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.
Monday, November 29, 2004
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!
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