My new marketing blog

I think I have found my voice. The previous posts on this blog, I feel, are not written with a real passion. I will leave them up since I still agree with them, but my new place is here.

Dry cleaners, beware!

I wouldn't recommend opening one at this point. Check out the advances in clothing tech

you don't amount to a hill of (coffee) beans

Good point from Seth Godin.
From "Why bother"



It reminds me of an experience that my brother-in-law had. There is a coffee bar in an upscale part of New York that is conveniently located for him, but he probably will never buy a thing there again due to his experiences there. One time he brought back a caramel latte since the milk inside was sour. The guy was ambivalent, saying that it's just the taste of the caramel. Is it really worth the 30 cents that it costs to make a freaking latte to chase away a customer?

BTW, I really recommend the Return Customer blog. It's a great real-life lesson plan in winning cutomer loyalty.

This is why Cuban is a success...

Great post from Mark Cuban about putting yourself in your customers' shoes.

We are the best!

A friend sent me a link to a BusinessWeek.com slideshow of online biz advice from its entrepreneurs.

Words of wisdon from the founder of LinkedIn (emphasis mine)

Advice: Don't have a bunch of promotion and marketing fluff on your page. Just saying you're the best doesn't mean you're the best. Customers want to know how much it's going to cost, how long it's going to take to get to them, and if they're going to get good service.

Don't take up screen real estate that's not actionable, useful information. Don't make them click too much or make it too hard to find products. If they don't find what they want from the home page, they're going to click to the next site. They're expecting convenience. Make a compelling offer, because customers on the Internet are expecting a deal.

This si true in print advertising as well. It can be quite frustrating dealing with companies that have no ad direction other than to say "we are the best". Really? You are? How did I miss the vote on this? Torah Times and CY Magazne are just filled with this kind of mush.

I will have more to come from the slideshow.

Powerpoint...thine enemy?

We recently started working on a project with many components. One of the items that was discussed at the meeting was whether we create Powerpoint presentations or know someone that does. I have been looking around for a soup-to-nuts presentation guru or the like who shares my outlook on Powerpoint.

To most people, a PP presentation is a series of slides with the bullet points of what you are discussing. Maybe it is also peppered with some noxious clip-art or worse dazzling cheesy effects. This is a recipe for unimpressed viewers who tune out quite quickly. The slides should augment the presentation instead of sending more redundant noise at their other senses.

In the meantime, I found some very useful (and entertaining) resources which are totally straight on. Guy Kawasaki talks about the 10/20/30 rule to keep people from being bored to tears. Really Bad Powerpoint, a paper by Seth Godin, speaks for itself. Read it.

The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less

This video presentation is a real eye-opener to some. Almost a "must-see" designation. Take the time to watch it, trust me. The only thinkg annoying about it is that he keeps showing cartoons to the audience which we can't see, leaving us to wonder what in blazes is so funny? Google TechTalks April 27, 2006 Barry Schwartz