I’ve never met Yvonne DiVita, but I feel like I’ve known her for a long, long time.

Sure, that’s in part a credit to the camaraderie of the blogosphere, where many of us who have been out here for any significant period of time (in my case, just over two years and 50,000 words) certainly look at each other as kindred spirits out to change the world, word by word, link by link.

But it’s much more a testimony to Yvonne, who really is a great role model and mentor, a very dear and generous friend — to me and so many others who spend so much time here in our own “third place.”

Yvonne is a kind and gentle blogger (see both Lip-Sticking and A-ha!), a baby boomer grandma who lets her cat sleep on the bed (but not the dog), a published author (of the book, “Dickless Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online”) and president of Windsor Media Enterprises, an author services company that provides idea development, manuscript critiquing, editing, proofreading, formatting and cover design to new and existing authors.

Given my interest in reporting more news on A New Marketing Commentator (as opposed to expressing my opinion, something I do a lot of here, freely and frequently), I recently ran just a few simple questions about quoting sources by Yvonne (who I knew would have the answers). Here’s the gist of our discussion:

Bob: What are the rules that every blogger needs to follow when it comes to reporting news?

Yvonne: Be honest and authentic, which should go without saying. NEVER quote a source without citing it. NEVER reprint content – without permission. CHECK your facts. Is your source reliable? WHO else uses the source—are they reliable? Where possible, get the truth from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

Bob: How much can you quote verbatim?

Yvonne: This question plagues writers…and will continue to do so for decades to come. The unofficial rule is never quote more than 20%. In truth, use a sentence or two to make your point, and give credit where credit is due. If you need more, ask for permission. NEVER assume it’s okay – although ‘fair use’ allows quoting about 20% of content, sometimes it’s the particular content you choose to quote, that gets you in trouble. Facts and figures are generally okay – if you’re confident you can find them elsewhere. That’s public domain. Specific facts and figures from reports compiled by a specific company, may not be fair use. If they’re openly available online (not password protected, for instance) they’re usually okay. Once again, when in doubt: ask…

Bob: Can you – should you – paraphrase?

Yvonne: Indeed…somewhat. You cannot paraphrase an entire document or report. You can paraphrase a portion of it. Be honest. Utilize only what’s necessary to make your point – and be sure to include content written in your own words, not quoted and not paraphrased. UNLESS you are merely directing readers to the report or article…then, you may put a sentence in with a link…in the original author’s own words.

In the end, the truth is – honesty is the best policy. We hear a lot about how bloggers are so ‘authentic’ – meaning we don’t hide behind policy or someone else’s influence. That means taking responsibility for what you write, making sure it’s accurate and always giving credit where credit is due.

Speaking of which, I give Yvonne DiVita a great deal of credit not just for her contribution to this post, but for all she knows and does as an author, marketer, publisher, public speaker, entrepreneur, etc. She just has so much to offer so many of us. And for that reason we are so lucky she is among us in the blogosphere.

Earlier in the week, I posted here on A New Marketing Commentator what I called “my career imperative, my own personal brand mantra, my clarion call to any potential employer who will listen and accede to my dream of a new and even better way of doing my work.”

And while I suppose what I wrote in this post could have been perceived as over the top, I can tell you that it was straight from the heart, honest, urgent (at least in my mind, it was – and still is) and extemporaneous (although I second-guessed it for hours before I dared publish it).

It certainly was a reflection of who I am not just as a blogger, but as a person at home and at work.

I can’t help but keep it real.

Fortunately, the upshot of this one post has been more positive and prolonged than anything else I’ve written for this blog except for “Why Advertising, Marketing and PR Pros Should Blog,” Parts One, Two and Three.

So thank you, blogosphere, for doing what you do so well – bring like-minded people together.

Thank you, David Burn, editor of AdPulp (for picking up this post first)… Robert Rosenthal, creative genius at Mothers of Invention, (for your way-too-kind words about me on your way-too-cool new blog, Freaking Marketing)…Amy Gahran, conversational media consultant, content strategist, freelance writer/editor and author of both Contentious and The Right Conversation (I’ve been reading you for so long, it’s about time I connected with you!)…Stephanie Rogers (a marketing professional and kindred spirit who was kind enough to wish me luck on her blog, CultureJunkie)…and blogging mastermind, Ted Demopoulos (who wrote a flattering piece about my “career imperative” on his blog, Blogging for Business).

I appreciate the time everyone else took just to read this post, not to mention write the few comments left behind.

I am grateful for all your support and suggestions, phone calls and emails.

My search for a new job goes on, but I promise to get back next week to my regularly scheduled blogging. I already have two new posts in the queue, one in which Yvonne DiVita of Lip-Sticking answers several of my questions on fair use in the blogosphere and another in which David Baker, Principal of ReCourses, Inc. (a management consulting firm that works exclusively with public relations, advertising, and design firms), tells us which staffing decisions have the greatest impact on our clients.

So please do stay tuned. And, again, thank you.

If you know of an organization that’s looking for an experienced direct marketer and enthusiastic, entrepreneurial creative director, copywriter, blogger and public speaker, I know of someone who fits the bill.

Moi.

Yes, I’m here to tell you that even though my employment with one company has just recently come to an end, I have no intention whatsoever of letting even a few blades of grass grow like a contagion under my feet.

Given such urgency and resolve, I have already touched base with my network of friends and colleagues in the terrestrial world, letting them know of my availability and desire to land a new full-time job – or contract assignment – as soon as possible.

And, of course, I’ve been wading my way through Monster, Talent Zoo and Craigslist on a regular basis.

So now it’s time for me to put the word out in the blogosphere.

I’ve been blessed to have worked with some great people at some stellar organizations in the past, but I’m hopeful that the next step in my career will be to an even higher rung on the proverbial corporate ladder.

Wherever I land, I hope it’s a place that recognizes the need to leverage the effectiveness of traditional, time-tested marketing principles with the power of the latest new conversational media tools, consequently embracing a sense of both immediacy and transparency, two of the most important hallmarks of successful brand communications campaigns today.

Wherever I land, I hope it’s a place teeming with brilliant creative minds and bold, farsighted agents of change who can at least relate to such groundbreaking business tomes as “The Cluetrain Manifesto,” “The Tipping Point,” “The Virtual Handshake” and “Life After the 30-Second Spot,” not to mention the thought leadership of luminaries the likes of Seth Godin, Tom Peters, Steve Rubel and Amy Gahran.

In exchange for such synergy and simpatico, I vow to give my next employer every last ounce of my whole professional being.

I vow to wield my skills in the areas of creative direction, communications and strategic consulting to help lead this organization through the minefields of change and into the promised land of new marketing nirvana, where it can be gleefully at one with its employees, partners and constituents alike.

This, as I stand at the crossroads of change in an industry that has been surprisingly slow to adapt and adopt, is my career imperative, my own personal brand mantra, my clarion call to any potential employer who will listen and accede to my dream of a new and even better way of doing my work.

Bob’s Work History

Bob’s Public Speaking History

Congratulations to my fellow New England direct marketer, Alan Rosenspan, for being chosen by the John Caples International Awards committee to receive the prestigious Andi Emerson Award, honoring his years of “exemplary service to the creative community.”

As reported today in DM News, the award will be presented to him on March 2 in a ceremony held at New York’s Metropolitan Pavilion.

A past winner of the New England Direct Marketing Association’s Direct Marketer of the Year award (1997), Alan is an icon and inspiration to so many in the industry in which I earn my livelihood, and a kind and generous man as well.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading his book, “Confessions of a Control Freak,” don’t hesitate to treat yourself and order a copy now.

Not unlike Howard Dean did with his phenomenally successful – and groundbreaking – Web-based campaign in 2004, Massachusetts democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick is leveraging today’s new online marketing tools to bring in more donations and, ultimately, votes.

According to an article that appeared in The Boston Globe on December 31, 2005 (the article in its entirety can be found in the Globe archives, which are free to home delivery subscribers), Patrick’s “Internet donations have topped $240,000, or about 15 percent of the $1.6 million Patrick has raised from donors since he began running early in 2005.”

“Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick is bringing the Internet age to Massachusetts politics as never seen before, setting up an online fund-raising system that has brought in nearly a quarter-million dollars in the last several months,” wrote the Globe’s Frank Phillips in the aforementioned article.

Patrick’s Web site not only gives those who favor him the opportunity to make a secure, online donation, it allows them to build their own personal fundraising pages (and — consequently — embrace the spirit of constituent-led marketing, which you’ve read about before in A New Marketing Commentator) with which they can recruit additional supporters.

Yes, the site even has a blog.

Deval Patrick’s opponent on the democratic side is, of course, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly. The state’s gubernatorial election will be on November 7, 2006.

If you’ve haven’t discovered Gather yet, it’s certainly an interesting concept and yet another testimony to the burgeoning blogosphere.

“Gather is a place for you to connect with people who share your passions. It’s a place where you can contribute thought, art, commentary, or inspiration. We will reward you for all the great things you will share with others in your communities of interest. And together, we think we will create a pretty special place to hang out online,” says Gather CEO, Tom Gerace, on the company’s Web site.

I’ve already signed up as a member and published six of my articles on the site, all of which you can see — and comment on — by clicking here.

Like Debbie Weil (a highly regarded online marketing consultant specializing in new media strategies), I couldn’t feel more strongly that fear is what’s keeping many Fortune 500 companies from staking a rightful – and long overdue – claim in the blogosphere.

To blog or not to blog is largely a top-down, C-level decision, and those in the front offices, executive suites and boardrooms of corporate America are typically conservative and cautious about trying almost anything new.

With that said, I’m reminded of a parable I’ve heard many times before (which you can read in its entirety here) about a spy who had been captured by the enemy and sentenced to death. To make a long story short, the condemned man was given the choice between the firing squad and the black door, and he ultimately chose the former because he was so afraid of the latter, which represented the unknown.

Here’s how I think this story would go if it were about business today instead of war…

A New Blog (A Parable)

Let me tell you a story. It’s about a CEO who, because he had been unsuccessful in positioning his company as a leader in the marketplace, was about to be dismissed by his board of directors. The board, however, permitted the beleaguered executive to choose between being fired and publishing a new blog.

As the moment of termination drew near, the board ordered the CEO to be brought before them to receive the hapless man’s decision. It was not an easy decision, and the executive hesitated, but he soon made it known that he preferred to be fired. Not long thereafter, a few tears and good cries around the water cooler announced that the bold decision to let the CEO go had been fulfilled.

The company’s marketing director then turned to her assistant and said, “You see how it is with CEOs. They will always prefer the known way to the unknown. It is characteristic of most C-level executives to be afraid of the undefined. And yet he was given a choice!”

“What lies beyond the launch of a new blog?” asked the assistant.

“Transparency,” replied the marketing director, “and I’ve seen only a few corporate Americans brave enough to communicate that way.”

Now, there are two messages to this story.

The first, of course, is that the average business man or woman will often choose a familiar means of communications, even if it is undesirable, over an unknown way, which might represent a wonderful opportunity.

And second, that few among us in the business world are brave enough to choose transparency.

I’m not saying that corporate America should stop using the traditional press release, newsletters, direct mail, email and Web sites to get the word out — not by any means. But those of us in business – especially the business of marketing, advertising and public relations – should at least question the usual tools of the trade and challenge the status quo.

Just because it’s familiar doesn’t mean it’s effective, or even the right thing to do – especially in this day and age.

Oh sure, you’re probably saying to yourself, “If I were the CEO, I would have chosen to publish a new blog. I would have had nothing to lose. Getting fired is not going to help anyone’s career!”

But actually faced with the choice, would you really? How many times in the last year or two have we passed up the chance to launch a blog because we tend to cling so fiercely to any number of more conventional ways of communicating with our customers, prospects and industry peers?

Think about it. How many times during the course of our careers have bold, new ways of communicating been introduced to us that later on proved to be gainful? Each of them – like a blog – was a new platform which we eventually used to communicate better than ever before with those who mean the most to us. But at the time, due to apprehension and fear, we may have settled on a more comfortable method of communications.

It is good to remember that it is often those things we worry about and are afraid of most as business men and women that turn out to be blessings in disguise for our careers and companies.

I’m sure many of you might be reluctant to establish a presence in the blogosphere. To communicate in such a timely, comprehensive manner. To engage your constituents in such open, honest dialogue.

But once you do, will it not add greater freedom – and, ultimately, profits – to your lives as professionals? For many of you, I’m sure, blogging will be the beginning of not just a new way of communicating, but a new era of success.

So I urge all of you C-level executives to not resist change, to not fear the unknown and to not be afraid to launch a new corporate blog today.

Given that I’ve recently become a free agent (although keeping up with A New Marketing Commentator sometimes seems like a job in and of itself), I thought it would be a good time to write about my friend and fellow New England direct marketer, George Mercer, and the networking group he runs for job seekers called the Marketing Professionals Network (MPN).

If you’ve ever met George, you know what I’m talking about when I say he’s as much a gentleman and a scholar as a humorist and raconteur. George has a warm heart, an engaging personality and a remarkable ability to both challenge and cheer on those who wish to gain a better foothold on the proverbial corporate ladder.

George is not just a great career coach and meeting facilitator, he’s a great guy. Period. All of which explains why the Marketing Professionals Network has been able to do so much for so many since its inception in the early 1990’s.

The goal of the Marketing Professionals Network is to foster a supportive, interactive network that makes it possible for members to get in-depth information on local companies and job opportunities, as well as share job search experiences and techniques.

To achieve this goal, MPN:

•Holds weekly, facilitated meetings for small groups of members
•Sends members job leads via email
•Hosts quarterly “soirées” – larger, informal events for both current and former MPN members. Soirées may include a panel discussion and always provide an opportunity to network with others in the group.

Coincidentally, the next soirée just so happens to be this coming Thursday, February 9. It will be held at Papa Razzi in Wellesley, MA, beginning at 6 PM. Perhaps I’ll see you there. For more information about the Marketing Professionals Network, including this week’s soirée, click here.

“Savvy companies that leverage the power of blogging will have a competitive advantage…[and] those that don’t understand the potential of this valuable tool will lag behind,” say authors and blogging experts Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos.

By way of their soon-to-be-published, new book, “Blogging for Business: Everything You Need to Know and Why You Should Care,” Holtz and Demopoulos are out to help businesses create blogs that lead to heightened awareness, greater customer mindshare, increased product sales – and, ultimately, profits.

I haven’t had the opportunity to read the entire book yet, but I have checked out some of it, and what I saw I liked – a lot. What particularly caught my attention were the following few paragraphs in the book’s introduction about blogs and the long tail…

The long tail is a notion introduced originally by Chris Anderson in Wired magazine. (Anderson continues to write about the concept on his own blog at http://www.thelongtail.com.) The article was about digital music, but the concept applies to innumerable aspects of the digital world, blogs among them. Here’s the idea:

And so it is in the blogosphere. Several pundits who haven’t yet figured this out dismiss all but a hundred or so blogs, the ones with large readerships. But you only need one reader to link to a post on your blog to elevate that post’s visibility in search engines. And if you get that one link, somebody else is likely to find your blog. Even if they don’t seek out your blog, but read only the post that referenced your original item, your influence is spreading.

Yes, the long tail concept most certainly applies to blogs, this one — A New Marketing Commentator — being a perfect example. My audience may pale in comparison to the readership of such popular blogs as Steve Rubel’s, Steve Hall’s, B. L. Ochman’s and Yvonne DiVita’s. But each of those blogs — among countless others — have linked to mine in the past, going a long way towards helping me broaden the reach of my marketing news and commentary.

As a blogger on the long tail, I may not have big numbers, but I can certainly have an influence in the blogosphere.

After all, in this day and age, as none other than Seth Godin says, “small is the new big.”

To learn more about “Blogging for Business: Everything You Need to Know and Why You Should Care” by Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos, including how to purchase your own copy, click here.