...tao of marketing and other thoughts

Category(ies): Admin, Random

What is BlogZoopa?

Blog + Zoopa = BlogZoopa.  "Zoopa" is a phonetic variation of "zuppa," which is Italian for soup. BlogZoopa is BlogZuppa is my BlogSoup.

Does the World Really Need Another Blog?

Some would say, "Of course the world doesn't need another blog...it doesn't need anything, especially not a blog."   Others, though, might say, "In order for the world to have the things it needs, it must also have the things it doesn't need."

The first response is that the world doesn't need anything, and the second seems to say the world needs everything, even the things it doesn't need. Of course, this "problem" is only a problem at the level of words...it originates inside of a word game.  The problem was created when the question was asked...

So Why Do BlogZoopa?

This blog exists mainly for my enjoyment and satisfaction. Lately, I've been thinking about so many interesting things (probably because of the stimulating environment I have at work), that I have a sense that I would regret not writing at least some of these thoughts down on paper, as it were. 

I also intend to use this blog to help me finish something I intended to start a few years ago.  After reading Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, I had the urge to write my own "translation."  Not a literal, scholarly translation of the original text into another geographical language, but rather a translation into the language of marketing — my profession.

How I See it Working

As for BlogZoopa's Tao of Marketing, it is my intention to write at least one chapter per week. Those familiar with the Tao Te Ching have probably immediately calculated that this will be an 81-week project. That's about right, give or take.

When there's something to write, I'll write it. In the end, I will have preferred a work that emerged from inspiration and intuition rather than one that was forced. This might mean more than one chapter per week at some times and fewer at other times.

The same goes for other topics. I can see this blogs archive growing at a rate of about 2 to 3 articles per week...but only time will tell.

Comments

I've concluded that for my purposes, I'm going to start off with comments turned off. To some, I know this goes counter-current with the very spirit of blogging. Maybe later, I will change this, but for now, each entry is a pebble dropping into waters. I do not wish to offend, but I also have many other commitments, and I fear comments will consume my thoughts and possibly become counterproductive for me.

I do encourage anyone who wishes to email me, though.  I also encourage trackbacks, if anyone wishes to publicly comment about anything written here. 

My email address is angelo - at - blogzoopa - dot - com. 

Who is Angelo Coppola?

Whoa! What a question. Short answers are so...well...wrong. But, long answers are even more wrong.  Here's my short answer (just remember, no matter what I say I am, I'm not that).

"Whatever you say it is, it isn't."
   — Alfred Korzybski,

I am a father, husband, and marketer.  I suppose you could call those my "major roles."  Each role, is filled with its own mystery; the kind of mystery that inspires my respect. 

This blog is mostly gong to focus on the mysteries of marketing, so that's the role I'll elaborate on. I have been a marketer for over a decade. I started the ride just as the dot-com boom was ramping up.  In fact, it was with a small company that had just received angel funding for an idea.  No products, mind you, just an idea and a couple of bright, young founders.

Those were crazy times.  During the ride I saw my stock options swell in value to well over $500,000, and then shrink again to relatively little just before I left the company. I learned more than a half million dollars worth of marketing lessons, so not all was lost.  In the early days, I was the marketing department, which meant I did everything from creating collateral to stuffing that collateral into envelopes and licking the stamps. I created and managed the corporate web site.  My "position" in the company ranged from technical writer to VP of Marketing, depending on who I was on the phone with or meeting.

I did leave tech for a while, though, buying into the Quiznos franchise. The plan was to get a business started that I could invest some time and sweat into and then set the operation on autopilot.  Franchises are a safe bet right? Well, not always.  And, the statistics are (intentionally, I believe) misleading.  More on this later...

I eventually helped found a small email marketing business with two other partners, and did some consulting. Eventually, though, I divested myself of all businesses I had a stake in, so I could focus as much as possible on my current responsibilities as Director of Marketing for an incredible, relatively young ISV, Axosoft (creators of OnTime 2006, a bug tracker and software project managemt application).

So read on, if you're interested in the musings of someone who's in it, doing it, and thinking about it.

Keywords: BlogZoopa | tao | marketing | tao+of+marketing | philosophy | Angelo+Coppola | Axosoft