Archive for November, 2006
Mistake or Plan?
Over at Forbes, there’s an article on the launch of Microsoft’s Zune launch that asks whether Microsoft has forgotten in key group of people in the hyped launch of their new MP3 player: the people selling them in stores:
More alarming are some of the responses when [Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene] Munster’s team asked salespeople about the [...]
MatrixStream: How to Screw Up Blog PR
One of the first blog strategies any organization should implement is PR - identifying bloggers who write about topics related to the organization, and doing outreach to them as you would with any opinion-maker (analysts, editors, writers, etc.).
And of course, sometimes this is done very badly. I offer this tale as an example of what [...]
Enemies
Yesterday’s weekly newsletter from Marketing Profs held its usual compendium of insghtful and useful articles. As a board member and volunteer at a non-profit, I was particularly interested in Laura Ries on Seven Steps to Building a Strong Non-Profit Brand. Her steps were clear and straightforward, and used an interesting example of a friend who, as a child, [...]
Life v2.0
So what’s new in your second life?
Business Week has a piece about businesses trying to set up shop in Second Life, the virtual reality created by Linden Lab of San Francisco. If you’ve been hearing the buzz about it and wondered what it is, why it’s important, and generally whether you should care, it’s as [...]
Singled Out: The New Yorker’s Cover Switcheroo
No, I am not going to give up my New Yorker subscription because of it, but the November 27th edition (last week’s mag) had an odd bit of something-or-other surrounding their cover. As everyone knows, the New Yorker covers are works of art unto themselves. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has a [...]
Google Maps Makes Me Want to Scream
I think we all understand that certain free services on the web are supported by ads, and are fine with it. Right up until the ads start interfering with using the service. For example: Google Maps.
I initially loved Google Maps. The interface is much nicer than what most of the other map sites offer.
But when [...]
Let’s Get Small
Do you want your blog to be big? Really big? Okay, it’s understandable, but as this Marketing Profs post points out, that might not really be the point.
The idea that you need to reach as many people as possible is just wrong. The power of your blog is not just that a lot of [...]
Flag design review
It’s a busy holiday weekend, and so my contributions here are definitely “Opinionated Marketers lite,” but here’s something to amuse you: a Flash piece about what might happen if national flag designs were reviewed by marketers. Enjoy!
"The Most Important Gift Catalog in the World"
I am exceedingly suspicious of any marketing claim that includes the words “Most Important,” and I was frankly annoyed when I received a copy of a catalog from something called Heifer International that trumpeted their standing as “The Most Important Gift Catalog in the World”. I harrumphed, but, looking at the cover, I did try [...]
The Day After
As many of us are recovering from our Thanksgiving day indulgence today (hope yours was good), it seemed like a good day to note that in every health crisis, there’s a market opportunity: in this case, a growing demand for personal trainers as American gets, well, larger. And as in most fast-growing markets, the not-so-good can do [...]
