversion », la « fragmentations des marchés », les « niveaux de concurrence accrus », les « consommateurs mieux informés, e tc sont sur toutes les lèvres , j’ai voulu créer un plate-forme d’échange d’idées  bilingue. Cette plateforme, c’est ce blogue et il est destiné aux gestionnaires marketing, chefs de produits, chargés de projets, PDG de PMEs, etc qui souhaitent diffuser et partager leurs idées à propos du marketing  ainsi que leurs expériences avec d’autres gens de marketing et bâtir, ensemble, une meilleure pratique marketing.

Oui oui, ce blogue va traiter principalement de divers sujets du marketing mais j’ai un paquet d’autres affaires qui m’inéressent: la musique, la moto, la course à pied, les enfants, la bouffe, etc Je vais sans doute partager mon point de vue sur ces sujets sur une base moins régulière.

Alors, amusez-vous. Ne vous gênez pas pour commentez mes billets.

Bienvenue dans mon blogue!

Etienne

Personal Goals for 2009. Do you have yours?

Seth Godin’s post on goals « The thing about goals » made me think about my own personal business-related goals for the year 2009.

« Having goals is a pain in the neck ». It is true, it is much more fun to hang around, not having to measure any achievement whatsoever. Life in general would be much more easier without goals. 😉 It would be very boring too… ;-( especially for fellows like me who are always fueled by new challenges). Without goals, you are aimed to do your best and sometimes your best is not enough to make a difference. I want to make a difference. That is my problem you will say…

Strategic Marketing, by definition, is an activity or a sum of activities that are aimed for long term objectives. At least, that is like we like think that what marketing stands for. Sustainable stuff, ya? I wanna lead in that field. This is my personal BHAG or Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Therefore, here are the commitments I made to myself for this year:

1. Be able to maintain a dialogue on Web Analytics more than 5 minutes without looking like this:
   

   Me talking about web analytics with a WA geek

   Avinash Kaushik’s book is bought and is asking me everyday: »come on, please read me now ». I have always resisted so far. I don’t know why.

2. Be disciplined about this blog.Bring practical new ideas and insights for SMB marketing decision makers. Stimulate healthy discussions with my fellow marketing colleagues working in similar environments.
3. Get back to running. Seriously. Run Montreal’s half marathon in less than 1hr50 minutes in Sept. 2009. Yes it is business related. Let me explain. With 3 kids and a demanding day job (and now a blog to maintain! ;-)), there is a high risk of having a stressful life. if you do not exercise (for me running is the best exercise in my situation), you do not sleep well. Then you become less productive and then more stressed and even less productive. Then you become average in every aspect of your life. Running helps me to avoid that.
4. Compose a song. Guitar and lyrics. The last song I composed was in 1996. Playing guitar frees up my mind a little bit like running but in a different way so it is beneficial professionally for me to play more. I need to discipline myself and just do it.
5. The last one is inspired by those last 3 words that have made Nike successful: Just do it. Since I come from a marketing research background, I sometimes tend to « overthink  » things or « overquestion » myself about many things. This year I will try not to « overanalyze », just analyze enough and then « Just Try it » instead of just do it. In today’s fast pace environment, the « launch & learn » philosophy brings greater returns in my opinion. I’ll try it for myself!

That’s it. Let’s revisit that in one year from now. 😉

Now, Did you do yours? Feel free to share them with me.

Hello world!

Welcome to my blog.

I finally made my way into the blogosphere. One year ago, I was thinking that bloggers were antisocial people who did not want to interact with other fellows in the real life. I had major misbeliefs about blogs, their utility and the people who were spending time publishing them.

I changed my mind.

I am the living proof that anyone can change his mind on any subject, especially a fast moving one like the web 2.0…

My goal with this blog is real simple: Connect with other people sharing the same interests.

The blog format makes ideas and experiences exchange very easy. It became obvious that this medium was the best one to express all the things that were literally boiling in my mind!

The main theme I want to discuss is marketing strategies in Small and Medium size companies .I have mainly worked in SMBs (PME en bon francais!) and I have always thought that marketing classes and handbooks were totally disconnected with the reality of these entreprises that represents about 80% of our economy. In a fast moving environment where everyone talks about ROI, web 2.0, conversion rate, fragmented markets, increased competition levels, better informed consumers and so on, I wanted to create a platform where SME’s marketing managers, Product managers and other marketing decision makers could spread and share ideas and experiences with other fellow marketers and build a better marketing practice.

Yes this blog will mainly discuss marketing topics but I have many other subjects of interest: Music, motorcycling, running, parenting, cooking, etc. I will share with you my point of view and opinions on these matters on a less frequent basis.

Enjoy and again, welcome to my Blog.

Etienne