Eduardo Conrado and I met up at the MarketingProfs conference at the beginning of October. I really liked his approach to using thought leadership in the positioning of the Enterprise Division of Motorola.

As global marketing VP, Eduardo controls the marketing for all of Motorola’s enterprise B2B products worldwide. So naturally I wanted to better understand his approach to thought leadership, as well as how he defines success. I also wanted to learn which Web 2.0 tactics are working for his teams around the globe. Enjoy …

Using thought leadership to position Motorola, a podcast with Eduardo Conrado

About Eduardo

Eduardo Conrado is vice president of Global Business and Technology Marketing & Communications for Motorola, Inc. His role encompasses three of Motorola’s four primary businesses with revenues of over $17 billion: Home & Networks Mobility, Government & Public Safety, and Enterprise Mobility.

Reporting to Motorola’s chief marketing officer, Eduardo is responsible for driving a worldwide team that focuses on Motorola’s vital B2B marketing strategy – from overall branding, to product and regional/channel marketing, to interactive and direct marketing. He also leads both internal and external communications, including employee communications, public relations and industry analyst relations.

Is microblogging the latest fad or the next big thing? Microblogging is just like regular blogging, except it’s limited to 140 characters. The leader in the space is Twitter.

According to a recent blog post by Peter Kim, Twitter is now used regularly by 6% of American online adults. That sounds about right to me, although Twitter power user Robert Scoble thinks the figure is “way too high.” But if you want to reach an affluent, well-educated, early adopter audience, there might not be a better communication channel out there.

To get a better sense of this emerging social media tool, we assembled a micro-panel to discuss it: Jeremiah Owyang, a senior analyst on Social Computing at Forrester Research and a fan of Twitter, and David Berkowitz, director of Emerging Media at 360i, who is skeptical about Twitter’s application to business. We hope you enjoy the lively debate!

Twitter: Valuable Tool, or Waste of Time?

Listen learn and weigh in – Let us know which side you are on by leaving a comment on this blog. Or, feel free to comment on a topic you would like us to explore further.

Coming up will be another Prof-cast, “Pay per Click: Boom or Bust??” It features Alan Rimm-Kaufman, who leads the Rimm-Kaufman Group and is a fan of Pay per Click, and Steve Rubel, senior vice president at Edelman, who is skeptical about the future of Pay per Click.

So don’t miss it …

Through a classic Google search on her name, Stephanie Fierman found some unwelcome entries. The experience led Stephanie to wage a one-woman crusade to alert marketers and non marketers about how to practice personal brand defense. You can read her full story here.

I had a chance to interview Stephanie about her experience in practicing personal brand defense…

Interview with Stephanie Fierman, on practicing Brand Self Defense

About Stephanie Fierman

Stephanie Fierman is a marketing executive for the digital age. Known for building both profitability and brand equity for companies in all stages of growth and across different business sectors, Ms. Fierman has contributed to the success of both Internet start-ups as well as Fortune 50 companies including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Time Warner. She graduated as a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Fierman volunteers much of her personal time and talent to several arts and education organizations in New York City. For more information, go to www.stephaniefierman.com.

In the new world of work, your reputation is the only accepted currency. Whether you’re looking to move up the corporate ladder at your current organization, find a position at another company, make a major career change, or start your own enterprise, you’ll no longer be hunting for your next position. Instead, opportunities will come to you. Colleagues, hiring managers, clients, and recruiters will use Google and their social and professional networks to find out about you and reach you.

To thrive in this new environment, you need to identify your personal assets and clearly communicate your unique value promise. That’s why I jumped at the chance to speak with William Arruda, co-author of the book Career Distinction, at the MarketingProfs conference in Chicago, where he gave a keynote speech. I hope you enjoy …

Career Distinction, a podcast with author William Arruda

About William

William Arruda is an executive coach, public speaker and author. He combines his 20 years’ corporate branding experience, passion for human potential, and avid pursuit of innovation to help professionals stand out and expand their success. He is the founder of Reach, the global leader in personal branding, and co-founder of the Reach Branding Club. JPMorgan, Disney, Adobe, Microsoft, Warner Bros, British Telecom, Electronic Arts and Starwood Hotels are just a few of the corporate clients for whom he’s delivered presentations and workshops on the transformative power of personal branding. William has appeared on BBC TV, the Discovery Channel, and Radio America. A sought-after spokesperson on career advancement, he has written for and contributed to the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Time magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and many other publications throughout the world. He holds a master’s degree in education.

As author Chip Heath told the audience at the Marketing Profs conference in Chicago this week, “In a market where it is difficult to be heard – only the sticky messages will break through.”

One of the reasons for this is that “common sense” is not sticky enough for people to remember. They assume what they’re hearing or reading is what they get from everyone else, so they flush it from their mind. A good example would be corporate boilerplate or a mission statement. These never seem to have enough bite to really make them stick – hence you need to move from common sense to uncommon sense!

After hearing Chip deliver the conference keynote speech, I decided to ask him a few questions of my own to further illuminate the challenges facing the B2B technology marketer. I hope you enjoy …

Made to Stick, a podcast with author Chip Heath

About the Authors

Brothers Chip Heath and Dan Heath are the co-authors of the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, which has been a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek bestseller.

The Heath brothers write a monthly column called “Made To Stick” for Fast Company magazine. They have spoken and consulted on the topic of “making ideas stick” with audiences from organizations such as Microsoft, Nissan, Fannie Mae and West Point.