Marqui Wasn't Ready for 'RSS Conversations'

Marqui can well be noted as one of the pioneers of relevant, ethic and transparent use of bloggers to publicize a product for a fee. Of course, some will dissagree:)

During the course of their program Marqui even seem to have created a new position in the marketing world, a Conversation Coordinator.

And they most certainly devised an engenious marketing campaign that spawned dozens and dozens conversations about their product, all generating more publicity and prospects.

But were they ready for these conversations?

Robin Good, in a recenent interview, seems to believe they were not.

"I didn't like the fact that while Marqui wanted to do this badly, its people and infrastructure weren't ready for it.

They weren't ready to be blogged about, they weren't ready to respond, they weren't ready to fulfill the requests for conversations, they weren't ready to take advantage of all this buzz to turn it into their favor. The wave took on its own life while Marqui stood as a spectator.

I am not saying that Marqui didn't try to or that the Marqui team was unresponsive to my requests. What I am saying is that they felt like somebody who had just received a present that they weren't really ready to open just yet.

They felt uptight, worrisome, uneasy, on the defensive. And I can understand them. But this was not a mistake to be made. When you call the bloggers out, you better be ready for some stormy winds and big waves, and if you don't even have a surfboard to ride and turn that force of nature to your advantage, a day like that in the water can rapidly become a nightmare."

An important lesson for all marketers: regardless of how smart your plan is, if you can't execute it just as well, you fail.