What to give people for Christmas? Mini iPods in opalescent pastel colours, maybe a SONY DSC-P93 5.1 Megapixel (2592 x 1944 resolution) camera or Halo 2?
I bought a copy of Wired the other day to get some gift ideas (roll your eyes here if you are so inclined), and came across a reference to IPTV. Looked it up and read the article online and I can't believe they're saying it's going to take another five years!
I like the idea of having an IPTV in my fibre-optic-cabled iHome in Lake Tahoe.
Well, wouldn't you?
Monday, December 13, 2004
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Online paid content
Entertainment/Lifestyles category surpassed Business/Investment in Q2 of this year, apparently, as the second most paid content category, whilst Personals/Dating stays at the top.
This is, of course, a US Market report. Still worth reading for those of us in Australasia.
This is, of course, a US Market report. Still worth reading for those of us in Australasia.
Being paid to Blog
And so it came to pass on Thanksgiving Day 2004 that Marqui is paying 15 well-known bloggers to blog about their products.
There's been a slew of mixed responses since then, notably from Stowe Boyd & ongoing since Oct from Jason Calacanis.
Microsoft has just launched MSN Spaces beta, which is essentially a blog hosting service, as part of MSN.
All this continued fuss about blogging...no wonder 'blog' is the No. 1 Word of the Year, according to Merriam-Webster.
There's been a slew of mixed responses since then, notably from Stowe Boyd & ongoing since Oct from Jason Calacanis.
Microsoft has just launched MSN Spaces beta, which is essentially a blog hosting service, as part of MSN.
All this continued fuss about blogging...no wonder 'blog' is the No. 1 Word of the Year, according to Merriam-Webster.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Change, Ideas, Action
Came across this great quote from Andy Law today, founder of St Luke's ad agency, "The failure...was to try to simplistically replace one workable but broken system with another untried one as if a new mantra was the answer. No, the answer was to start behaving differently, to start talking differently. That way, you begin to meet other people who have been thinking along the same lines, possibly for longer and with greater application than yourself."
The founding team at Gooru can certainly attest to this statement.
The founding team at Gooru can certainly attest to this statement.
Monday, November 29, 2004
Decompress from the Stress of Business
Long title, short blog.
I am indeed writing this on the fly on the way to a training / marketing event I have put together for one of the companies I am consulting for right now.
Today, with a little less than three hours sleep under my belt, I drove through insane traffic this morning, whilst my partner was visibly stressing in the seat next to me. It's been a rough few months (actually, well... it's been a rough year) for him, for me, for us. The stress of the long days and burning the candle at both ends has taken its toll on his health and on both our moods.
Suffice it to say, with this morning fast shaping up to be a scorcher in Sydney, he was very concerned that we wouldn't get to his meeting on time. It was a very important meeting, indeed, with a potential VC for Gooru.
So he sat there, barely saying a word and when he did it was to exclaim that all he was really concerned about was making it to the meeting on time.
So I sat there, in the driver's seat, thinking that today of all mornings, the scene was set-up for me to get cranky at a moment's notice. In fact, I caught myself a few times musing about how strange it was for me to be looking at him and accepting that he was really stressed and, for once, not letting it get to me. I mean, the traffic was BAD... I let it flow through. His conversation was a bit strained and stress-centred... I let it flow past. I was running late myself as a consequence with a thousand things to do, it seemed, before the event this afternoon... I let it go and hummed along to Gershwin playing on the radio.
I remember reading a blog by Joe Kraus a month ago on potting plants. I couldn't seem to emulate the spirit with which he wrote it back then, but today, happily, I can say I 've taken a leaf out of those potted plants and I feel so much better for it.
I am indeed writing this on the fly on the way to a training / marketing event I have put together for one of the companies I am consulting for right now.
Today, with a little less than three hours sleep under my belt, I drove through insane traffic this morning, whilst my partner was visibly stressing in the seat next to me. It's been a rough few months (actually, well... it's been a rough year) for him, for me, for us. The stress of the long days and burning the candle at both ends has taken its toll on his health and on both our moods.
Suffice it to say, with this morning fast shaping up to be a scorcher in Sydney, he was very concerned that we wouldn't get to his meeting on time. It was a very important meeting, indeed, with a potential VC for Gooru.
So he sat there, barely saying a word and when he did it was to exclaim that all he was really concerned about was making it to the meeting on time.
So I sat there, in the driver's seat, thinking that today of all mornings, the scene was set-up for me to get cranky at a moment's notice. In fact, I caught myself a few times musing about how strange it was for me to be looking at him and accepting that he was really stressed and, for once, not letting it get to me. I mean, the traffic was BAD... I let it flow through. His conversation was a bit strained and stress-centred... I let it flow past. I was running late myself as a consequence with a thousand things to do, it seemed, before the event this afternoon... I let it go and hummed along to Gershwin playing on the radio.
I remember reading a blog by Joe Kraus a month ago on potting plants. I couldn't seem to emulate the spirit with which he wrote it back then, but today, happily, I can say I 've taken a leaf out of those potted plants and I feel so much better for it.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Guess what? It's the 4th Thursday of November today...!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all ye nutty birds out here reading this blog!
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Direct Marketing
If you think that all online marketers are interested in is the fluffy, cute stuff on branding, image et al and are wondering if anyone in the blogosphere talks about ROIs and more substantial stuff, permit me to direct you to a healthy dose of Bob Bly, direct marketer extraordinaire, who has officially joined the blogosphere today.
Selling the dream, Creating Opportunity
There's only one thing harder than starting a new business: it's re-inventing one that already exists (why do you think advertising agencies out there charge an arm and a leg?)
OK. So, how do human beings reinvent themselves? Why should the process be any different for a business, i.e., brand entity? Yes, I know that isn't exactly a rhethorical question. But, dear me... having gone through talking to business owners about brand essence, values, etc, etc, the problem is the same whether you are talking about one human being or a collective business entity: lack of self knowledge and lack of vision.
A good friend of mine impressed upon me yesterday that "in life, people are successful at what they value." This, of course, led me to ask myself... what do I value?
Amongst the usual answers of good friends, family, and meaningful relationships, past the mention of love, life, and the pursuit of happiness, I stumble upon the resounding truth in the reply, "I value human potential."
I think that people (customers, that is) these days want to believe in you and what you do. Not only do people buy from people they like, they buy from you because they also believe in your processes. It's not enough that your product is sexy, has all this list of benefits, and comes in just the right shade of perriwinkle blue ('coz face it: there will always be someone somewhere out there who's managed to come up with a sexier product that's shinier, bigger, and comes in a rainbow of colours with a set of steak knives on offer free with every purchase). The people behind the brand tells the story better than any benefit-driven product advertising ever can.
Customers go for brands that tell some story worth remembering, brands they resonate with and on some level remind them of their own personal narrative.
Translating that back into why I do Gooru and why I am in the business of marketing and immersed in everything else I do...well, I value human potential -- mine along with everybody else's.
With Gooru, the core of our vision is to empower people to be the best they can be. Gooru members don't have to be anybody else but true to themselves AND true to the vision of who they see themselves becoming. At Gooru, we're not necessarily reinventing the wheel. I see what we do as more about creating an opportunity for people to get to know themselves better and, if they haven't already done so, formulate a vision and use the right tools in order to continually sharpen that vision.
It's early days, but if any of the above struck a chord with you, gentle reader, I invite you to visit www.gooru.com.au and tell us what you think.
OK. So, how do human beings reinvent themselves? Why should the process be any different for a business, i.e., brand entity? Yes, I know that isn't exactly a rhethorical question. But, dear me... having gone through talking to business owners about brand essence, values, etc, etc, the problem is the same whether you are talking about one human being or a collective business entity: lack of self knowledge and lack of vision.
A good friend of mine impressed upon me yesterday that "in life, people are successful at what they value." This, of course, led me to ask myself... what do I value?
Amongst the usual answers of good friends, family, and meaningful relationships, past the mention of love, life, and the pursuit of happiness, I stumble upon the resounding truth in the reply, "I value human potential."
I think that people (customers, that is) these days want to believe in you and what you do. Not only do people buy from people they like, they buy from you because they also believe in your processes. It's not enough that your product is sexy, has all this list of benefits, and comes in just the right shade of perriwinkle blue ('coz face it: there will always be someone somewhere out there who's managed to come up with a sexier product that's shinier, bigger, and comes in a rainbow of colours with a set of steak knives on offer free with every purchase). The people behind the brand tells the story better than any benefit-driven product advertising ever can.
Customers go for brands that tell some story worth remembering, brands they resonate with and on some level remind them of their own personal narrative.
Translating that back into why I do Gooru and why I am in the business of marketing and immersed in everything else I do...well, I value human potential -- mine along with everybody else's.
With Gooru, the core of our vision is to empower people to be the best they can be. Gooru members don't have to be anybody else but true to themselves AND true to the vision of who they see themselves becoming. At Gooru, we're not necessarily reinventing the wheel. I see what we do as more about creating an opportunity for people to get to know themselves better and, if they haven't already done so, formulate a vision and use the right tools in order to continually sharpen that vision.
It's early days, but if any of the above struck a chord with you, gentle reader, I invite you to visit www.gooru.com.au and tell us what you think.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Bootstrapping, Brand & Branding
Yes, have been in a bunker. Got caught in the tradewinds of bootstrapping last week and had to fly out to Melbourne for the weekend just to recover. Howdy to those of you I saw at the Exhibition Center for the health & lifestyle expo.
Catching up on my RSS feeds is no small task (as I'm sure is the case for most of you serious bloggers out there). But it is necessary to keep up-to-date with all the reading, writing, learning, and arithmetic, especially when you are bootstrappin'. Seth Godin writes in his manifesto that bootstrappers are "in it for the long haul" and I agree with him that "building businesses that will last separates me from the opportunist, and is an investment in my brand and in my future. Surviving is succeeding, and each day that goes by makes it easier still for me to reach my goals."
Then, I weed out the little bit about my Brand. Out of all the two-cents the knowledgeable experts have offered up on the subject, I refer again to Seth's take on it: "the reality is that many many brands are actually monologues, not dialogues. That doesn't mean a conversation won't create a better, more robust, more useful brand. But, alas, most organizations can't handle that truth. So they do their best to do it the old way."
Furthermore, "If we define brand as a shortcut for a set of commercial attributes, emotions, stories, whatever, then any blogger with a following has a brand.
Which brings me to the subject of blogging... my partner told me yesterday that what he was most happy doing was writing books and being in a band. I replied, I'm a writer and I prefer to blog. Why? My work is ever-evolving and immediately responsive that way. If it is true that one can make or break one's own brand via blogging, then I like knowing I am being kept honest and on my toes that way.
Catching up on my RSS feeds is no small task (as I'm sure is the case for most of you serious bloggers out there). But it is necessary to keep up-to-date with all the reading, writing, learning, and arithmetic, especially when you are bootstrappin'. Seth Godin writes in his manifesto that bootstrappers are "in it for the long haul" and I agree with him that "building businesses that will last separates me from the opportunist, and is an investment in my brand and in my future. Surviving is succeeding, and each day that goes by makes it easier still for me to reach my goals."
Then, I weed out the little bit about my Brand. Out of all the two-cents the knowledgeable experts have offered up on the subject, I refer again to Seth's take on it: "the reality is that many many brands are actually monologues, not dialogues. That doesn't mean a conversation won't create a better, more robust, more useful brand. But, alas, most organizations can't handle that truth. So they do their best to do it the old way."
Furthermore, "If we define brand as a shortcut for a set of commercial attributes, emotions, stories, whatever, then any blogger with a following has a brand.
3. There's a difference between brands and branding. Brands exist whether you want them to or not. Brands aren't going to go away any time soon. Brands are a useful shorthand for a complicated asset within an organization. Branding, on the other hand, is a thing you do. And as an activity, branding is problematic. Branding is ill-defined, usually vacuous, often expensive and totally unpredictable. I'm happy to say that you shouldn't grow up to be someone who does branding."
Which brings me to the subject of blogging... my partner told me yesterday that what he was most happy doing was writing books and being in a band. I replied, I'm a writer and I prefer to blog. Why? My work is ever-evolving and immediately responsive that way. If it is true that one can make or break one's own brand via blogging, then I like knowing I am being kept honest and on my toes that way.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Being implicit: about the memes in blogspace
Contrary to the impression given by the lengthy title, am not about to launch into a prolonged discourse on the subject-matter.
I do refer you to the question, however, of "Why do bloggers kill kittens?"
I do refer you to the question, however, of "Why do bloggers kill kittens?"
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Enterprise: The Voice of Business
I'd like to share with you some insights from a well-known, local marketing maven, Dr Kim Mukerjee, who has, sadly, passed away. It is from an article he wrote on why businesses do fail and what you can do to succeed:
Why people go into business
Ask company directors and professionals why they do what they do and you'll be drowned in a tsunami of platitudes and cliches.
Business people will tell you they've a profound yearning to serve clients or be of use to mankind. They'll divulge it's because they long to improve the economy of our fair but benighted nation. Or they want to bring greater employment to the masses.
Medical practitioners and especially specialists become glassy eyed and launch into sermons about curing the ills of humanity. The clergy adopts a similar pose. Even divorce lawyers have been heard to mutter something of the sort.
One massive hypocrite in the garment business recently said to me with a straight face he was in business because "it's God's will I serve the world." The reason people risk their necks in the cruel world of commerce is just a little different.
In The Wealth of Nations in 1776, Adam Smith, the father of modern economics sagely stated, "self-love is the governing principle in the intercourse of human society. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or baker we expect our dinner but from their regard to their own interest."
David Hume, the distinguished 18th century Scottish thinker put it more simply when he said, "avarice is te spur of industry."
The much vilified Gordon Gekko summed it up in his famous speech, "Greed, for the lack of a better word, is good! Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."
Oliver Stone's Gordon Gekko was broadly based on Ivan Boesky, the man who delivered the real but albeit abbreviated version of the celebrated Gekko greed sermon. His audience? The MBA Class at the UC Berkeley School of Business Administration in 1984. He received a standing ovation.
In short, human beings are in business for the benefits they can get. No more. No less. If this sounds cynical, it's worth recalling that a cynic is but a realist by another name.
Now we know why you're in business. But why would anyone want to do business with you?
How do you get people to buy what you sell?
It's almost unknown for a product or service supplier to have no competition. More important, 99% of consumers could survive adequately without 99% of the things they buy.
However let's assume you do a Ralph Waldo Emerson and build a better mousetrap. Disappointment will be the almost certain outcome. Because it's extremely unlikely the world will beat a path to your door. Emerson was a fine philosopher but he knew little about human behavior and less about selling.
Before you idle away your time building a better mousetrap, there are some fundamental questions to be answered.
#1 Are there mice to trap?
#2 Do people want them trapped?
#3 Are there restrictions or other restraints on trapping?
#4 Are there already adequate low cost trapping devices?
#5 Is your trap price-competitive with current products?
#6 Is there a trap distribution system in place?
#7 Will the distributors stock your product?
#8 Do the current manufacturers of traps have the financial clout to advertise or market you out of business?
#9 Do you have the capital to sustain your business for those first non-profit making years of trading?
#10 Do you have the selling, marketing, manufacturing and financial control skills to run a business selling mouse traps, or anything else for that matter?
#11 Do you have any idea how to read a balance sheet or deal with a bank?
#12 Are the people with whom you're proposing to go into business brain dead?
#13 Are they as committed to selling traps as you?
#14 Why are they really going into business with you?
#15 What are they going to get out of it?
#16 What are you going to get out of it apart from the angst?
#17 Will your spouse put up with not seeing a half civilised you for weeks and months at a time. Or will that spouse find someone else to cuddle?
#18 Where are you going to be in five years' time?
And that's just for starters...
Why people go into business
Ask company directors and professionals why they do what they do and you'll be drowned in a tsunami of platitudes and cliches.
Business people will tell you they've a profound yearning to serve clients or be of use to mankind. They'll divulge it's because they long to improve the economy of our fair but benighted nation. Or they want to bring greater employment to the masses.
Medical practitioners and especially specialists become glassy eyed and launch into sermons about curing the ills of humanity. The clergy adopts a similar pose. Even divorce lawyers have been heard to mutter something of the sort.
One massive hypocrite in the garment business recently said to me with a straight face he was in business because "it's God's will I serve the world." The reason people risk their necks in the cruel world of commerce is just a little different.
In The Wealth of Nations in 1776, Adam Smith, the father of modern economics sagely stated, "self-love is the governing principle in the intercourse of human society. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or baker we expect our dinner but from their regard to their own interest."
David Hume, the distinguished 18th century Scottish thinker put it more simply when he said, "avarice is te spur of industry."
The much vilified Gordon Gekko summed it up in his famous speech, "Greed, for the lack of a better word, is good! Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."
Oliver Stone's Gordon Gekko was broadly based on Ivan Boesky, the man who delivered the real but albeit abbreviated version of the celebrated Gekko greed sermon. His audience? The MBA Class at the UC Berkeley School of Business Administration in 1984. He received a standing ovation.
In short, human beings are in business for the benefits they can get. No more. No less. If this sounds cynical, it's worth recalling that a cynic is but a realist by another name.
Now we know why you're in business. But why would anyone want to do business with you?
How do you get people to buy what you sell?
It's almost unknown for a product or service supplier to have no competition. More important, 99% of consumers could survive adequately without 99% of the things they buy.
However let's assume you do a Ralph Waldo Emerson and build a better mousetrap. Disappointment will be the almost certain outcome. Because it's extremely unlikely the world will beat a path to your door. Emerson was a fine philosopher but he knew little about human behavior and less about selling.
Before you idle away your time building a better mousetrap, there are some fundamental questions to be answered.
#1 Are there mice to trap?
#2 Do people want them trapped?
#3 Are there restrictions or other restraints on trapping?
#4 Are there already adequate low cost trapping devices?
#5 Is your trap price-competitive with current products?
#6 Is there a trap distribution system in place?
#7 Will the distributors stock your product?
#8 Do the current manufacturers of traps have the financial clout to advertise or market you out of business?
#9 Do you have the capital to sustain your business for those first non-profit making years of trading?
#10 Do you have the selling, marketing, manufacturing and financial control skills to run a business selling mouse traps, or anything else for that matter?
#11 Do you have any idea how to read a balance sheet or deal with a bank?
#12 Are the people with whom you're proposing to go into business brain dead?
#13 Are they as committed to selling traps as you?
#14 Why are they really going into business with you?
#15 What are they going to get out of it?
#16 What are you going to get out of it apart from the angst?
#17 Will your spouse put up with not seeing a half civilised you for weeks and months at a time. Or will that spouse find someone else to cuddle?
#18 Where are you going to be in five years' time?
And that's just for starters...
Monday, November 01, 2004
Happiness
“Although a rational pursuit of personal happiness, if it were common, would suffice to regenerate the world, it is not probable that so reasonable a motive will alone prove sufficiently powerful.” [Bertrand Russell]
Yes, I finally picked up a copy of Mark Kingwell’s somewhat meandering bestseller the other day. No, I won’t attempt to relate it back to business or marketing or the predominant subject matter of what this blog’s been so far about. Quite simply, some of the questions he asks struck a philosophical cord in me. Hence, I post them here to share:
Does happiness drive our behavior? If we're happy, or think we are, does that make us complacent, as in passive? How unhappy do we really need to be before we get out from behind our Macs and PCs and do something about it? Does some pain barrier need to be reached before we act in pursuit of our happiness?
Does more information actually inhibit our ability and willingness to act? Hmmm… if the answer here is yes, then there’s your case for apathy.
Which is the easiest route to happiness: lowering your expectations, putting your dissatisfaction in rational perspective, or focusing on the positive? Kingwell is not so sure we can talk our way logically out of unhappiness. Bertrand Russell believes since it is pointless to dwell on bad feelings and if you cannot do much to change the situation, you may as well tell yourself to stop feeling unhappy. So I ask, to achieve happiness at work, are people no better off if they rationalized their dissatisfaction than if they focused on the positive? How long does the state of happiness last by simply focusing on the positive and not addressing the gap in one’s expectations that represent needs that are possibly not being fulfilled?
Would you trade permanent happiness for your ability to think? Kingwell says he wouldn't and writes that he's in the majority. I muse that it’s exactly my ability to think that promotes perceptions of unhappiness. It is a question of belief and human nature.
Are children, as a whole, happier than adults in the same culture and economic situation? If this is true, then what’s up with us adults? Is it that we’re simply not privy to the joy of innocence anymore? Have we inadvertently managed to reach some threshold as a race where the pursuit of knowledge made us decrepit in so many other ways we’ve lost sight of?
Is the role of modern Western man to write and direct his own story? Joseph Campbell asserts that whilst most stories have perhaps already been told, the retelling of each is a necessary constant and part of our human nature. Kingwell suggests happiness is nothing more than writing and starring in your own, satisfying story. This could explain why most people are conservative in terms of making sudden changes in their lives. Because, apart from the natural order of open systems to dissipate entropy to its surrounding environment, perhaps people just naturally abhor discontinuity in narratives. All the confusion and all the unhappiness may simply be the product of inexperienced script writers!
Sunday, October 31, 2004
today, desktop search... tomorrow, world browser
so just in case you were under a rock somewhere, a word about this blog's sponsors... they bought Keyhole this past week as well as registered the domain Gbrowser.com leading to speculation of exactly why that is. Since IPO, GOOG (today at 190.64) has more than doubled. Good enough reason to want to work there, right? Yet it's interesting how a weird tall poppy syndrome has developed amongst the seeming faithful as evidenced by support for a very vocal blog about deliberately not attending a (lucrative) job interview there this week. Is Google the next Microsoft?
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Yahoo and Adobe announced a partnership to incorporate Yahoo search into Adobe products.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Yahoo and Adobe announced a partnership to incorporate Yahoo search into Adobe products.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
CEO blogs
It was expressed in one of the meetings I had to this week that blogging was more about people indulging in verbal diarrhoea about anything and everything rather than necessarily a trusted media resource.
The point of view was chiefly that if you were seen as a technical expert and you wrote this book that was practically the bible in your field of specialty, writing a blog would be a risk or even suicide given that you don’t live up to the expectations everyone already had of your worth as expert in your subject-matter. What more if you were a CEO?
Writing a book is different to being subject-matter expert in an online forum, different to penning an article for a magazine or newspaper commentary, and certainly different avenue of expression to writing opinions on matters-of-interest or expertise for immediate publishing online.
Blogging may be consumer-generated but it is still a form of media, subject to the whims of the participating network. Still, there do exist a set of guidelines for ease of traversing the blogosphere when you already have a brand of some repute.
Monday, October 25, 2004
Vogroll
Oh yeah... blogosphere is abuzz with this one.
A vog manifesto has been written. Vogroll 3.0 beta has been produced further down south. Ask me why I love Melbourne... many reasons... this being one of them.
A vog manifesto has been written. Vogroll 3.0 beta has been produced further down south. Ask me why I love Melbourne... many reasons... this being one of them.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Blogosphere
whew! what happens when working on the company gets in the way of what Stephen Covey calls "minding the big rocks"? well, a few days go by since the last blog, is what!
Okay... radar-ing the following for recommended reading:
Okay... radar-ing the following for recommended reading:
- Get down and get Taggy - Great starting point for me as am currently looking into cross-site tagging
- The question of paying bloggers to blog (as suggested by Marc Canter) suitably given a once-over by Jason Calanis
- What's in the Secret Sauce? Or try out some recipes from the IT Kitchen
- Lastly, David Temkin gets $5m in B-round funding and (woo-hoo!) Laszlo goes open-source
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Advertising gets personal
I frequent the movie theatre right next to where this enterprising lady has placed her ad. There's a certain upbeat demographic that goes out of their way to visit the Randwick Ritz, reknowned locally for its old-world decor and cheaper than your average commercial movie ticket prices.
I put together a marketing campaign for a local retail chain late last year and explored billboard advertising as part of the mix. For a few thousand each month, depending on the estimated number of eyeballs, you get solid exposure for four weeks in the space of your choice. It is more an awareness exercise rather than a strategy for acquiring new bums on seats for most businesses, as a general rule.
But this lady's personal spin on an advertising medium that's more an ad brief filler rather than the main course just goes to show that if the message stands out enough, you'll get written up about and the money you spent in procuring the advertising in the first place can be justified when enough tongues are set wagging about your offer.
How to set tongues wagging in general? I've re-read Jay Conrad Levinson recently and he still provides the most diverse array of answers to this question that I encourage you to read and pass on.
I put together a marketing campaign for a local retail chain late last year and explored billboard advertising as part of the mix. For a few thousand each month, depending on the estimated number of eyeballs, you get solid exposure for four weeks in the space of your choice. It is more an awareness exercise rather than a strategy for acquiring new bums on seats for most businesses, as a general rule.
But this lady's personal spin on an advertising medium that's more an ad brief filler rather than the main course just goes to show that if the message stands out enough, you'll get written up about and the money you spent in procuring the advertising in the first place can be justified when enough tongues are set wagging about your offer.
How to set tongues wagging in general? I've re-read Jay Conrad Levinson recently and he still provides the most diverse array of answers to this question that I encourage you to read and pass on.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Monday, October 18, 2004
Google Desktop Search
Tried it out for a couple of days... why not? it goes with everything else I use... gmail, blogger, google... It does searches on IE & Outlook & most things XP or Win 2000 but... I am a Mac user after all, eventhough I use an XP notebook to lug around for work.
Most impressed by? Doing a regular Google search and then having the results from my notebook appear in the rankings. Neat. Gotta love this integration feature.
So I uninstalled the little feller today and out pops the screen "please tell us why you uninstalled Google Desktop Search" and I typed in "My allegiance is to Firefox. It doesn't work with it!"
*Sigh* I realize this is beta but hurry up with the modifications, please! You have one eager-beaver beta-user of things mostly Google earnestly blogging you a request!
Most impressed by? Doing a regular Google search and then having the results from my notebook appear in the rankings. Neat. Gotta love this integration feature.
So I uninstalled the little feller today and out pops the screen "please tell us why you uninstalled Google Desktop Search" and I typed in "My allegiance is to Firefox. It doesn't work with it!"
*Sigh* I realize this is beta but hurry up with the modifications, please! You have one eager-beaver beta-user of things mostly Google earnestly blogging you a request!
Sunday, October 17, 2004
The Always On Business
Always On = Broadband
Always On means OnDemand Connectivity
Are you "Always On"? Yet another buzz word in an already buzzed-out medium. I refer you to the 10 Major Trends Emerging in the Internet's First Decade of Public Use.
Always On means OnDemand Connectivity
Are you "Always On"? Yet another buzz word in an already buzzed-out medium. I refer you to the 10 Major Trends Emerging in the Internet's First Decade of Public Use.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Gonzo
"When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro'..." HST
I've recently just picked up a copy of Chris Locke's marketing book. Yes, bit late in the day compared to everyone else, but thankfully it was no Cluetrain Manifesto.
Not here to critique the book. I'm musing more on the irreverent style of writing and how, although seeming to say so little and waxing lyrical on points repeated over and over, I was still curious to read on till the end to see if there truly was substance, as in: things I have not already heard about before. To be fair, he wrote it back in 2001. But my point of reference in business is colored by the Sydney experience, remember (I live here, for now)?
Hence, my point to write all this. The market here has glossed over The End of Business As Usual. The internet as a conversational tool is only being taken seriously fairly recently by the PBLs and NewsCorps of this world. Broadcast advertising is here still king!
Most things better-off-obsolete in business here die a slow death... the Gooru brand value proposition I consider euthanasia.
I've recently just picked up a copy of Chris Locke's marketing book. Yes, bit late in the day compared to everyone else, but thankfully it was no Cluetrain Manifesto.
Not here to critique the book. I'm musing more on the irreverent style of writing and how, although seeming to say so little and waxing lyrical on points repeated over and over, I was still curious to read on till the end to see if there truly was substance, as in: things I have not already heard about before. To be fair, he wrote it back in 2001. But my point of reference in business is colored by the Sydney experience, remember (I live here, for now)?
Hence, my point to write all this. The market here has glossed over The End of Business As Usual. The internet as a conversational tool is only being taken seriously fairly recently by the PBLs and NewsCorps of this world. Broadcast advertising is here still king!
Most things better-off-obsolete in business here die a slow death... the Gooru brand value proposition I consider euthanasia.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Brand strategy
So it maybe a post-boom e-marketing primer... but a manifesto's finally been written defining viral / buzz / word-of-mouth marketing.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Communications
The team had a meeting last night about the next steps in our bootstrapping process. The conversation turned to how we're going to get "bums on seats", keep them loyal to the brand, and get them coming back for more. The comment was made that investors can well understand how customers were generated by injecting huge sums of money into a "bells & whistles" marketing campaign, that included a few TV & radio ads, billboards, promotional events, and a good PR stunt that will generate a write-up in the local rag. But what will go straight above their heads is how a site can take advantage of the many-to-many medium that is the Internet and come up with a loyal band of users who keep logging back for more. The discussion then goes to Reed & Metcalf's Law as good enough reason to incorporate our social networks strategy into our current build. But the erstwhile CEO of our hosting partner shakes his head and says he cannot see how grey hairs in corporations & VCs would be convinced that this adds value to what he thought was our core offering. Here I resist pointing out that the last lot of VC funding in the States went to social network sites. Then, again, since the dot com bust, here in Australasia, there has been considerable reluctance in venturing into anything IT-related.
It seems relevant to me, as I muse about this that I come across an article w ritten by Doc Searls back in January of 1996. He included 19 rules, all of which still very much applies today, and for the zednet train-of-thought this evening, two of them stand out:
Rule #12: The purpose of marketing communications is not just to tell & sell but to learn & earn. Every company needs to learn from customers and to earn their interest and loyalty. If they don't, they'll talk to nobody and sell nothing.
What better way to learn about customers than creating online communities that relate to the core values of your brand?
Rule #16 reads: Information isn't data -- it's the communicable form of knowledge. Derived form the verb to form, information literally changes what we know. The goal of a communications strategy therefore is to inform and to become informed. It must work both ways -- an exchange that makes a difference for both parties.
Blogging is the new PR. Weblogs provide a way for customers to respond back. They give feedback and any company wanting to get the message write had better be prepared to listen.
Who has time to blog these days was another question thrown in last night? My answer is who can afford not to have time to blog?
It seems relevant to me, as I muse about this that I come across an article w
Rule #12
What better way to learn about customers than creating online communities that relate to the core values of your brand?
Rule #16 reads: Information isn't data -- it's the communicable form of knowledge. Derived form the verb to form, information literally changes what we know. The goal of a communications strategy therefore is to inform and to become informed. It must work both ways -- an exchange that makes a difference for both parties.
Blogging is the new PR. Weblogs provide a way for customers to respond back. They give feedback and any company wanting to get the message write had better be prepared to listen.
Who has time to blog these days was another question thrown in last night? My answer is who can afford not to have time to blog?
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
This I too believe!
Our brand Gooru gets me excited. Why? 'Coz I believe it is a maverick in this market.
I echo Tom Peters in that "Markets Matter Most" and this side of the Pacific is ripe for the picking. The Australasian market is rife with mediocrity. In technology terms, we are at least two years behind the rest of the world in most things internet.
Tom Peters writes "Everything is up for grabs! Volatility is thy name!" and he urges everyone in business to do exactly as the title of his latest book suggests: Re-Imagine!
This is the cure-all for mediocrity in business. This is the culture our brand Gooru promotes. Our team lives and breathes this belief.
Every Friday, our core executive team made up of techno-savvy contrarians rip apart each and every aspect of the project, driven by the belief that if anything does not stand up to close scrutiny then how well will the market receive the solution presented as an alternative? These meetings promote best-practices and provides a good balance of strategic and tactical to further hone our brand vision of attracting exceptional people and helping them crystallize their passion and purpose.
Whatever shakes the status quo can only make the general population stronger. You either hold on to old, tried-and-tested ways of doing things or you stick your head out to potentially get hit by a pole. Your reflexes get sharpened along the way, and narrowly missing a decapitation does not lessen the beauty of the possibilities you've got glimpses of just by venturing to exchange ideas and seeing what else can be done better out there.
Having worked in business development and as a marketing consultant in this side of the world in the finance, IT&T, media and retail industries, I agree wholeheartedly with Tom Peters that "boring begets boring" and "energy begets energy".
This a point illustrated somewhat in my breakfast meeting this morning. I met with two of my reps at IBM. Meetings with that bunch tend to include some process-oriented conversation shop-talk and it is rare to talk about anything even remotely out-of-the-ordinary. Today, I decided to be more animated than usual, gesticulate with my hands a lot more, flash my eyes and sound really excited about what I had to say. (Of course, I was fresh from an Anthony Robbins "Unleash Your Power Within" four-day weekend but I digress...) All of a sudden, the meeting that was boring didn't seem so boring and a lot more enthusiasm emerged from both IBM-ers. The information exchange flowed a bit better, I got a commitment on three things I have been waiting almost a month to get through the paper mill over there, and by the time the meeting was over, we were all laughing as we made our way back to work.
Perception is everything in the market place and I have the attitude that any situation can be changed into a WIN/WIN when you look hard enough for that.
I echo Tom Peters in that "Markets Matter Most" and this side of the Pacific is ripe for the picking. The Australasian market is rife with mediocrity. In technology terms, we are at least two years behind the rest of the world in most things internet.
Tom Peters writes "Everything is up for grabs! Volatility is thy name!" and he urges everyone in business to do exactly as the title of his latest book suggests: Re-Imagine!
This is the cure-all for mediocrity in business. This is the culture our brand Gooru promotes. Our team lives and breathes this belief.
Every Friday, our core executive team made up of techno-savvy contrarians rip apart each and every aspect of the project, driven by the belief that if anything does not stand up to close scrutiny then how well will the market receive the solution presented as an alternative? These meetings promote best-practices and provides a good balance of strategic and tactical to further hone our brand vision of attracting exceptional people and helping them crystallize their passion and purpose.
Whatever shakes the status quo can only make the general population stronger. You either hold on to old, tried-and-tested ways of doing things or you stick your head out to potentially get hit by a pole. Your reflexes get sharpened along the way, and narrowly missing a decapitation does not lessen the beauty of the possibilities you've got glimpses of just by venturing to exchange ideas and seeing what else can be done better out there.
Having worked in business development and as a marketing consultant in this side of the world in the finance, IT&T, media and retail industries, I agree wholeheartedly with Tom Peters that "boring begets boring" and "energy begets energy".
This a point illustrated somewhat in my breakfast meeting this morning. I met with two of my reps at IBM. Meetings with that bunch tend to include some process-oriented conversation shop-talk and it is rare to talk about anything even remotely out-of-the-ordinary. Today, I decided to be more animated than usual, gesticulate with my hands a lot more, flash my eyes and sound really excited about what I had to say. (Of course, I was fresh from an Anthony Robbins "Unleash Your Power Within" four-day weekend but I digress...) All of a sudden, the meeting that was boring didn't seem so boring and a lot more enthusiasm emerged from both IBM-ers. The information exchange flowed a bit better, I got a commitment on three things I have been waiting almost a month to get through the paper mill over there, and by the time the meeting was over, we were all laughing as we made our way back to work.
Perception is everything in the market place and I have the attitude that any situation can be changed into a WIN/WIN when you look hard enough for that.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Curiosita
"I want to know how God created the world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details."
This is my signature, one I stole from Einstein. It is my favorite quote of all-time: it captures the essence of what I am most passionate about. It embodies the thirst to learn more and, in the process, be more.
This is my signature, one I stole from Einstein. It is my favorite quote of all-time: it captures the essence of what I am most passionate about. It embodies the thirst to learn more and, in the process, be more.
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