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Friday, September 7, 2007 |
If it looks like I have time on my hands...well, I do. My flight out of O'Hare is delayed an hour and I couldn't get on an earlier one. Good thing I have a President's Club membership. Now, if I just could get Dave to pay for it ;-)
At any rate, no one through things at me--even verbally--this morning at the editors' roundtable at the ISA Sales and Marketing Summit. I just tried to stir things up a little (PR has a PR problem--too many people think PR=BS) then gave some practical tips for dealing with editors. The panel did get a couple of almost sarcastic comments about only advertisers getting articles published. But that is a false assumption. For one thing, most advertisers are bigger, so they have more products and more stories and are more visible. We don't toss out stuff because you don't advertise, it gets tossed depending upon the editors' judgement of relative technical merit (relative to the other 300 releases we had that month with space to print 15) or relative market impact.
I was a marketing manager for two small companies. In one case we had no money, therefore we had no visibility, therefore we went out of business. In the other, we had money for both advertising and professional PR. We did well until the funders ran low on money, so we ran low on money, couldn't develop the next generation product and ... went out of business. That process was within a year, so we couldn't reach the self-funding critical mass. I've said this before here, I've seen too many entrepreneurs come to an editor with the dream that one mention in each magazine will start their road to riches. If they started a company without sufficient funding for marketing, then they are destined for failure. The product may get picked up by another company, but the company will not succeed. It's that simple.
I saw very little of the Summit, but people I talked with said it was worthwhile. They are planning one in Boston next year. Stay tuned.
6:03:46 PM 
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I've heard rumblings from the database market about the need for new technologies. I thought maybe it was just with SQL (structured query language) and asked Rashesh Mody about it while I was at Wonderware this week. He says that Wonderware finds Microsoft SQLServer to be a very robust product. You don't need SQL to find things, though, with .Net providing a better access to data.
Now I just saw a pointer to this blog on databases. The author here argues for a column constructed database rather than a row-based relational database. Maybe there is some innovation coming to this technology, too.
5:51:58 PM
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I don't cite Eric Murphy nearly enough, but check out this post on OPC and its detractors. Well thought out.
5:47:53 PM
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I just received notification that Omega has launched its online automation distributorship site--Omegamation. The biggest shock to me was learning that Eaton Cutler-Hammer still has a PLC! And Omega is selling it. Along with many other recognizable products. AutomationDirect pioneered the concept beginning with selling PLCs through catalogs then moving online. It picked up operator interface competition from EZ Automation and other automation products from Automation Systems Interconnect. For these companies, this isn't a sideline--it's how they make sales. More competition usually means an expanding market, so good luck to the new entrant.
5:44:29 PM
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Well, the Hart 7 specification including WirelessHart has been adopted by the board. Congratulations to all for all the hard work.
3:50:53 PM
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FeedForward readers, your voice has been heard! Looks like ISA Expo will have a reception for us "geezers" on opening night of the expo (10/2) from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. Free food and beer. Stop by the Automation World booth and chat automation and business (or soccer). I'll be there.
8:04:26 AM
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© Copyright 2007 Gary Mintchell.
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