The punchline is: Your “Skype page” is the word Skype, a colon (:), and your Skype name.
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How to find me on Skype
June 14, 2011 By 1 Comment
Where’s George founder Hank Eskin: How is this a business?
January 5, 2011 By 2 Comments
Today I’m genuinely excited to interview my Wharton MBA 1992 classmate Hank Eskin, founder of Where’s George? (http://www.WheresGeorge.com) about his work.
Hank founded WheresGeorge.com in 1998 “for fun and because it had not been done yet.” The premise is simple: You can go to WheresGeorge.com and enter the denomination (it’s not only for singles), series, and serial number for US currency in your possession. Then, enter your ZIP code. WheresGeorge.com will determine if anyone else has entered that bill into its system and tell you where the bill has been, how far it’s traveled, how long it took to get to you.
Spider Web Site
December 10, 2010 By 2 Comments
They called it the World Wide Web. You know, like a spider web?
Take the analogy further: A spider makes a web. He waits. Bugs fly into it.
Same thing with your Web site. It is a PASSIVE medium.
The spider is not going out knocking on doors, making phone calls, networking with other spiders for leads on bugs.
So don’t be surprised if you’re not getting appointments, tons of leads, and new prospects because you have a Web site. It takes a lot more than that. It takes resources to do that.
Art by jtpark
Resources to:
- Make a phone call.
- Send a letter.
- Place an advertisement where your prospect will find it.
- Conceive a strategically relevant promotion.
- Have a product or service that appeals to your target.
- Sell it at a reasonable price.
No, a Web site will not solve all your problems.
Resources: Three Choices
As I see it, you have three resource choices. Are there others? Leave them in the comments.
Choice One: Do nothing. Expect nothing.
Choice Two: Do it yourself. Work hard, reap rewards.
Choice Three: Pay someone else to do it.
A note to marketers, consultants, and agency types: I had to use this analogy earlier in the week. Clearly explain the role of a Web site, even if you think it’s obvious. It may not be to some clients.
Is 2011 the year of Deviant Marketing?
November 13, 2010 By 1 Comment
One of the best things about participating in Twitter chats like #blogchat on Sunday nights at 6 p.m. Pacific Time is meeting new and interesting folks like our next guest blogger, Joshua Duncan. Take it away, Joshua.
Have you ever aspired to be deviant? Surprising as it may be, I have spent the last week thinking hard about it.
Now, before you get the wrong idea, let me be quick to add that this has all been done under the umbrella of marketing strategy (as opposed to many other directions).
A recent AdAge had a lessons learned article from the 2010 IDEA conference and one of the take-always was on fostering a “deviant culture.” The idea being that it takes a deviant culture to foster boundary-busting behavior to standout from all the noise.
So what exactly does this mean?
I have to admit that I am still trying to wrap my head around it. Being deviant in my mind is about crossing the line. It is about going past interesting, past outrageous, and past the point of feeling comfortable.
I spent some time looking for examples of deviant marketing that would expand my definition and the only ideas that I could come up with were guerrilla-marketing stunts. Some of these stunts definitely got people talking, but not always in a good way (see the Light Bright bomb scare of 2007 example).
Is this really what it takes to standout in 2011?
Something about this just doesn’t feel right. Being deviant seems like a firecracker strategy where you get a quick burst of attention and then have to move onto something else. Being deviant doesn’t seem very sustainable.
The challenge still remains that it is becoming tougher and tougher to stand out and get attention in this hyper-media drenched society. Being straight laced is more often than not going to appear to be dull.
Is it possible that what they are really trying to say is to be interesting?
Some of my favorite brands have done an amazing job baking personality into their marketing, products and company culture. Take a look at New Belgium Brewery or Trader Joe’s to see some great examples of companies doing it right.
Just because you are in B2B marketing doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun with it. Check out what Cisco is doing with their social media efforts on the B2B side to liven up their communications (have you seen their rapping intern?).
Marketing legend, David Ogilvy, had this to say about a company’s image,
You now have to decide what image you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities and they can make or break them in the marketplace.
My vote is that before you head down the path of trying something outlandish just for the sake of it, spend the time working on your company’s personality and incorporating it into your message. If done right this can become a core differentiator in the marketplace and can be a lot of fun!
So what do you think?
Bio: Josh Duncan is a marketing practitioner currently working at Zenoss, an enterprise software startup. Josh can be found writing about marketing and customer experience on his blog and on Twitter.
Photo credit: Code Arachnid
How can I help you today?
October 21, 2010 By 4 Comments
I went to a networking event yesterday. I had no agenda whatsoever: I’m not looking for work, I’m not looking to hire … I just went to network.
I’m naturally extroverted and enjoy going up to complete strangers. I’m happy to start the conversation.
How can I help you today?
We’ve all read how people like to talk about themselves. I’ve found conversation starters like “So, tell me about your business” to be particularly effective. I follow up, “So, if I were able to help you today, what would you ask of me?”
What’s more, it’s fun to actually mean it.
When I ask, “How can I help you,” it’s more than a ploy to get the conversation to come back to me. I actively enjoy thinking through my mental Rolodex, wondering who I might be able to put together.
Invariably, though, the recipient feels as though you’ve listen to them. They want to reciprocate and genuinely ask, “So, how can I help you?” And now, armed with some information about them, can tailor my response appropriately.
Insta-help
In each of the past two months, I met someone, moved on, and two or three connections later find a match. It’s awfully gratifying to introduce the two parties and see first-hand something come from nothing.
Today I visited the website of a startup Web team and took 10 minutes to critique it. She replied,
I can’t thank you enough for this critique! I have been planning to revamp the website soon – based on your advice, I think we need a pretty major overhaul. I really appreciate all of this advice! I’ll let you know when the new site is up.
We are really good at computers and code, but we are definitely not marketers, so we are really grateful that you have taken the time to look over this and offer such thoughtful suggestions. If there is ever anything we can do to help you out, please
let us know!
I also sent two other people’s contact information to a recruiter and a potential hiring manager.
Give.
My take on networking? Give. Give freely and often. It’s good karma. And something may come of it … for them … maybe even for you.
Photo credit: JanRohwedder
It is a lot of work being a guru
October 18, 2010 By 6 Comments
On a long flight home, I opened a sample copy of Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding Magazine.
I thought, Dan branded himself as the Personal Branding Guy. He’s built a persona around it and delivers reliable, consistent information about how to build a personal brand.
I thought, I could build my own brand. Then I reflected on some personal brands I know:
Seth Godin – the bestselling author and blogger
Chris Brogan – the (beyond) social media guru
Gary Vaynerchuk – the self-made millionaire who found his passion and leveraged it
Chris Pirillo – the live-streaming tech gnome online since 1992
Brian Solis – the PR 2.0 guy expounding on the convergence of PR and social media
Ted Rubin – the Return on Relationships guy who answers every tweet
Mari Smith – the Facebook marketing expert
Danny Brown – the helpful, insightful marketing Canadian with a brogue and a heart
Daneboe – the Annoying Orange guy with other gag reels
The Oatmeal – the funny Web-savvy cartoonist
John Jantsch – the World’s Most Practical Small-Business Expert
Mack Collier – the guy behind #blogchat on Twitter
I have been noodling around with a brand I could own. I know the answers to The First Three Questions. A URL for my concept is available and I’m not aware of anyone else in the space. I began to think of site design and categories. I thought, I really need to get a Web cam, a scrim, and some good lighting.
Then I got discouraged.
It’s a lot of work being a guru. I have a number of outside interests, a full-time job I enjoy, and two small boys I keep close.
How often would I blog? How often would I vlog? How much editing would I need to do? Would I run out of ideas for content? Do I really want to fly around the country to attend and/or present at conferences?
I thought, the worst thing I could do would be to build a following and then pull back or stop because “I got really busy at work” or some such thing.
And so I put “being a guru of some kind” back on the shelf. For now.
Have you had a similar conversation with yourself? Did you draw a different conclusion?
And, if any of the aforementioned read this post and care to comment, I’d be interested to know, what was it like when you decided to forge ahead? Any second thoughts or advice for the rest of us?
