Trends

Could you create a “being space?”

April 11, 2007

A being space.

One of my favorite stores is Barnes & Noble.  Yes, they have lots of books, music and movies.  But what I love most about it is that it feels like I’ve been invited to hang out.  Big comfortable chairs.  Coffee and snacks.  Did I mention the big comfortable chairs?

Well it turns out, I love Barnes & Noble because they’ve created a "Being Space."

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg first conceived of the "Being Space" in his 1990 book The Great Good Place and described it as a a place where people hang out —  take it easy and "commune with friends, neighbors, and whoever else shows up."  A place where you can enjoy a cup of coffee with friends, people watch, read a book or play a computer game.

Think about it.   Starbucks.  The Apple Store.  The Laundromat where you can watch a movie while you wash.  It seems like the retailers have caught on. 

But what about the service industry?

Imagine this…what if clients or business friends & vendors were invited to stop by the MMG office.  We happen to be right downtown.  Maybe they’re in between meetings or just need a place to catch their breath. 

They can grab a cup of coffee, hop on our wireless high speed internet (or use the computer in our open work station), make some phone calls or grab a book off our bookshelf.

Do you think they’d take us up on our offer?  Does it say something about our brand that we’ve created a space where they could?  Would it alter or intensify their opinion of us and what working with us might be like?

How about you — could you create a being space?

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Milestones and Kidney Stones

April 7, 2007

Submitted by Mike Sansone

Guest posting here is becoming a theme
Primarily because of commenting milestones
Today I take a shot at writing a post
Not in celebration, but due to kidney stones.

Just talked to Drew, he’s doing okay
His stay in the hospital I hope soon passes
(And that’s not the only thing)
He asked if I would converse with the masses.

If your email doesn’t get answered right away,
or you’re missing Drew’s wit on Twitter
I’m sure he’ll be back real soon,
For the Top Dog is a real go-getter.

I’m sure you stand with me thinking of Drew
So leave a comment or email him a shout
Get well, my friend – we love you!
Until then, rest easy and… ‘bunny out’

P.S. It seems I do this once a year. Should I start marketing this service?

Photo at Flickr by Kitten

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Here’s to the Age of Conversation

April 6, 2007

Here’s how it all happened.

I posted about a project called We Are Smarter than Me which gives people a chance to help author a guest book.

In the comments of that post Gavin Heaton said “Great concept! And it sounds like it could be fun … but you know what, Drew? I reckon between a few of us we could knock out a short book…All we need is a theme and a charity …”

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MySpace becomes first primary of the presidental election

April 4, 2007

MySpace announced that it will hold a "presidential primary" on Jan. 1-2 next year, before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

The virtual election will be open to all members of MySpace in the United States.

In March, MySpace launched the Impact Channel, a site designed to connect politicians, non profits and civic organizations with users worldwide.

The channel currently houses pages for 12 major-party presidential candidates. In May, My Space will launch a series of monthly straw polls to gauge where candidates stand.

What do you think?  Will this get teenagers and twenty-somethings interested in the election?  Will their primary results impact the election?

How do you envision candidates reacting to this news?

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Does Twitter have to be useful?

March 19, 2007

Maybe I’m missing the point.

You cannot throw a cat without hitting a blog talking about Twitter.  Everyone seems to have pretty strong opinions about it.  It seems to be a love  or hate thing.

A couple Twitter bits of love:

Kevin Lim’s Theory is the Reason goes into incredible depth on its who’s using it, why they’re using it and how to use it better.

Tara Hunt of Horse•Pig•Cow exalts Twitter for helping her keep grips on her thoughts, activities and friends.

A bit of Twitter disdain:

Kathy Sierra’s Creating Passion Users suggests that Twitter is further strain on our already stretched attention spans and ability to focus.

Darren Barefoot at DarrenBarefoot.com takes a shot or two at Twitter and then does a very funny look at what Shakespeare’s Twitter entries might look like.

And now…love or hate, people are working hard at justifying Twitter’s existence by morphing it into a business tool.  Mike Sansone has an interesting idea over at Converstations about how to use Twitter for finite teams.

Even Technorati’s Buzz TV is getting into the conversation.

Here’s my question.  Why?

Are we at a point where we can’t just enjoy it as both a distraction and a diversion?   That it’s a link to our friends and colleagues and sometimes they say something interesting and sometimes not?   It’s fun.  Sometimes its serious and sometimes it silly.  In the week that I’ve been using it, my friends have made me laugh out loud and stop and think.

I’m not so sure it needs to be anything more.  At least not for me.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Can We Survive Without Twitter?
• Why Social Media May Not be Right For You!

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How do you chase new business?

March 2, 2007

A resource that I have enjoyed for a long time is RainToday.com.  They describe themselves as "your online source for insight, advice and tools for growing your service business."

And they are certainly that.  I almost always find gems of insight in their articles. 

They have just released a new research report What’s Working In Lead Generation.  (with the obligatory sub head:  How to Spend Your Time, Energy & Money for the Best Marketing ROI in B2B Professional Services.)

They’ve been kind enough to share a press review copy of the report with me and over the next several posts, I’d like to share with you some of the wisdom their research has uncovered.

As we always should, let’s start with where we’re at today.

The report goes on to say that:

45% responded that finding a lead generation strategy, tactic, or offer that works well is "extremely challenging" or "very challenging".

84% of respondents reported that in the next two years they will increase their lead generation efforts.

What does that mean for us?  First, everyone agrees that finding new business is no small or easy task.  And to reduce it to that probably means you aren’t really doing so hot at getting it done.  The second and potentially alarming stat says that the competition is getting ready to gear it up.   

Are you ready?  What is your lead generation plan?  Is it automated enough that if you get busy — it keeps chugging along?

For many small businesses, this is the biggest challenge.  They launch a lead generation tactic or plan and it works.  Yeah!  But also — Boo!  Because the plan is too dependent on their man hours.  And now the man hours are consumed with taking care of the new business they just generated. 

Once they get that new business under their belt — the pipeline is dry again because they could only do so much and then the work got in the way of continuing to fill the pipeline.

What do you have in place to prevent that?

More insights from the report are on the way….

Note:  The full RainToday.com report shares 6 key insights which I’ll be exploring over the next few days with you.  In the meantime, if you’d like to download their free 21-page summary, you can grab it here.

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Do you want a 340 lb exercise instructor?

February 8, 2007

                                           …or…                                                   

Last week, The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about a new exercise (Nordic Walking) that targets the "less than fit."  Part of the effort to lure the couch potatoes and non-athletic type people into an exercise class is to have overweight instructors lead the group.

In the article one of the instructors, the 340 lb. Donna Mirabile, explains the tactic as "we want people to think if big fat Donna can do it, so can they."

Hmm.

Now the politically correct answer of course, is…it doesn’t matter how much she weighs.  And maybe it doesn’t.

But I find myself wondering if this isn’t a case of someone marketing based on what they wish people thought/wanted rather than either recognizing or wanting to acknowledge the not so flattering human truth.  (Sort of like the recycling movement.)

I get the whole before and after technique that is rampant in weight loss marketing.  They show a picture of "big fat Donna" and then we see the after version "svelte, sexy Donna" while she tells us she could still eat chocolate.  The premise of these ads is to encourage the mental leap — if Donna can transform herself, so can I.

But if "big fat Donna" is leading the class and she is still "big fat Donna" does that imply that you’re going to stay "big fat you?"

Be honest — both women are friendly, kind, love animals. But one is fit and one is fat.  Who would you, as a consumer, want to take the exercise class from?

Do you think it matters, from a marketing perspective?

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It’s your fault!

February 3, 2007

Remember the discussion about Kohl’s right after the holidays.  Paul (HeeHawMarketing) posted some photos about his experience in a local store.  The place was a disaster. 

I followed up with a post saying that Paul’s experience is a symptom of bad or a complete lack of branding.  When an organization doesn’t have a clear direction — it generates some significant problems.

• When your employees don’t understand your brand — even the best employees flounder around, trying to do what they think they should.
• When you don’t invest in employee communication and tell them over and over what matters, human nature says won’t retain the message.
• A good, solid brand sets the expectations for your customers.

But here’s one of the greatest risks of not having a rock-solid brand.

Finger pointing.  It’s not my fault.  It’s not my department.   No one is accountable, because no one knows what they’re accountable for.  For a real-life example, let’s go back to the Kohl’s story.

Paul got a voice mail from Kohl’s VP of Public Relations.  Here’s what she said:

"Please know that it is our top priority to provide you, and all of our customers, a quality shopping experience. I’m very sorry that you recently encountered an unacceptable store environment, and from your pictures, clearly not up to our standards. I have advised our senior level management, they’ve been made aware, and they’re highly committed to addressing it. So, thanks again for letting me know. I do appreciate hearing from you and we do value your patronage."

In other words….nothing but smoke being blown up his skirt.  So, then a Kohl’s employee wanted to step into the discussion.

As you might expect — it’s not their fault.  Bad management, understaffed, under-appreciated employees, customers who are pigs, children who are unruly, etc. etc.  And you know, he’s probably exactly right. 

But also, ultimately wrong. 

So what’s the solution?  Someone has to care.  Someone has to have a vision.  Someone needs to set a course.  That has to happen at a corporate level.  And at the store level.  And at the individual employee level.  In other words, they all have to realize and believe that is is indeed their problem.

They need to discover their brand promise and begin to teach their employees how to bring it to life.

Until that happens, I suspect Kohl’s will continue to breed a culture of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" not my problem, man.

Sad.

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Brand yourself with a ringtone!

January 5, 2007

How a person brands themselves changes over time.  Clothing labels, playing certain positions on sports teams,  and Girl Scout badges evolve to the type of car you drive, your personalized plates and today in our all-tech world — cell phone ringtones.

Remember when you thought having personalized ringtones were a crazy fad the kids were into?  Now, it’s absolutely mainstream.  So here’s my question.

If you could only use one song for your universal ringtone (so everyone in your world and your general vicinity) would hear it and associate it with you — what song would you choose?  Let me give you a running start.

My fellow Iowa blogger Doug Mitchell mentioned PhoneZoo at breakfast this morning. 

Look at some of the ringtones you can have sent to your phone for free.

Are you an intense guy who’s life is sort of 24/7?  How about the theme song to "24" or Mission Impossible?

Are you whimsical and short?  How about the Oompa Loompa song from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

I know…feeling silly and colorful?  Why not sound like Fred Flintstone or Peanut Butter Jelly Time from The Family Guy?

Go ahead….brand yourself with a song!

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What do you suppose is up with this?

December 24, 2006

Image via CrunchBase

Amazon is trying something new. 

• What do you suppose they gain by creating this new interface? 
• Is it something you’ll use? 
• How would you determine the credibility of the answers you got?
• How would you reassure someone of the credibility of the answers you offered?

Hmm.

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