rare bird

Daring Greatly: Rare Bird at 10 Years

2008-07-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

In a few days, we'll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of starting Rare Bird. I woke up this morning with the words of Teddy Roosevelt on my mind, which I first encountered years ago in "The Norman Shield," the pledge training manual of Sigma Chi.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

President Theodore Roosevelt
"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

I'm not certain if "daring greatly" is entirely fitting, but I believe that we have experienced the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and we are spending ourselves in a worthy cause. It's been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the next ten!

The World is Flat (and Free)

2008-07-25T04:43:00.000-07:00

"Oh, and I forgot to mention, we're trying to sell a lot of books."

How Jeff Seroy, Senior Vice President of marketing and publicity at Farrar, Straus and Giroux sounds in my head.

My latest "Change This!" update included a notice that the publishers of "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman are offering the audio version of the book for free. Why? Well, two reasons.

They want you on their mailing list. But a free audio version of this recent classic is probably worth a few emails.
They're trying to generate buzz about Friedman's new book, "Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need A Green Revolution And How It Can Renew America"

Jeff Seroy, Senior Vice President of marketing and publicity at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, said the purpose of this audio giveaway is to "celebrate Friedman's enormous influence on our lives and times. And in preparation for the release of his new book, a green manifesto and a continuation in many ways of his thinking in 'The World is Flat', we want to enable anyone who hasn't already read 'The World is Flat' to catch up with Friedman's argument and vision for the future."

"Oh, and I forgot to mention, we're trying to sell a lot of books." (He didn't actually say that last part, but you have to know he was thinking it.)

Still, it's a nice offer. So, from now until August 4, you can join their mailing list to get access to three "easy-to-download" sections (Why not just one, I wonder?) and, as an added bonus, shortly thereafter you'll be able to download a pre-release audio excerpt of the new book.

"I'm going to lunch. We're going to win this."

2008-07-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

There has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth in the business community in recent years about the quality of the work force. I've read articles and seen reports detailing the habits of the "millennials," the generation that is exiting college and entering the workforce. Their lack of preparation has been blamed on all sorts of things, from helicopter parents to participating in sports where everyone gets a trophy for just showing up, but I've begin wondering about another possible cause.

There's a radio spot running now for JA Titan, an online business simulator that is part of Junior Achievement. The tool is designed to give students a feel for the fast-paced, constantly changing world of business. The spot is to recruit volunteers to help run the simulations.

The first part of the spot sets the stage of a fictitious company dealing with some of the hazards of business:

Voice 1: "I called this emergency staff meeting together because we need to kick this company into high gear."
Voice 2: "I thought our performance index was high?"
Voice 1: "It is, yes, but the competition is still way ahead in the market."
Voice 2: "Well, what can we do about it?"
Voice 3: "If we sink more money into marketing, these hollow generators will sell like crazy."
Voice 4: "But we can't keep up in production! It may be the year 2030 but our technology is not that sophisticated."
Voice 5: "If we put more money into R&D we could solve our production problems."
SFX: Echo-y Star Trek communicator sound
Voice on Communicator: "The board wants to know what you're going to do here. The news reports say we're slipping... Well?"
Voice of Boss: "Wendy, take another $20,000 this quarter for promotions. T.J., you get nine grand to find a way to make more of these. Warren, tell your line to get ready to triple production. Send out a press release. I'm going to lunch. We're going to win this."

"I'm going to lunch?!!?" There are so many things wrong with the first 35 seconds of this that I can't even begin to dissect it. For the sake of my own sanity, I'm working on convincing myself that the writer intentionally wrote this to be so hackneyed that business people would hear it and be moved to volunteer in order to provide an accurate, realistic view of life in the business world. Take a listen and let me know what you think.

[More about JA Titan]
[More about Millennials]

iPhone (Non-)Success Dubbed "Conspiracy"

2008-06-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

"Steve Jobs eventually will get old...I like our chances."

Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg

The best way to read this article quoting Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg is out loud, with more than a little whine in your voice. Apparently, he's a little miffed that Apple created an outstanding product and that about 6 million people decided to buy. The design of the iPhone caused all manufacturers to stand up and take notice, and Apple orchestrated an unprecedented revenue sharing model that really caused a stir, but it still falls short of Seidenberg's notion of success.

When asked by the Financial Times about Apple's chances of reaching the masses with the next generation iPhone, which features a 3G network for faster Internet access, Seidenberg responded, "There goes the conspiracy again. You're declaring them a winner before they've earned it on the field." Uh... it sounded more like a question than a declaration, but okay.

According to CNET's Tom Krazit, "Seidenberg's main contention seems to be that the iPhone isn't a success because it has such a small share of the overall mobile phone market, which is sort of like arguing that GM is more successful than Ferrari because they sell more cars." This would, of course, mean that the iPod is a success and the iMac isn't. Brilliant. (Wait till Seth Godin hears that the only measure of success is selling a whole lot of something cheap.)

So, on the one hand, Seidenberg is peeved that the media is declaring the iPhone a success while implying that it hasn't been successful at all. Let's do a little exercise. Put yourself in his shoes, sit down at the boardroom table, and let's devise a strategy to address and compete with the media-declared "success" of the iPhone. What would you do?

Verizon, for their part, has adopted a novel strategy. "Steve Jobs eventually will get old...I like our chances," Seidenberg said.

[Read the CNET article]
[Read the Financial Times article]

Put Transactional Email to Work

2008-06-11T18:55:00.001-07:00

Speaking in Washington last week, I encouraged the attendees to use the power of transactional emails as a viable means to improve their customer relationships. I noted that these messages tend to break through the clutter and are generally perceived as helpful tools for customers to remain current with the latest information regarding their orders.

To illustrate the point, I suggested that retailers send emails at the following times (as examples):

Order Confirmation

Shipping Confirmation

Customer Service Messages (e.g., "By now, you should have rec'd your order..."

Requesting Feedback (e.g., "Please come back and write a review about your experience..."

Re-Order Reminders

RE-Engagement Efforts

Today I saw this chart from MarketingSherpa that speaks to this very issue. Customers pay attention to these messages, so they can be a valuable tool, but it's important that they are heavy on the information and light on offers.

SIPA Members Sowing Award-Winning Seeds

2008-06-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

I'm back in the office today after being out last week for the SIPA Conference in Washington, DC. I was asked by conference chairman Ed Coburn of Harvard Medical School to come and address the group on "Using the web to drive renewable revenue." I was told by a regular attendee that these members usually vote with their feet: "If they don't think you have anything worthwhile to say, they'll get up and walk out after 10 minutes." Yikes. I'm glad he told me that after I was finished and no one had left...

So there I was, sitting at lunch and talking with David Lee of Tufts University and a Paul Wollaston of Lancaster House, and we happened to be talking about the conference, most notably the willingness of the attendees to discuss – in detail – their successes and failures. I remarked that it was impressive and refreshing to see this sort of open dialogue, especially when some of these members might be sharing this information with direct competitors. "It's truly remarkable," said Wollaston, "and one of the unique things about this association and its' membership. About the only thing they won't share are details for upcoming product launches."

All of which reminded me of a story about a farmer and his strategy for sowing award-winning seeds.

More on the conference as time (and all of these spinning plates) allows.

The Power (Danger?) of Social Networks

2008-04-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

"No one wants to have their work summed up to be 'crap to the power of suck.'"

For me, this paragraph in an AdWeek article about Coca-Cola's efforts with social networks and "Marketing 2.0" says it all:

"The Diet Coke-Mentos experience was only one of several missteps Coke made in its forays into the world of social media. Months earlier, its Coke Zero blog was discovered to be a fake (generated not by consumers, but in-house), while the remake of Coke.com into a YouTube-like site for consumer-generated content (dubbed The Coke Show), launched in July 2006, initially provoked brickbats from outsiders and failed to generate much in the way of submissions or traffic. Even Sprite Sips, Coke's first application on Facebook (the brand was a "landmark partner" on the social net's Social Ads platform) fell flat. Currently, it has just 12 daily active users -- and they're not afraid to voice their opinions. On the comment board, one user described Sips as 'crap to the power of suck.'"

Yes, you read that correctly. One of the world's largest and best-known brands is floundering around, tossing money in every which way, trying to figure out how to communicate with specific target markets. Which, as anyone can tell you, is both a powerful and dangerous affair... After all, no one wants to have their work summed up to be "crap to the power of suck."

Many people (including those in Coke's marketing department, no doubt) are giving themselves credit for trying. "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat," says Coke's Senior Vice President of Marketing. (Or Theodore Roosevelt; I keep getting those guys confused.)

The truth, however, is probably much simpler: Give the people what they want. If you find yourself trying to figure out how to communicate with a particular target market or "get more engagement with the 20-somethings," I submit you may be thinking about things from the wrong perspective. You shouldn't be in the business of finding a market for your product. Instead, try creating a product the market wants. Toward the end of this article, there's a great (if not obvious) remark from John Battelle, CEO of Federated Media. Battelle says, "One of the principles crucial to this space is adding value to the conversation. It means oftentimes underwriting content or creating a service people actually want."

Imagine... creating something people actually want.

[Read the AdWeek article]

From Your Brain to Google in Four Minutes

2008-03-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

"Now you have to decide whether you have anything to say that's important to you, your customers, your prospects... your career. Go ahead, think it over. You've got four minutes."

Still wondering if you should have a blog to help explain who you are, what your business is, how you help your customers? You may have heard that search engines like blogs and treat them like news, meaning that they index them fairly rapidly, especially if they find them to be relevant and actively. But you may not have known how rapidly this index takes place. Until now...

Anita Campbell writes in her Small Business Trends Blog that she witnessed an experiment while attending a conference called "Search Engine Marketing Made Simple". In this experiment, the facilitator, Geoff Karcher, wrote a post on his blog that included the phase "search engine marketing made simple". That post subsequently showed up in a Google search four minutes later.

Yes, you read that right. Not four days or even four hours. Four minutes. Suddenly, all of us have the potential to be as relevant as we choose to be and our messages can hit the market with blazing (prehaps frightening) speed.

Now, of course, you still need to decide whether you want to add your voice to the fray. Whether you have anything to say that's important to you, your customers, your prospects... your career. Go ahead, think it over. You've got four minutes to decide.

Moonvertising: Brilliant Idea or Gullible Consumers?

2008-03-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

"Relax... You can stay inside watching reruns of "I Love Lucy", the moon is not going to be adorned with a Rolling Rock logo."

Man, we're gullible. I don't mean you, of course. I mean the collective "we", as in the "we" who are still forwarding email messages that Bill Gates is running an experiment to give away cash. While it hasn't happened yet, I expect my InBox to begin filling with messages decrying the use of the moon as advertising space and attempting to organize a boycott of Rolling Rock beer.

By now you've likely seen one of the billboards or TV spots instructing you to gaze thoughtfully at the next full moon (March 21) to see a gigantic Rolling Rock icon emblazoned there. (You can stay inside watching reruns of "I Love Lucy"... It's not going to happen. First, we simply haven't harnessed the power necessary to fire the laser that far that cleanly to make it work. Next, the FAA isn't going to allow it. Finally, imagined how irritated people would be when the moon becomes a billboard.)

[Disclaimer: Those crafty Russians may have figured out a way to build this laser and would likely sell their grandmother's derriere for advertising space, so that's about the only conceivable possibility that this might come to pass. But I'd put the odds at about twice as unlikely as winning the Powerball.]

What Rolling Rock is hoping to gain is buzz. And that makes me feel a little dirty for even writing about it, as every mention of the campaign will be scraped, wrapped up, tied with a bow and called a success. Please don't misunderstand me: this might get noticed, it might generate buzz, and you (they) might call it a success. But I will be astonished if sales of Rolling Rock go up an appreciable degree outside of the normal spike they might see after a large, expensive, national advertising campaign.

[Disclaimer Two: You know, Hugo Chavez has a lot of money. I could see him trying to do this just to thumb his nose at our pesky FAA regulations. "Oil for lasers" or something like that.]

We might be dumb enough to look up at the moon next week, whether out of idle curiosity or misguided intentions, but I just don't see that translating into "Gosh, looks like the laser failed. I think I'll head to the liquor store and grab a six pack of Rolling Rock."

Every new author of a best-seller can demonstrate that "buzz" is good. Eliot Spitzer can demonstrate that buzz can be very, very bad. Be careful that you're cultivating the right kind with the right strategy, or you might end up trying to shoot the moon... and miss.

In Case You Weren't Convinced: More Reviews Needed

2008-02-19T09:06:00.000-08:00

Another recently released study cites the importance of consumer reviews for e-commerce sites. In fact, nearly nine people out of ten use consumer-generated reviews at least "some of the time" in their buying decision, and many -- 46% -- read several reviews before making a decision.

The study, performed by PowerReviews and the e-tailing group, surveyed more than 1,200 consumers who shop more than four times and spend more than $500 per year.

"This survey highlights the reception that reviews are receiving throughout the merchant world and how retailers are leveraging online review technology," said Jay Shaffer, vice president of marketing at PowerReviews.

[Read more]

The Secret Indicator of Business Health

2008-02-14T07:05:00.000-08:00

Harvey Mackay writes an interesting article today about the power of humor in the workplace to transform moods, heighten morale, and -- surprisingly -- act as a strong indicator of the true health of the business. "I've always felt that humor," says Mackay, "is the unrecognized indicator of any business' true condition." Turns out he may be right. An article in Harvard Business Review a few years ago labeled humor as the great, hidden metric for measuring a company's healthiness or lack thereof, but it's seldom recognized or considered when analyzing the strength of a business.

[Read the rest of Mackay's article]

What Do Cosumers Want Online?

2008-02-13T09:00:00.001-08:00

Overwhemingly, consumers voted for ease of use.

Forrester Research

So, you think you know what your customers want? Go ahead and list the top three, I'll wait...

Got it? Great! Now check your list against this reality: Forrester Research recently conducted a survey of more than 5,000 online consumers to find out what content and functionality is most important to them. Here's what they found out:

Consumers want user ratings and reviews the most. Sixty-four percent of consumers reported wanting to see user ratings and reviews. And nearly the same amount also wanted price-focused offerings, like special offers or coupons (61%) and product or price comparison tools (59%).

Interestingly, while the majority want to have access to ratings and reviews, only a few (23%) have any intention of writing one. Not surprising, there were differences in preferences based on age groups. Generation Y (18 to 27) are more interested in being entertained and sharing content. Younger Boomers are trying to get things done. And Seniors just don't want the clutter of extra information keeping them from getting things into their cart and getting on with it.

One final, revealing item: Overwhelmingly, consumers voted for ease of use.

So now you know what they want, the question is, what are you doing about it?

[See more from Forrester's North American Technographics Customer Experience, Marketing, And Consumer Technology Online Survey]

If You Read Nothing Else Today, Read This:

2008-02-04T09:40:00.000-08:00

Real permission is different from presumed or legalistic permission. Just because you somehow get my email address doesn't mean you have permission. Just because I don't complain doesn't mean you have permission. Just because it's in the fine print of your privacy policy doesn't mean it's permission either.

Seth Godin

Seth Godin, pitchman for common sense and a marketer's marketer, wrote a post recently that should be printed, laminated, and stuck on the wall of every single person who is even contemplating sending a 'promotional' email out to a customer or prospect. Marketers everywhere should read it every day (some, probably twice a day.) They should point to it every time someone walks into their office and says, "Hey, we have an email list, right?" They should print extra copies and have them on hand for marketing meetings, sales meetings, board meetings, and water cooler gatherings.

In a word, this is the truth, as hard as it is to hear and as hard as it is to follow. Do this, and reap the rewards. Don't, and, well... The world is full of people who squandered long-term opportunities in pursuit of short-term gains.

[Read Permission Marketing from Seth Godin's blog.]

Target: So Many Things Right, One Big Thing Wrong

2008-01-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Target does not participate with non-traditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.

Target Corp. Spokesperson

Disclaimer: I'm generally a fan of Target®. I appreciate the turn around they've implemented and I applaud their belief that general consumers (read: the rest of us as the unwashed masses) appreciate good design and want to own it, even if we don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it.

So it was with some alarm and a great deal of surprise when I learned that they seem to be so far out of touch with the reality of the world in which they do business. Here's the story:

They recently ran an ad that featured a young girl laying spread-eagle across a life-size representation of the notable trademark. This girl happened to be lying in a position that placed the center of the target -- the bullseye, so to speak -- directly between her akimbo legs.

A blogger named Amy Jussel from an organization called Shaping Youth took notice of the ad and sent a question to their corporate headquarters voicing her concern that this ad might be placing too much emphasis on the woman's genitals, and didn't they think this might be a little overly sexually subversive? (At this point in the story, you can choose to agree or disagree... it's their response that was truly imbecilic.)

Target responded with the following terse reply:

Good Morning Amy,

Thank you for contacting Target; unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with non-traditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.

Once again thank you for your interest, and have a nice day.

"We want to focus on publications that reach our core guest"? It's the Internet, folks, which part of your core do you think isn't being reached by the Internet? I could go on, but the stupidity of this stance is hopefully obvious.

I am forced to ask, however, "So what?" So they've alienated bloggers and marginalized that part of their core that is being served by the Internet. So what? Will they be generally incensed enough to write thousands of words about how idiotic Target is? Probably. Maybe Definitely. Will these people stop shopping at Target? Maybe. Maybe not. The truth is, Target may never know the full cost of taking this position, because it may hit them in ways unforeseen by methods not contemplated.

An example? Sure... It's a known fact that the inclusion of product reviews on an e-commerce site can provide a noticeable boost to sales, especially for products receiving positive reviews. The reviews that have the most impact are not written by professional reviewers, they're written by customers. Is it possible that some of these customers, perhaps bloggers themselves, might be less likely to take the time to write a positive product review on Target's web site? Or, realizing that Target devalues their input, isn't it also possible that these same people might be more likely to only share their negative reviews? I think you can count on it.

The Inmates (and/or the Legal Department) Are Running the Asylum

2008-01-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

Seriously guys, keep those lawyers out of here! Just tell them somebody in accounting is using the wrong Pantone color in the logo again.

Matt Dickman

File this under the same business category as "New Coke" only bigger, dumber, but (possibly) less expensive, though the true cost is to be determined. You probably didn't know, but Mattel and Hasbro have been stewing recently about a MySpace application call Scrabulous that allows members of the site to play a game that is suspiciously (ok, it's the same) like Scrabble™. Unable to stand themselves any longer, they've ordered the game squashed like a G-R-A-P-E (17 points).

Now, obviously, this game is a violation of the Scrabble™ trademark, so why shouldn't they put their collective foot down? Well, let's consider that there were over 600,000 registered users playing this little wonder. And let's consider what percentage of half a million likely rekindled some sort of fondness for a game they hadn't played in years, and maybe -- just maybe -- picked up a new physical for home. And let's consider how virulent this new online world we live in can be. What were their options? I couldn't write a better list than Matt Dickman, so I'll just repeat it here:

If I were in Mattel's marketing department here is what my train of thinking would be here:

1. Somebody please kick the legal department out of the room. Thanks, now let's continue.
2. Wow! These guys built an awesome application around our brand
3. We NEED to talk to them and buy this application ASAP
4. We NEED to hire these guys (or at least retain them) to do updates and possibly roll this out to other networks (Bebo, MySpace, etc.)
5. Seriously guys, keep those lawyers out of here! Just tell them somebody in accounting is using the wrong Pantone color in the logo again.
6. If we can't buy it, we at least need to sponsor/co-present it as *the* official Scrabble game on Facebook
7. If none of those options work we need to congratulate those guys publicly for their efforts and encourage people to join in
8. I wonder why we didn't think of this.

Matt goes on to make some recommendations about how you should be applying this lesson learned to your own situation. Read it and take heed.

Business Consulting or Web Development?

2007-12-21T07:14:00.000-08:00

Let's see... we talked about about design, site architecture, implementation strategy, marketing strategy...

We walked out of a client meeting the other day when Michael, one of our recently-acquired programmers asked me, "So, was that fairly typical of how these meetings go?"

I ran through a mental checklist... let's see, we talked about design, site architecture, implementation strategy, marketing strategy, product delivery, logo and identity development, branding issues and concerns, product pricing, sales efforts, post-launch PR and marketing efforts, beta testing, testimonials, and a few other things.

"Yes," says I, "that's a pretty good example of how these things go." His response surprised me:

"I'm surprised at how much business consulting goes on," he said.

Which is interesting to me, primarily because it can be difficult to define what we do. Obviously, we specialize in web development and new media, but there are so many other issues involved that we're providing a high level of business consulting at every step of the way. I just never really thought about it in that light before.

Thanks, Michael!

"I'm Jim, and I hate Google."

2007-11-19T19:58:00.000-08:00

Inexplicably, Google is indexing it's own ads on sites in their content network, leading to a whole bevy of related problems, inaccuracies, and heartburn.

"Hi, Jim."

That may be a slight overstatement, but I gotta tell you, at this point I'm dealing with a fairly serious love-hate relationship. The company and their eggheads do so many things so well, that it an be difficult to find fault with them for any reason. So I'm even more surprised that I'm so ticked of about their core business: search.

First, a little background. We recently finished a site for a new product called JoMo Joint Mobility Liquid Glucosamine. (Well, that's the long name, anyway.) Since the liquid glucosamine market is notoriously competitive, we decided to run a small Google AdWords campaign to help gain a little traction. As part of this campaign, we included ads on the "content" network, refers to all of those non-Google sites where you see AdWords appear. (I generally steer pretty clear of these, because I've seen very little indication that they work. In this case, the results were even more negative than "not working.")

What happened next surprised me. Google began indexing sites and including their own ads in their own index. So, now when someone does a search for "The Cartilage Company" (the company making the product, whose name appears in the ads), all of their competitors sites show up, since they were indexed while this ad was active. And this wouldn't even be considered a black hat technique, since it was Google indexing their own ads that caused the problem.

I'll let that sink in while I go kick something.

E-Commerce, Affiliate Marketing, and Predictive Modeling

2007-11-19T06:46:00.000-08:00

The upside is that you can achieve similar results by targeting a much smaller portion of the whole. Pretty cool stuff.

Jim Cota

I had the good fortune of addressing a group of progressive-thinking marketers last week at a Marketing Roundtable held by Strategic Fulfillment Group. The meeting, held in the historic Stockyards of Ft. Worth, Texas, proved to be enjoyable and enlightening. Aside from my presentation about "Perfecting the Online Buying Environment", attendees heard from Ash Ishrak, Strategic Solutions Leader for IBM's West Region; Mike Gunn, president and CEO of Chicago-based Profit Rank; and Jim Tucker, president and CEO of Integrated Marketing Technology in San Francisco.

Some of the most interesting topics from the event dealt with the methods being employed by Tucker's group to provide realistic and accurate predictive modeling. Their analysis applies 138 different criteria to your database records to help you determine which segments would perform the best. The upside is that you can achieve similar results by targeting a much smaller portion of the whole. Pretty cool stuff.

We also spent some time discussing the ins and outs of strategic, triggered email events that can be used to automatically contact customers based on a variety of criteria. You're probably familiar with things like order and shipping confirmation, but this same approach can be used for a whole variety of contacts. Examples include customer service and promotional messages, and almost any kind of targeted communication based on customer order history, preferences, activities, etc. Also pretty cool.

My time was spent highlighting some of the best practices in web design, both at the product and the cart level, with a eye toward helping companies realize the best possible results from their online efforts. I'll get more into some of this later, but here's a hint of one item: too much choice can be a bad thing.

Everyone's An Expert

2007-11-16T06:16:00.000-08:00

The Internet forces experts to engage in a continuous effort to prove that they are, in fact, expert in a given subject.

It seems like everyone is an expert at something. We have automobile experts, stock market experts, antique experts... we even have a client who's a sheep and goat expert. This abundance of experts in all fields butts up against a point of friction with the Internet, where information is clamoring to be free (or pretty cheap) and readily available. This leaves experts in a tough place. It's no longer enough to declare yourself an expert and expect everyone to just accept it. Instead, experts are forced to engage in a continuous effort to prove that they are, in fact, expert in a given subject.

[Read the complete article]

Technorati Profile

2007-01-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

In order to be properly recognized by the blog search engine Technorati, they require that you publish a post with a reference to your Technorati Profile. (Just in case you were wondering what the point of this was...)