SEM Organisation
Out of touch: The events of the past few days regarding SEMPO have been an eye opener.
At a time when there is a genuine ground swell of support for a representative SEM organisation, the one organisation that has managed to get the furthest appears to be repeatedly blasting itself in the foot.
Take today's press release for example:
"As with any professional organization, there are those on the outside who think they can do it better. Mike Grehan, CEO of his own search marketing solutions firm, Smart Interactive, based in the UK, recently called into question the leadership of Barbara Coll, SEMPO President & Chairman of the Board, and her organization’s practices".
The dig at Mike being "CEO of his own search marketing firm" is childish and uncalled for. Mike merely asked a few direct questions, questions that their membership would also like some answers to. There still haven't been any answers, apart from the rather tired and irrelevant party line: "SEMPO works really hard".
The organisation further reveals how out of touch it has quickly become:
"The industry press has also recognized the impact of SEMPO. For instance, seven out of the 10 people in BtoBs Whos Who 2004 list in the new Search category are SEMPO members or sponsors. Click on the latest SEMPO press release and you will see that Barbara Coll is on that list."
One of the issues raised by Mike's e-mail, and the discussions on the boards is "who is SEMPO really benefiting"? The timing of yesterday's press release was rather tragic. Or telling. Or both.
And perhaps the most revealing part of the press release is this:
"We don't have any issues with the way things are being run"
You may not, but the rest of the search marketing community obviously does. Where is the transparency? Why is communication so very poor? SEMPO is an international internet marketing organisation - why is communication mostly conducted at (offline) search engine conferences? How hard is it to write a blog? Post to a discussion forum? Write the occassional e-mail? If $78K is being spent on running the show, then is a response to Mike's questions too much to ask? Why are SEMPO failing to address the issues? Why adopt a level of secrecy that makes the search engines look like open-books by comparison?
The silence is damning.
At a time when there is a genuine ground swell of support for a representative SEM organisation, the one organisation that has managed to get the furthest appears to be repeatedly blasting itself in the foot.
Take today's press release for example:
"As with any professional organization, there are those on the outside who think they can do it better. Mike Grehan, CEO of his own search marketing solutions firm, Smart Interactive, based in the UK, recently called into question the leadership of Barbara Coll, SEMPO President & Chairman of the Board, and her organization’s practices".
The dig at Mike being "CEO of his own search marketing firm" is childish and uncalled for. Mike merely asked a few direct questions, questions that their membership would also like some answers to. There still haven't been any answers, apart from the rather tired and irrelevant party line: "SEMPO works really hard".
The organisation further reveals how out of touch it has quickly become:
"The industry press has also recognized the impact of SEMPO. For instance, seven out of the 10 people in BtoBs Whos Who 2004 list in the new Search category are SEMPO members or sponsors. Click on the latest SEMPO press release and you will see that Barbara Coll is on that list."
One of the issues raised by Mike's e-mail, and the discussions on the boards is "who is SEMPO really benefiting"? The timing of yesterday's press release was rather tragic. Or telling. Or both.
And perhaps the most revealing part of the press release is this:
"We don't have any issues with the way things are being run"
You may not, but the rest of the search marketing community obviously does. Where is the transparency? Why is communication so very poor? SEMPO is an international internet marketing organisation - why is communication mostly conducted at (offline) search engine conferences? How hard is it to write a blog? Post to a discussion forum? Write the occassional e-mail? If $78K is being spent on running the show, then is a response to Mike's questions too much to ask? Why are SEMPO failing to address the issues? Why adopt a level of secrecy that makes the search engines look like open-books by comparison?
The silence is damning.
