An Interview with Paul Dunay, Global Managing Director of Services Marketing Avaya Inc and Blogger. Paul Dinay is also author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies (Wiley).

What was your first blog?

http://buzzmarketingfortech.blogspot.com – I started it 3+ years ago after reading a book by Keith Ferrazzi called Never Eat Alone – there was a line in the book about building a network before you need it – so I figured the best way to do that was to build a blog as the centerpiece of my communication plan for people in my network. It has served me very well – I got a new job and a book deal off my blog. I started at Avaya as the head of Services Marketing and I have been asked to lead the social media strategy for the firm. My book – Facebook Marketing for Dummies (Wiley) will be out sometime this summer.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie blogger?

Understand that blogging is now a quantity game – out of the top 10 media properties – 5 of them are blogs – and all of them have multiple authors. Any blog that is really making money has many authors or takes guest posts. So if you are going to blog just understand that you may want to syndicate as much as you can to get your name out there.

Where do you see growth in the blogging field?

I dont – I see growth in Twitter – It took me 3+ years to build up over 2000 RSS readers – it took me 1 1/2 years to build up over 2500 twitter followers. I think people just dont read the way they used to – I know my reading diet (other that books) is ALL online. and the faster I can get in and get out of the information the better – long blog posts are being surpassed with quick tweets.

What new ideas are advertisers coming up with to take advantage of new trends?

I think there is a huge opportunity – for advertisers to have an in-store experience just like they have on google – why doesnt my cellphone get a text message when I arrive at whole foods with specials of the day – they know I am in the store, they know what I buy – why dont they send me ‘contextual’ ads based on my shopping patterns and presence in the store? Stores claim to have 360 degree views of me – thats crap – the only store that maybe has 360 degree views of me is Amazon – because it has all my data and has no retail stores!

What is one thing about you that not many people know?

I am a huge fan of sailing (which many people know) but I did sail and skipper a 12 meter boat (the ones they use in the Americas Cup) – and that is one picture of me that I am smiling from ear to ear as we did 12 knots upwind.

What’s your favorite book?

I am a very avid reader – my goal is to read 24 books this year – so far I am at 10 books. So far this year my favorite book is The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell so wrote another one of my favorite books – The Tipping Point. I also loved Groundswell, Wikinomics, Click, and Freakonomics + anything from Seth Godin (I love all his books)

What is on your iPod?

I think I have a varied taste for music – my favorite band growing up was … The Grateful Dead. But now I love bands like Dave Matthews, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Derek Trucks, Allmans, Van Halen, Aerosmith, and Phish. But I Love even more – podcasts – Hubspot TV, Duct Tape Marketing, Marketingovercoffee, M Show, TED, MIT and Harvard podcasts are my favs.

What are your contact details (email, company, blog, facebook, myspace, forums, etc)?

Paul Dunay| Avaya | Global Managing Director of Services Marketing| 211 Mt. Airy Road | 2W125 | Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 | 908.953.2755 Voice / 917.306.8440 Cell | [email protected]

Blog: http://www.buzzmarketingfortechnology.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldunay
Facebook: http://profile.to/pauldunay
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pauldunay

How do you prefer to communicate?

I love email and twitter – but I am getting more use out of my phone now that I have the iPhone.

What is one thing people can do for you?

Send me ideas – I really am on the hunt for innovative ideas for B2B technology marketers (the purpose of my blog)