Microbrand Monday: Moots

Small is the new big, right? That’s what Seth Godin preaches. 
But in certain things, no. Not yet, anyway.
Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Honda, BMW are jumbo brands that still dominate the automotive industry, despite the meltdown of 2008. 
Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade, adidas and Nike are brands that still rule the high-margin product offerings in the golf industry that feeds [...]

Marketing in Difficult Times

If you work in marketing, you know the drill: Times get tough, leadership grows cautious, budgets–and usually people–are let go.
So if everybody does it, should we assume it’s the right approach?
If you make full-size Hummers at GM in Detroit, probably. But if you make simple home budgeting software or provide resume-writing services, no way. There [...]

Good Mantra

At a year-end concert last night in the gym of my local elementary school, there was lots of technology to record the moment: a camcorder, digital camera or cellphone camera for each musician. Parents gathered around to get the best angle during the “Kodak” moment for both orchestra and band.
I shamelessly did the same, but [...]

WordPress March Stats: Impressive

One thing I appreciate about WordPress (besides its UI simplicity): They aren’t afraid to try. Last week, their new dashboard upgrade created a hiccup in the community. People loved it. People hated it. Change is liberating. Change is hard.
WordPress (like Blogger) at free is beyond a bargain. The March stats for the global WordPress community [...]

Ghost-Written: Can You Trust Blogs?

I’m not a big reader of the Tim Ferriss 4-hour workweek blog.
I think thought I know knew why.
For the past year, it wasn’t really written by him. With two ghost writers paid very little, Tim Ferriss fooled a lot of readers. Imagine if the New York Times was really published by the Chicago Tribune. When your name [...]

What the Girl Scouts Taught Me About Customer Conversations

Marketers talk a lot about engaging conversations with customers. But short of focus groups and customer satisfaction surveys, do many marketers talk (in the same room) with customers? I mean themselves (not a hired firm) spending time one-on-one and face-to-face to hear and see customers’ likes and dislikes? There’s nothing like being criticism in person.
Here’s where Pareto’s principle of 80/20 comes in. When I’m in the [...]

Work is for People Who Don’t Golf

A New York Times clip today on golf is the most emailed (as of 10:30 a.m. PST). It points out the struggles of the business (in fairness, Callaway Golf had a record year in 2007).
Factors contributing to slide in number of golfers? Rounds take 4 or more hours, too few players want to pick up the game, and kids’ soccer games have become weekend priority. Here’s [...]

Kindle Online Community Outcry

A scan of the Amazon website tonight shows a steady flow of spirited comments in the Kindle forum. While some posts condemn Amazon for the Kindle shortage (4-6 week delivery from time of order), others defend the company, which has made a great business by providing prompt and accurate service.
Once you’ve become accustomed 2-day book delivery, waiting a month or [...]

One Laptop Per Child: Great Name, What Happened?

This was a grand idea. Now it’s a name and not a movement. Sorry to see it fizzle. An example of a branded cause that can’t to deliver without corporate support. 
Would Intel still had gained something if it would have stayed with the One Laptop Per Child program, despite a change in the costing model and use of a competing chip? Aren’t consumers with a [...]

Penny for Your Clicks: 5 Ways to Compensate Blog Writers

An interesting memo was published in Valleywag.  The subject of writer pay at a tech blog provoked additional questions on Publishing 2.0. It will fuel a few more blogger keystrokes until the Consumer Electronics Show and MacWorld.
Here’s the rub: Measuring the value of content.
Old media was simple. Great reporting and writing usually won the front page or magazine cover. Pulitzer Prize journalists went on to write books. Audited sources [...]