Thanks, Tim
Tim Manners did a really nice interview with me. Thought you might enjoy it. Not sure my publisher will be pleased I mentioned my new book, so please don’t tell anyone. reveries – seth godin – across the hall
Weird, twisted riff…
If you’ve seen me speak on Permission Marketing, you may have heard me talk about the ultimate form of permission… a subscription. Like the doctor who can give you medicine while you’re in a coma… and bill you for it! A Case in Point
(please forgive the insane flashing banners. Not my fault.)
Re webpage optimization
This is awfully similar to a process I dreamed up a bunch of years ago to make websites work better. I’ve never used their service, but it’s an approach that you need to consider: Optimost.com.
I’m sure there are plenty of similar services out there, but one pointer is probably all you need to get started.
It’s not a cow if I don’t think it’s a cow
So I just read about the Whirlpool Polara Refrigerated Range. An oven with a refrigerator built in (or is it a refrigerator with an oven built in?
Reminded me that I need to clarify what remarkable is.
You don’t make a Purple Cow by doing something that you think is remarkable.
You make a Purple Cow by doing something that your PROSPECTS and CUSTOMERS think is remarkable.
Say it ain’t so, Jerry!
Well, now it’s official. Bad marketing, disrespectful marketing, organizational deadend marketing is officially entrenched, probably never to be extracted.
I just got my mailed copy of the Grateful Dead Almanac, a catalog of the best and greatest new Dead stuff. This is always an expensive moment for me. As always, I followed the links and took out the credit card.
First stop was THE DEAD – Official Concert Recording Series. Neat idea. After buying a few, I get to the checkout, and the little tiny fine print says, “Click here to opt out of mailings from OCRS”. Huh? Opt out, guys, is spam. The notice is designed to be missed. The goal is to trick people into getting mail they don’t want to get. Sigh.
Then, it’s over to gdstore.com to buy the new Dicks Picks album, which is raved about in the Almanac. It’s not there.
So I call.
Then I get the recording that, “Due to heavy call volume…” Have you ever called a company and heard the truth? “Due to budget priorities, we decided it was cheaper to have you wait on hold for a few minutes than it was to hire more operators…”
Anyway, after a few minutes, a nice guy answered and said, “Are you calling to buy Dicks Picks #30?” I responded in the affirmative. And then he said this (I’m not making this up):
“We won’t have it until tomorrow, and until we have it, I can’t take your order.”
Yes, that’s what he meant. I checked.
Does this sound like your organization? Are the systems so out of control that we’ve forgotten how to let one person do business with another person? This poor guy is spending his whole day telling thousands of people with money to spend to go away. This organization spent a fortune on stamps and printing for the Almanac, designed (in part) to sell Dicks Picks 30, but they can’t figure out how to take the orders that come in.
Sigh.
Well, (at least for now) they’re not trying to sell me Vi*gra, debt reduction services or mini RC race cars.
Smart entrepreneurial advice
“I don’t like to go places that don’t let me have my gun,” said Ms. Casey, 33, who sells memberships to a Las Vegas survivalist training institute and models for comic books (her likeness has graced the cover of one called Reload). Her New Hampshire plans include starting eight businesses “because nine out of every 10 fail, and I’ve already started two, so I need to do eight more.”
Yet another idea worth stealing
Alas, it’s not mine.
Howie Jacobson is awfully smart. And sometimes, he hits a home run.
The short version:
“When I start marketing a product, I naturally start by talking to myself. I write sales copy that appeals to my values. I argue the price/value question in ways that I find convincing. I use layouts and pictures that affect me.
Bad Howie.
Unless my market is very much like me (which rarely happens, believe me), I’m going to fail.
I’m speaking Gorilla-ish to Dogs. To me, I’m saying “Buy my stuff,” but they hear, “Run away! I’m a Dork.”
I’m not going to succeed in teaching my prospects Howie-lish. If I want to communicate with them, I have to learn their language. “
The whole thing: The Motivated Marketing Letter
Today’s Free Idea
What I want is a service ($10 a month seems fair) that hooks up to a small box in my bedroom. It would have a wi-fi hookup to the Net, a speaker and a clock display.
I tell it what time I want to wake up in the morning. I use the web to teach it which information I’m interested in.
Then, every morning, it starts my day with a perfectly selected piece of music (picked by a program director, not me, based on my preferences). Maybe it wakes me up with Hannah Barbera sound effects on Tuesdays… Then it follows it up with the information I want to start my day–custom weather, or pollen count, or school closings or the Google news reports on the ten things I’m covering. Hey, if there’s bad traffic or weather, it could even wake me up earlier.
If there’s a power blackout, it reboots and has the right time. It doesn’t worry about Daylight Savings (did you remember?) If I forget to press the “I’m up” button, it calls me on the telephone…
By the time I’m done shaving, I’ve heard what I want to hear, even if it’s just the right music for today.
Wouldn’t that be better than Casey Kasem or some shock jock?
If you build one, let me know. Thanks.
Pom Wonderful
Just finished my first bottle of Pom Wonderful. I love all the little things the company did to make the product remarkable.
It’s even purple.
