This week’s Tuesday Blogversation is with Albert Maruggi. I’ve known Albert since he called me out of the blue in October of last year to ask if I wanted to go to a Verizon wireless event to show off the then pre-release Droid phone. Obviously I said yes. Since that time I have gotten to know Albert better and respect the work that he does. He probably feels the same way since he invited me to be a guest on his Marketing Edge podcast regarding my Twitter application. You can go to that podcast here.
Albert Maruggi ( blog | twitter ) is a communications and public relations veteran. On the job for 30 years he’s worked as a reporter, anchor and then producer for some local television stations. He has served as a communications adviser to presidential cabinet members and a member of Congress. Before starting Provident Partners he handled global communications for two enterprise technology companies and it wasn’t until his drive home from L.A. immediately after 9/11 that he decided to start his own company. He resides in Saint Paul with his wife, kids, and smiling dog.
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How long have you been doing the Marketing Edge Podcast?
I started the Marketing Edge podcast in February 2005.
How do you find your topics?
Deep down I’m a journalist, I enjoy newsworthy topics that are getting traction such as shiny new objects for the latest tool. I also find depth of topics compelling and I think that’s why the Marketing Edge has maintained a following. I have one guest and one topic per show and we keep it to around 20 minutes.
I also like to focus on why companies or people behave they way they do. For example the motivation and research that went into the Ford Fiesta Movment was an episode with Scott Monty, or a recent conversation with Shel Holtz about the state of social media.
I’m not very big on How To type of stuff, there is plenty of that information. While that informaiton is necessary and usually gets traffic I look to deliver information with a unique perspective, an objective eye and some challenging questions.
How much does non-disclosure hinder what you can talk about?
I do not get into such specifics that Non-disclosure comes into play.
How do you use text to support the topics in your podcast?
This is a tough one because it doubles or triples the production of the Marketing Edge podcast. The reason is I try to have the reader walk away from the episode with complete information as well as the listener without giving them the same experience. I’m not big on the transcript approach in part because it takes longer to read and sometimes a transcript is just not as compelling a read as it is to listen to. That’s why I write a separate post that supplements the audio interviews giving highlights or calling attention to specific parts of the audio interview.
I also may be a bit of a format perfectionist in that I appreciate the unique differences between audio, video, text, and other multimedia formats being explored on the web, interactive video for example. Each has its place and in many cases there is a best format for the specific message.
Where’d you come up with the idea to donate a food item for each comment?
My church collects food items monthly and it dawned on me that instead of incentivizing comments for personal gain, given it’s a social community that putting some tangible community behind the blog is a reflection of my personality.
It’s really easy, I just bring a case of soup, cans of tuna, macaroni & cheese, rice, and baked beans over to the church.
Dez’s Note: For each comment on this post I will give one food item to Albert’s church food collection.
Has it helped you get more comments?
Can’t tell really, if you asked how many people actually say in their comments thanks for donating food to a shelter, then I’d say it has had minimal impact.
Walk us through a typical podcast from conception to publish.
See something interesting, for example I saw Howard Kaushansky, CEO of a company called Umbria Listens, speak at a conference. This was years ago when listening tools were in their infancy. I found his conversation fascinating and interviewed him on the spot. Very shortly after that, Umbria was purchased by JD Power.
So I do new tool interviews, I also will do programs, for example Jennifer Milano is a wonderful social media mind who now leads that area for Kayak.com She did a blog on the Jet Blue “All You Can Jet” Pass which I thought was brilliant, it was that effort that got her noticed by Kayak.
I look at the world through the lens of what’s interesting, what’s emtionally appealing, what needs further examination.
You may have wanted the steps to produce the podcast to which I say, that’s really boring and takes a long time.
How often do you have guests on your podcast?
99% of the time the Marketing Edge podcast has a guest.
Who’s been the biggest ‘celebrity’ guest on your podcast?
Define celebrity? Ok I’m being snarky because I dispise the term and that aspect of social media, but it probably really isn’t social media, it’s human nature that was to make celebrities. No, it’s not human nature, it’s certain cultures that create celebrities.
How about this as you are pondering the above sentence, some people that I have had the pleasure of interviewing that are well known in the social media space include:
- Paula Berg (Southwest Airlines)
- Scott Monty (Ford)
- Shel Holtz (Author, Tactical Transparency)
- Laura Fitton (@Pistachio CEO of www.oneforty.com)
- Brian Solis (Author Putting Public Back in PR)
- Shel Israel (Consultant for SAP and author Twitterville,)
- Lisa Qualls (Developer of Twitterface www.twitterface.com )
- Tristan Walker (Foursquare)
Other podcasts you recommend?
- For Immediate Release
- Six Pixels of Separation
- TWIT with Leo Laporte
- The Chris Pirillo Show
- IT Conversations
- BBC World Service
Anything from BBC World Service
There are plenty more but this is all I have time to recommend for now.
Who do you read everything from?
Notes from my wife and kids – Now I scan a lot of blogs and news feeds. I’d say Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Liz Strauss, David Erickson, Valeria Maltoni. Also Social Media Today, Media Bullseye, and Mashable.
Also follow me on Disqus for when I comment through that platform.
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Tuesday Blogversation is a weekly series on iamdez.com featuring bloggers of all kinds from the Twin Cities (Minneapolis / Saint Paul) area. If you’d like to be considered for an interview please send mail to dez [at] iamdez [dot] com or get ahold of me on twitter.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dez,
Great blogversation. Amazing how one action can lead to so many future opportunites. Look forward to hearing you on Marketing Edge. Keep up the good work!
P.S. (I appreciate that you are making a food donation to Albert’s church)
Great blogversation. Amazing how one action can lead to so many future opportunites. Look forward to hearing you on Marketing Edge. Keep up the good work!
+1