Category Archives: About us

Keep Your New Year’s Resolution and Schedule an Appointment with the doctor

If you’re a marketing professional, chances are you just finished polishing off your marketing plan for 2009… but is it really finished? Did you remember blogger relations? More importantly, did you remember to budget for blog sponsorships and thought leadership?

It’s wise to become acquainted with your friendly neighborhood blogger, because your market is going to the blogs. And there’s one blogger in particular you need to get to know — the doctor. When a sourcing professional wants to track trends, she goes to the indices; if she wants a high level overview and some self-evident observations, she goes to the trade pubs; but if she wants some hard-hitting advice on how to combat price increases and rake in savings, she goes to one blog in particular — Sourcing Innovation. No other publication gives you the in-depth analysis and insight on vendor solutions that you will get from the doctor or his friends the Sourcing Maniacs. Ask any one of the thousands (upon thousands) of readers who visit Sourcing Innovation on a regular basis, or choose a few random posts from the dozens and dozens that appear in the Sourcing Innovation vendor post index.

If it’s been six months since your solution’s last check-up, be sure to schedule some time to check in with the doctor in the near future. If you’ve never had a check-up, now would be a great time for that first physical. There’s no better measure of your solution’s health than a private, in-depth review by the doctor; and no advertisement or white paper you publish will be as effective as a content-filled post on Sourcing Innovation. Since the doctor will never publish a solution analysis without an in-depth review, procurement professionals come to Sourcing Innovation first when they want the facts. That’s because unlike other technically-naive bloggers and analysts who believe that they can offer an informed decision based on a press release or a PowerPoint deck, the doctor always examines the patient thoroughly, and always prepares a deeply credible report.

So send an e-mail to schedule your appointment today! Your corporate health may depend on it.

the doctor’s 10% Blogger Sustainability Challenge Update

Back in September, I issued a challenge to all bloggers who generate advertising or sponsorship income off of their sites to donate 10% off the top (off the gross for you financial types) to sustainable charities of their choosing from all advertising and sponsorship income they receive, and to do so at least yearly (with quarterly donations being preferred).

Although, to the best of my knowledge, no one has taken the doctor up on his challenge yet, I am happy to report that I have inspired at least two of my fellow bloggers to be more charitable in their endeavors.

First of all, Jason Busch of Spend Matters, decided to “Give Thanks for Spend — and Give Back” and has started to ask some investors and consultants that he advises in lieu of a fee that they give a donation to a local Chicago organization that distributes food to needy families and individuals in his North-side neighborhood. (I just hope he asks for a copy of a tax receipt! That way he knows he’s making the difference he wants to make.)

Secondly, Charles Dominick of The Purchasing Certification Blog and Next Level Purchasing will be kicking the New Year off with a “Charity Challenge” that could see a substantial amount of money directed to worthy charities. I can’t release any details at this time, but I can say that it sounds really cool and that you should keep your eyes peeled for it!

As for the doctor, this quarter saw three $525 donations to the David Suzuki Foundation, Medicins Sans Frontieres  — also known as Doctors without Borders, and Water for People, respectively. The David Suzuki Foundation, which works to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that sustains us, is one of the leaders of the sustainability movement; Medicins Sans Frontieres continually endeavors to find ways to respond rapidly and effectively to public health emergencies, with complete independence from political, economic, and religious influences and developed Plumpy’nut — a very simple food that does wonders in keeping young children in third world nations healthy; and Water for People funds sustainable water projects and sanitation systems built by local communities in developing countries — sustainability at a basic level.

I hope that our efforts continue to inspire more bloggers to follow us in our cause because we can only make so much difference on our own. Let’s face it, green computing (which means ditching the printer), fluorescent light-bulbs, high mpg cars and public transportation, only buying products in recyclable containers and packaging whenever possible, and smart energy use in the home are all worthwhile endeavors, but when it gets right down to it, individuals are not the biggest threat to the environment — corporations are. For starters, corporations utilize most of the energy … and waste most of it as well. (Some estimates are that energy usage in North America could be reduced by as much as 25% — or more — if corporations just invested in more energy-efficient buildings!) They also waste most of the water, etc. And it’s our need for energy that causes us to burn coal and oil … and pollute the environment. And the only way to take on corporations, and especially those whose products we can’t boycott on a massive scale, is with action groups, that we can join and support. In other words, alone we are weak, but together we are strong — and together we can make sustainability and corporate social responsibility standard operating procedure.

Blogger Relations Part II: Fire Your PR Company!

A few months ago, over on the Silicon Alley Insider, Jason Calacanis wrote a phenomenal post “On How To Get PR For Your Startup: Fire Your PR Company“. It’s the post I probably should have written for Part I of Blogger Relations. It’s that good.

Jason Calcanis, who has the best, and shortest PR philosophy I’ve ever read, says that you just need to be amazing. be everywhere. be real. It’s the last two words in particular that get my attention. Be Real. A PR firm with a lackey parroting a press release is not real. A media monkey with some sound-bites who cares more about your monthly cheque than your product is not real. A voice who never wavers from a script is not real. And, if you haven’t guessed already, I don’t give a r@ts-@ss about press releases (don’t ask me where you can put them — just don’t), sound-bites, or scripts. I care about products. I care about solutions. I care about results. And, above all, I care about openness, honesty, and a commitment to the customer. If you don’t have that, in all honesty, regardless of the size of your corporate bank account [and at this point I know I should be sticking both feet in my mouth or shooting them off with a shotgun], I don’t give a r@ts @ss about you either.

This blog is about innovation. If you’ve got that, and want to talk about it, you’ve got my attention. As Jason says, You don’t need a PR firm, you don’t need an in-house PR person and you don’t need to spend ANY money to get amazing PR. You don’t need to be connected, and you don’t need to be a “name brand.” You just need to be out there, open, honest, and willing to make a connection. That’s it. And if you don’t get it, Jason has 10 tips that you can use to do PR at your startup — or — small company, that I will summarize (and then elaborate on as it pertains to this blog), but I still strongly recommend you read Jason’s post. (Just reading it will improve your credibility factor!)

  1. Be the Brand
    Us bloggers are overworked underpaid masochists who survive on caffeine, adrenaline, supplements, and sheer stubbornness. If you’re not in love with your brand and inspired by your brand’s mission, and if you don’t *really* believe in your product on a deep, intrinsic level, it’s going to come across *immediately* to the bloggers you’re pitching and I’m going to use the call time as nap-time.
  2. Be everywhere.
    Talk to people outside your company regularly. CEO also stands for Chief Education Officer. You’re the face of your company, so show it!
  3. Always pick up the check — always!
    As Jason notes, PR Firms … who, in my view, do nothing for you … cost $5,000 to $15,000 a month. Buying dinner for a group of people at a conference ten times a year will cost you about one month’s worth of PR … and those bloggers will remember an inspired face and a dynamic voice, not a PR drone from the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. And remember, even those of us that make a few dollars from sponsorships are still relatively poor — every hour we devote to learning and spreading knowledge is another hour we’re not working or looking for work. (I’m sure I could go back to a CTO role and make twice as much. And my fellow blogger could probably make considerably more as a partner in a large consulting firm.) Just remember … we want to spread the word, but we can’t go broke doing it.
  4. Be a Human Being
    Journalists hate PR people and they hate being pitched. It’s the only thing I hate more than a company who raises the drawbridge and arms the guards. Just tell me what you’re doing, why, and what you hope to achieve … and I’ll ask the questions that need to be asked.
  5. Form a Bond
    Realize that journalists and bloggers are constantly getting banged by lazy, clueless PR folks who fire first and don’t understand what the word “aim” even means. Take the opportunity to cut to the front of the line by spending just 30 minutes researching the journalist or blogger you want to pitch. Not only is it courtesy and good manners, but it helps you understand what the journalist, or blogger, looks for and how to best convey your story … often in less time than it would take to convey your PR drone’s script! (And I make it easy for you. Check out the About post and the What Does the doctor Do? post and then a sampling of random posts.)
  6. E-mail a Journalist in Your Voice
    Journalists and bloggers are very busy and PR people are, by and large, considered an inefficiency in the system by them. (And that’s putting it nicely. I’m more likely to label them a clog.) If you say “Let’s do a call about your blog and interests and I can put you in touch with the right person …” I hear “blah blah blah … I’m a moron … blah blah blah“. If you won’t talk to me, why should I talk to you? So talk to me, and when you do, say something (intelligent). (And get bonus points if you get to the point quickly.)
  7. Speak to the Journalist Intelligently
    And find out his preferred way of getting quotes if he wants them. Call recording? Good old-fashioned note-taking? Or a (follow-up) e-mail interview where you can respond to direct questions in your own voice. Make it easy for the journalist/blogger, and chances are you’ll get preferred coverage in the future.
  8. Invite People to “Swing By”
    Your office. Your trade show booth. The lobby of the hotel you’re staying at for a business meeting. Relationships help. More than any PR Firm EVER will.
  9. Attach Your Brand to a Movement
    Welcome your competitors to the race, because no one is going to tune into a one-horse race. In other words, don’t tell me you’re the only company with a solution for X when I know damn well there are at least five other companies out there that have a solution for X. It’s okay to have a unique take on X (and if you don’t, I probably won’t cover you), but acknowledge the market you’re competing in. Bloggers HATE B.S. (Well, good bloggers anyway … )
  10. Embrace Small Media Outlets
    Jason makes two very, very good points:
      a) Small publications have more time for you
    b) Big publications troll the small publications for stories
    To which I’ll add one more, that might shock you:
    c) I am personally familiar with a number of companies that have gotten more press, more leads, and more sales as a result of a single post on Sourcing Innovation than they got by sponsoring an Analyst white-paper, than they got from buying a booth at a trade-show, and than they got from taking adds out in magazines like Purchasing. (So for all you marketing types out there, imagine for a second how well my blog, Illumination, and white-paper sponsors are doing. Just imagine.)
      Niche publications like Sourcing Innovation are the future.
    The sooner you accept it, the better off you are.

In other words, if you care about your future, keep it in your hands.

Sourcing Innovation Sponsorship Update

The new year is almost upon us, and with it comes new opportunities for Sourcing Innovation sponsorships, possibly the best opportunity you have to expose your brand to a wide, discerning audience of influencers and decision makers who read Sourcing Innovation on a regular, if not daily, basis.

If you’ve been paying attention, you know that:

  • Sourcing Innovation is one of the few independent blogs in the sourcing space, one of the very few blogs that posts daily, and, more importantly, one of the top two blogs, if it has not already taken over as the Top Blog. Consider some recent statistics from the external tracking engines (which are never truly accurate, but paint a picture in relative terms) for Spend Matters, Sourcing Innovation, E–Sourcing Forum, and Supply Excellence:

    Alexa (Rank) Compete (Visitors) Quantcst (Visitors) Ranking (Rank) Traffic Estimate (Hits)
    SM:    615,000 SI:  2,750 SI:  5,400 SI:  526,000 SM:  23,600
    SI:    914,000 SM:  2,690 ESF: 2,700 SM:  NA SI:  12,200
    SE:  1,658,000 SE:  1,950 SM:  NA SE:  NA SE:  NA
    ESF: 2,746,000 ESF: 1,000 SE:  NA ESF: NA ESF: NA

    NA = Not Available (typically due to not enough data, or hits, for the ranking engine to derive a relevant rating)

  • Sourcing Innovation receives thousands of unique page views every day, and an average day (in an average week) sees approximately 5,000 hits. The average visitor visits 1.5 pages a day, which means there are about 3,500 unique visitors on an average day. Most importantly, 60% of the visitors arrive directly from search engines, directories, and related sites, which means that Sourcing Innovation’s influence is far wider than “the same old crowd” showing up again and again. (Hits spike to 15,000 hits on a non-average day in a non-average week.)
  • Unlike “gossip” or “news” sites, Sourcing Innovation visitors are showing up for content — over 1000 quality posts that constitute one of the most useful aggregations of reference material in our space. Traffic to Sourcing Innovation is never driven artificially, for example with irrelevant content that has nothing to do with sourcing. Instead, people come to SI for a very simple reason: SI delivers key information that they need to do their jobs better and find solution providers who can help them.
  • Sourcing Innovation was one of the first blogs to discuss sustainability, green, risk management, the need for best-cost (and home-cost) country sourcing, and other hot-button issues, before they made the headlines — and SI will continue to stay ahead by addressing relevant issues while everyone else is catching up.

And you may not realize that:

  • Some companies have gotten more leads from a single post on Sourcing Innovation then they got from sponsored analyst white-papers, trade-show booths, and advertisements in “industry leading” publications combined. Because SI’s editor tries very hard to be fair, honest, and objective in the breadth of coverage, Sourcing Innovation remains credible where others fall short.
  • Sourcing Innovation Sponsors Get Results. I invite you to talk to those companies who have sponsored the blog, SI White-papers, and SI Illuminations. All have gotten exposure and results. And I’m sure they’d all be happy to tell you about it.
  • While the editor does his best to cover every company that is willing to engage in an open and honest dialogue on the blog, regardless of whether they are sponsors or not, sponsorship does convey huge advantages over simple coverage. Whereas most companies are lucky to get a couple of posts a year with so much to cover and so little time, your logo, especially as a lead sponsor, is seen on every page — every single day. As we all learn more about web advertising, we’re learning that the key is impressions, impressions, and more impressions — by the right audience. You want your brand to be in front of the people you need to reach, every day. Nothing is more important.

Starting in 2009, Sourcing Innovation will be offering

  • five lead sponsorship slots
    (five logos fit nicely on one page, with room to spare, and every visitor will see them)
  • associate sponsorship slots on the to-be-relaunched resource site
    (which has already acquired a number of functional and content improvements). This comes with text-link recognition on the blog sidebar, but no logo — only lead sponsors get logos in the coveted blog sidebar!
  • associate sponsorship slots on the soon to-be-launched buyer’s guide
    (more information will be forthcoming with the new year)
  • event and white-paper sponsorship opportunities on both the blog and the resource site

But the best value, at least in my view, is a lead sponsorship slot, of which two are now available. They are on a first-come, first-serve basis, so you don’t want to miss the boat; and, right now, the pricing that I locked in until the end-of-the-year is too good to miss! (I’ve been contacted by a number of companies over the last month about sponsorships for next year, and if you do what they do and wait and see, it might be too late!) So buy today, and, as a special bonus, the first two sponsors to commit to a year will get the rest of this year free.

Eric Strovink of BIQ: Why I’m Sponsoring SI

Today’s guest post is from Eric Strovink, CEO of BIQ. I asked him if he’d be willing to share why he chose to sponsor Sourcing Innovation (SI), knowing that BIQ, as a small company with a limited marketing budget, has not done very much in the way of advertising in the past.

It’s very simple: I know that BIQ users read and respect Sourcing Innovation, because they tell me so. Our customers and prospects are among the best-informed and most demanding sourcing professionals in the world, and they have no patience for blog posts that provide zero useful information, or just paraphrase the latest corporate press releases. They are looking for information, insight, and education, and they find it here.

Michael Lamoureux is unique in the blogging space — he has a PhD in Computer Science, and he’s a leading thinker on the application of optimization theory to supply chain. He’s not pretending to be an expert on procurement technology — he’s the real deal. That means he’s not fooled by a glitzy new user interface, or a tired old application dressed up in a Marketing tu-tu, or a functionality claim that can’t possibly be true. Even if you don’t agree with Michael’s point of view on a particular subject — Michael and I have many debates whenever he’s in town — you can’t ignore the tasty mix of information and commentary you’ll find on SI. You can also be sure that Michael will post opposing points of view, and conduct a vigorous and informative dialog.

One of the big problems getting to the facts in our space is that a lot of folks tiptoe around the major vendors and the big ERP players — and why shouldn’t they, that’s where most of the marketing money (and therefore their pay check, directly or indirectly) comes from. The major analyst firms (for structural reasons) can’t even consider small vendors in their “quadrants” and “waves,” so it’s very hard for an end user to get a good reading on what’s new and what’s really available. For example, here’s a simple question: Is it possible to go with innovative solutions — and do enormously better on a price-performance basis — rather than simply choosing whoever ends up at the forefront of the “wave” or at the upper-rightmost corner of the “quadrant?” You’ll find some good answers on these pages.

Back in the 1980’s the question when buying a PC was, “Why not IBM?” Funny how the tables turned in the end — “buying IBM” turned into an expensive mistake for procurement organizations that committed to the heavily-marketed and ill-considered PS/2. The “safe” decision was precisely the wrong decision, as it so often is. Instead of paying lip-service to vendor marketing spin, SI proposes real questions that we should ask about procurement strategy, and then answers them with passion and commitment.

SI is the place to go when you need hard information on breakthrough companies like Vinimaya,  Co-eXprise, Coupa, and Trade Extensions. SI is where you’ll be pointed by almost any Google search on our space, because SI maintains over 950 high-content posts online. Michael Lamoureux is a major author of the e-Sourcing Wiki, (co-author and) editor of the e-Sourcing Handbook, and a prolific guest commentator on several other blogs.

So these are some of the many reasons why BIQ is a Sourcing Innovation sponsor. I invite other innovative vendors to join us in supporting SI.

Eric can be reached at strovink <at> busiq <dot> com.