Welcome to the first installment of Know-How News!

This issue includes:

•  What's New?
•  Going, Going … Gone!
•  Tips & Tricks
•  Community Leaders
•  Member Spotlight
•  Community Stats
•  Special Thanks
•  Forum Feedback

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WHAT'S NEW?

Dear Askers & Answerers,

Congratulations on a mighty successful first month! As of midday yesterday, nearly 350 of us have been ACTIVELY participating in Know-How Exchange – and soon 150 marketing dilemmas will have been solved. Not too shabby!

You may have noticed we've added lots of new features since we launched, often at the suggestion of members of the community. Here are a few highlights:

•  Karen Crowson was hoping for an easy way to view her open questions. So we redesigned the Profile pages to display all the questions we have participated in.

•  Andrew Scaife's feedback gave us the idea to make URLs in our postings automatically turn into hyperlinks (without handcoding the html).

•  Laura Schneider's comments helped us decide to add the preview and edit functionality to the question publishing process.

•  Ira Silverman, Ellen Weiss and B. Klinsuwan pointed out that we needed to make it clearer that when you award points, you're also closing out a question. We tweaked the question pages and the category pages to clarify.

•  Blaine Wilkerson asked if we had a logo people could put on their sites to link to the Exchange. We hadn't made one yet, so he offered to create one. We will make it available when it's ready.

•  Greg Morse asked about adding a grammar/usage category. It struck me as a good fit, since the questions would be easy to handle in the forum, plus we can all use a little help in this area. So feel free to post a question in our new Copywriting category next time you login.

In the weeks ahead, we plan to begin promoting the Know-How Exchange to the outside world, directing more activity to the forum. If you have any ideas along these lines, please feel free to share.

In fact, I posted a question on the topic this week. You'll find it in the All Other category. Or here's a direct link.  I'll leave it open through tomorrow afternoon.

It has been a blast co-creating with all of you! I look forward to playing (and learning) with you more in the weeks ahead.

Happy exchanging,

Val Frazee
Moderator, Know-How Exchange
MarketingProfs.com

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GOING, GOING … GONE!

Here are 5 questions likely to close soon. Have an idea to offer? Better do it now.

1. I'm looking for training opportunities for my Marketing Team that won't cost an arm and a leg
2. Career Crossroad?
3. What is the best way to structure a marketing course for pre grade university
4. Cost per high quality internet lead
5. Examples of GREAT webpage copy

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TIPS & TRICKS

Did you know you can change your Community Name? Your Community Name is your alias in the forum. In other words, it's the name members recognize you by. It shows up next to any question or response you post, and when people click it, they go to your profile page.

When you first joined you were given a default name. Here's how to change it:

•  Go to http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea
•  Login (in the box, top right)
•  Click on “My Profile” in the Participate box (top right)
•  Change your Community Name
•  Update anything else you like, while you're here
•  Click “Save and Continue” (directs you to page 2)
•  Update your email notifications, if you like
•  Click “Save and Close”

That's all there is to it. I don't recommend you change your Community Name frequently. But when you first join, you may want to change it to something more memorable, more professional or simply more fun.

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COMMUNITY LEADERS

As of this week, these are our superstars! The Most Inquisitive are those who have asked the most questions. (Where there's a tie, we broke it based on number of points they offered for their questions.) The Most Expert are those with the highest number of Cumulative Points (given to them by question authors for offering helpful answers).

NOTE: These are our top members as of midday 2-5-2004

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: MEET JETT

For two of our first four weeks, Blaine Wilkerson (Jett is his Community Name) has held the top spot in our Experts box. I thought it would be fun for all of us to get to know a little more about him. Here are his responses to a few questions I asked him.

Why did you pick the Community Name “Jett”?

My Community Name is derived from my marketing/distribution corporation: Jett Enterprises, Inc. The company is named after my son, Jett Wilkerson. Everyone on the forum calls me Jett, which feels a bit odd at times, but it's fine with me! I am happy to honor my son with quality service and advice.

What do you do for a living?

I am the president/CEO of my company. My primary function, other than drinking coffee, is to be the creative backbone behind the strategies provided for our clients. Although one can't help but use traditional methods at times, I truly strive to find unique strategies for our clients to give them either an edge against the competition or swift penetration into the marketplace. We lean toward the "aggressive distribution" side of marketing, meaning we get started right away (after some market research, of course), as opposed to sitting around chewing on our pencil erasers developing strategies and metrics only I (and my marketing professor) can interpret. We also produce a TON of Web pages, graphics and presentation materials.

How often do you visit the Know-How Exchange?

I stay logged into the forum as long as my computer is on! The time I spend in the forum varies. I've spent as long as 3 hours. If I had to quote an average, I would say about 1-2 hours a day. It goes by fast since I like it so much!

You have answered an incredible 134 questions! What has been the most memorable one?

The most rewarding question, by far, was from a gentleman who was stuck in a boring, marketing director position. He inquired about whether or not he needed to invest in an MBA to get out of his current position and move on. I truly dug down deep and tried to provide the most positive alternatives, attitudes and resources for this one because I've been in his shoes. He responded stating I not only gave him encouragement, but I inspired him to pursue his dream of owning/starting his own marketing company. I'd give up all my Expert Points for another response like that!

Has your time in the Exchange taught you anything new?

The one thing I've learned is that I don't know as much as I thought I did. I thought I had pretty good idea about how to market since I have a successful company. Boy, was I in for a surprise! Every day, there are other members who pull out ideas and strategies that not only nurture my own creativity, but they enhance my marketing abilities. 

Is there anything else you would like to share with the community?

I'd like to end with a favorite and helpful quote by Albert Einstein: “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

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COMMUNITY STATS

Active Unique Participants (to date): 342
Total Responses (to date): 1268
Closed Questions (to date): 139
Average Time to Close (to date): 83 hrs.
Currently Open Questions: 40

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SPECIAL THANKS

Thanks to all these community members who posted responses to my marketing question regarding Know-How Exchange. We're very excited about implementing MANY of your suggestions. Watch for details in the next newsletter.

Jett , gerardodada , AndrewS , Sunil Baboo , Ricky , haze , thecustomer , sakmarketing , LizM. , Josh , Sean , ! znetlady , b , Sarah H , Leaky Funnel , stonely , tjh , Promo Dave

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FORUM FEEDBACK

The Know-How Exchange is awfully young (less than four weeks old). So we're still refining how things work. We have a gigantic list of action items, and your feedback helps us prioritize it. So please feel free to reply to this email with any suggestions. Also, you can send me feedback at any time by way of the “Moderator Help” link in the Exchange. Thanks, in advance, for your time!

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