November 2007 – Page 3

Customers On The Project Team

Tom Peters wrote a post on Pier 1’s challenges
and the lack of women on the board.
He feels that they are out of touch
with their customer base.

I agree.

When I’m developing a product,
I do so with the target customer in mind,
so it makes sense that
when I’m building the product development team,
I do the same.

Does that mean that I kick off talented team members
because they don’t mirror the target customer?

No, of course not.
But I do ensure that I have, at least,
one person representing that group,
even if that is the only role they have.

Watched a recent interview
with Mike Reno,
Lead Singer of Loverboy
and he addressed the Radiohead phenomenon,
artists giving away their songs for free.
About their CD’s,
Reno says that Loverboy
“almost uses these as promotional tools.”

Why?

They “have a catalog.”
The catalog, in music, is where the money is.

He does say that it is “harder to create a catalog now”
with all the choices available to listeners.

Guest Posting Zen

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has signed
up 21,000 plus subscribers in 6 months.

How did he do it?

By writing good content and guest posting.
Yes, using only these two strategies.

How is this possible?
Guest posting is extremely powerful.
Not only is the blogger reaching new readers but,
by guest posting, the host gives the guest blogger
her seal of approval,
setting him up as an expert.

Using the guest strategy is not limited to online.
Print media is always on the look out for
solid guest quotes also.

Increasing Email Effectiveness

Although spam may irritate customers
in the long run,
in the short run, it is effective.
And it is inexpensive to use.

However, according to The Guerrilla Marketing Association,
personalizing the emails works even better.

“Personalized emails generated 42.7%
more click-throughs on average
to the web copy than non-personalized email.
Personalized emails generated 403%
more sales on average than
non-personalized emails.
Personalized emails generated 42.8%
fewer unsubscribes on average than
non-personalized emails.”

Take the extra step and
personalize.
This applies to traditional emails also.
Want action?
Add a name.

Wired And Earning

I went to lunch with a senior executive lately.
He checked his Blackberry before and after
but during the meal, he was completely there.
And I was flattered.

According to a Korn/Ferry poll of
2,300 executives from 75 countries,
80% of high earners world wide
are literally wired all the time.

When the number is that high,
it isn’t because they want to be,
it is because its a requirement
so work with it.

And don’t squander a tech free moment.

The Dove Evolution Ad

It cost $135,000 to create
the Dove Evolution ad,
a 74 second video spot tranforming
a normal woman into a model.
It was launched on YouTube,
picked up by talkshows, and
ended up granting Dove an estimated
$150 million in free advertising.

The secret behind the success?

Nancy Vonk,
half of the creative team at Ogilvy & Mather
responsible for the ad
(Janet Kestin being the other co-chief creative officer),
said
(in the September issue of Financial Post Business),
it was to “find people who give a shit
and let them tell others.”

You want a successful product.
Find people who give a shit.
If you can’t find them,
your product isn’t going to be a success.

The When In Emergency Planning

There’s been a lot of fearful talk lately.
When and what will cause
the stock markets to crash.
When and what will cause
the American consumer to stop buying,
spreading pain and trauma in the retail world
and beyond.

These, in my mind,
are emergencies and
emergencies are to be planned for.

Like our house burning down.

How do we plan for it?
We need to be able to recognize
that our house is burning and
have a plan we can
automatically follow
even when scared and confused by the smoke.

Do we need to know what day
our house will burn down?
Or what will cause the fire?

If we could prevent it,
that would be helpful
but otherwise, no.

Teens And The Power Of Free

The biggest lesson I learned this Halloween
was that teens still appreciate the power of free.

Knocking on doors,
dressed in a costume, and
asking for candy is embarrassing
for the average teen boy.

The power of free,
even a small free item
(30 cents worth of candy),
overcame this embarrassment,
making this demographic
over 50% of my trick or treaters.

The first group commented on the quality of candy
and after that (likely due to the cellphones each boy had)
the waves of teens came.

So don’t think of this group as spoiled
and unwilling to appreciate free.

The Tale Of Two Classes

Recently I ran classes on the same subject
to two separate groups.

The first class,
I was personally affiliated with, and
I gave the class free of charge to participants.

The second class,
well I didn’t really want to host,
so I charged a nominal fee.

The results were interesting.

Participants in the second class
asked more questions,
offered more discussion, and
after the class was completed,
they offered more thank you’s.

Substantially more.
Wasn’t even close.

My conclusion?
If I want appreciation,
I’ll charge a fee.

Paying For Mistakes

I got approached to do a business plan
(back before I got sucked into the black hole of publishing)
and
I stated my darn close to volunteer work fee.

The entrepreneur went silent.
“But, but, but,” she said,
“I already paid for a business plan.
It shouldn’t cost that much.
Most of the work has been done.”

“Then why are you coming to me?” I ask.
“Because the plan was unusable.”
“Then most of the work hasn’t been done,” was my reply.

Basically she wanted me to pay for her mistake.

This happens ALL the time.
A product flops or a mistake is made
and
the company tries to recoup the costs
with higher margins on the next launch.

When the prospect has choice, however,
she simply walks away.

Month: November 2007