A recent post by Ross Dawson gave a link to a great article by David Maister, called “Marketing is a Conversation.” Of course my ears always perk up when I hear the word conversation in a business context. Work is conversation. Life is conversation and (of course) marketing is conversation. The article, co-authored by Lois Kelly summarize the importance of shifting the notion of communications in marketing toward genuine conversation, speaking and listening in a way that builds relatedness. The article includes some guidelines for creating and conducting effective conversations that hearken back to solid dinner-party conversation and story telling.

My partner, who has been in marketing for many years, looked over my shoulder for a moment while I was reading and said, “everything is marketing.” This “homely phrase” (often phrased around our home) is of course reference to Regis McKenna’s insights published in the early 90s (the book, Relationship Marketing, and the HBR article Marketing is Everything.”

Everything is marketing and marketing is everything. My inquiry for this year is about making networks (in saltwater or fresh) distinct and to explore how to express that networks are everything and that everything is a network and that links are conversations.