Music, Technology, Art, Economy

Go Big Always - The big Marketing mess

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:08:47 -0700

"Scripted narratives erode like sand castles in the fluid dynamics of networks. ‘What I want to..."

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:41:27 -0700

“Scripted narratives erode like sand castles in the fluid dynamics of networks. ‘What I want to happen’ collapses under relentless waves of ‘What is actually happening.’”

- Mike Bonifer: Campaigning in the Networked World

I re-read most of Mike’s book over the honeymoon. It really brings the art to 21st century business/entrepreneurship/strategic thinking. And it’s insanely fun to read.

For those that don’t hold advanced degrees in Fine Arts like me, while I continue to brush up on my network econ, GameChangers [the book] is strongly, STRONGLY recommended reading.

Offline again for a week…honeymoon in Tulum, Mexico...

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:10:55 -0700

Offline again for a week…honeymoon in Tulum, Mexico ;-)

(photo via sisack)

Do Startup Companies Need Community Managers? - ReadWriteWeb

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:48:15 -0700

Do Startup Companies Need Community Managers? - ReadWriteWeb:

Great article from Marshall K, with some really bizarre points made by some of the people he quoted. (Some great ones, too).

I really like how he structured the article (by laying out the opinions of others without too much editorial; the socratic method of journalism)

My point is:

Community management is really really important because the ROI is way higher than for PR or advertising.

Customer service is the new marketing.

Community management is scalable, high-touch, proactive customer service. If you have a good service, and people like it, the best thing you can do is make sure those people go up Kathy Sierra’s curve and become rockstar users. They need help in this, usually. And your company definitely needs someone listening and paying attention to them, all the time.

Online customer service (yes let’s just call it that) is the easiest and cheapest way to have a great relationship with your customers. You know, the people who pay you?

Now, if you’re in the business of selling ads, your customer is the advertiser, and you probably think of your users as “eyeballs” with demographic info attached. Best of luck to you, because you’re probably going to fail.

My suggestion is to instead make something useful that enables companies (or the individuals that work at companies…hi twitter.zappos.com) and individuals tocommunicate and create value WITH each other.

It’s actually really easy to do; it just requires not thinking about display ads as a revenue stream.

I mean seriously, if you have a group of people that find your service useful, they’ll want to share it with their friends, especially if they have a personal relationship with someone at your company. The conversion rate is going to be SO MUCH higher than you can buy w/ PR or advertising. That’s just a fact.

If you have a strong product, $50k+ for 12 months of community manager beats $50k of ad budget every time.

Techdirt: You Don't Build Communities, You Enable Them

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:20:06 -0700

Techdirt: You Don't Build Communities, You Enable Them: Paging Scott Karp…

"Professor Wermers says his advice has evolved significantly as a result of this study. Until now, he..."

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:22:35 -0700

“Professor Wermers says his advice has evolved significantly as a result of this study. Until now, he says, he wouldn’t have tried to discourage a sophisticated investor from trying to pick a mutual fund that would outperform the market. Now, he says, “it seems almost hopeless.””

- Strategies - The Prescient Are Few - NYTimes.com

Buy Vanguard and call it a day…

Interesting, final, conclusive chapter for market efficiency theorists.

Gee, what other markets will an explosion of information and context make incredibly more efficient?

"When I was at Apple, one the competitive team’s central goals was to goad Microsoft and Intel..."

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:09:54 -0700

“When I was at Apple, one the competitive team’s central goals was to goad Microsoft and Intel into targeting us in public. We used all sorts of tactics to irritate them.”

- Mobile Opportunity: Hypenotized by Apple

This tactic really puts into relief all the context that Mac freaks have been egging MSFT with over the years.

A great article, new find, recommended!

Dropbox: The Online Storage Solution We’ve Been Waiting For?

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:37:39 -0700

Dropbox: The Online Storage Solution We’ve Been Waiting For?:

This is truly a great, great product.

(Sync/backup files to the web from multiple computers seamlessly from the desktop…i.e. Finder or Windows Explorer)

I have 5 invites…if you want one leave a comment below or drop an email.

"If you sound like Elvis Costello, how do we get you in front of Elvis Costello fans?” Rogers..."

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:08:12 -0700

““If you sound like Elvis Costello, how do we get you in front of Elvis Costello fans?” Rogers asks. “Those are the kinds of things we’ll be addressing.””

- THE INDIES ISSUE: THE VISIONARIES

I’m so glad that someone is doing this…all the people who read my various business plans from the last ~3 years already know that ;-)

This step (demand gen) is the most important next step. In my work promoting Kneebody, it’s always frustrated me that there wasn’t a simple way to go out and just make sure that people that are into Mahavishnu or MMW listen to Kneebody; it’s obvious that they would like it.

(you can go out and network with people on iLike or whatever, but that’s not very scalable)

We ran some experiments with Last.fm’s PowerPlay service, which was great. But it can get expensive. It’ll be interesting to see if Topspin gives the demand gen-part away for free. I hope they do, because it is such a powerful complement (in a “network externality” kind of way) that it would really increase the value of their service w/o much cost.

Or so it seems…

"Digital media isn’t inherently less profitable (hi, Google). It’s only less profitable if we apply..."

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:12:00 -0700

“Digital media isn’t inherently less profitable (hi, Google). It’s only less profitable if we apply yesterday’s business models”

- Havas Media Lab

Umair’s piece on “User-generated context” [PDF link] is the most important analysis written about media on the Internet since…ever?

[that’s highly arguable, but youknowhatimean]

"We built a system that connects Data Consumers to Data Publishers in a low-latency, highly-scalable..."

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:10:32 -0700

“We built a system that connects Data Consumers to Data Publishers in a low-latency, highly-scalable standards-based way. Data can be pushed or pulled into Gnip (via XMPP, Atom, RSS, REST) and it can be pushed or pulled out of Gnip (currently only via REST, but the rest to follow). This release of Gnip is focused on propagating user generated activity events from point A to point B”

- Gnip: We got $h*t to pop

Well I’m excited about these guys. Basically they make it easier for web services to share info in near-real-time.

Go on with yourbadselves.

Slashdot | Google Seeking "FriendRank" Patent

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:57:13 -0700

Slashdot | Google Seeking "FriendRank" Patent:

Back for some quick blogging before I head off to my honeymoon. The analysis here is worthwhile.

Friends: wedding pics forthcoming ;-)

I’m getting married on Saturday at this beautiful vineyard...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:19:39 -0700

I’m getting married on Saturday at this beautiful vineyard in Afton, Virginia, so I’ll be offline for a bit.

Thanks for reading and take care!

(photo via jennkr)

Business Technology : Most Corporate Blogs Are Unimaginative Failures

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:07:11 -0700

Business Technology : Most Corporate Blogs Are Unimaginative Failures: Opportunity knocks…

The Paper Version of the Web at Deeplinking A bunch of paper...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:28:32 -0700

The Paper Version of the Web at Deeplinking

A bunch of paper sketches of web services…

via bijan sabet via boing boing

"Ultimately, the fact that online ads get viewed more when they match surrounding content is a strike..."

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:51:33 -0700

“

Ultimately, the fact that online ads get viewed more when they match surrounding content is a strike against the tendency to build advertising networks. If advertising spots are simply auctioned off, then you can’t design an optimized ad for each placement.

When you advertise through an advertising network, your ads will get fewer fixations than if you contract directly with the publisher for a specific placement and design your creative to fit that spot. As a result, you should bid less for network ads than for customized ads that you place yourself.

”

- Banner Blindness: Old and New Findings (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox)

I would actually reframe the first part of this statement as an opportunity for innovation…BUT…

Creating an automated way to break the “church and state” seperation of editorial and commerce is pretty evil.

Um, “not it!”

"In general, advertising doesn’t work on the Web, a fact that has been clear to usability..."

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:47:43 -0700

“In general, advertising doesn’t work on the Web, a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web’s basic imperative, which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.”

- Will Plain-Text Ads Continue to Rule? (Alertbox)

"There’s a concept in game theory called strategyproofness, which essentially means that the..."

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:32:22 -0700

“

There’s a concept in game theory called strategyproofness, which essentially means that the rules of the game give you the incentive to reveal your true preferences (regardless of whether or not other players are doing the same).

This is what being ‘not evil’ is really all about - telling the truth about your strategy. It’s powerful because it forces you to focus on innovation, instead of gaming the system.

The interesting question is why some tech markets are strategyproof - whereas others (think MS) clearly aren’t. I think the answer has something to do with this: as disruption accelerates, truth-telling becomes a dominant strategy because gaming the system leaves you worse off in the long run, by making your decisions over time inconsistent.

You can think of this as a repeated game where outcomes are path-dependent because both rules and decisions have a memory.

”

- Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab

Howard Lindzon » Google and Seth MacFarlane Strike Content Deal...GENIUS

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:10:43 -0700

Howard Lindzon » Google and Seth MacFarlane Strike Content Deal...GENIUS

"CO-OPETITION is a book that develops a new approach to business strategy, one based on game theory..."

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:59:46 -0700

“CO-OPETITION is a book that develops a new approach to business strategy, one based on game theory and tested in the field. Competition isn’t dead and it isn’t dying. But that concept is only half the picture. CO-OPETITION explains how to compete without destroying the pie and how to cooperate without getting your lunch eaten.”

- An Interview With the Authors