Unique Blog Designs is celebrating a birthday - 1 year. They’ve got some great prizes. They’re working a viral marketing campaign by offering multiple entries to any blogger who pings back to this post. Being the greedy beggar that I am - I’ve just qualified for 5 entries. Long live capitalism - and shameless self-promotion.
Answer: Greed is why this shameless self-promotion works. I, like everybody else, want something for nothing. Shameless self-promotion gets attention - another reason why it works. Visibility is the key. Love ‘em or hate ‘em - we all give braggarts an undue amount of attention. All publicity may not be good, but all publicity drives up visibility. And usually, visibility equals success in becoming or maintaining a top-of-mind presence.
For the past 6 years or more I’ve sat in on a variety of conferences and seminars where one topic seems to rise to the top - “how do we take full advantage of the Internet?”
For starters, I’d like to see how many businesses take full advantage of anything. Few of us are efficient enough to do that. Fewer still even know what advantage they’ve got in the first place.
The Internet has been seen by too many traditional businesses (i.e. brick and mortar) as a panacea. Whatever ails us can surely be fixed somehow by the Internet, can’t it? I know, let’s create an email newsletter. No, wait a minute, we’ll produce an ebook. Could we build a shopping cart and sell our stuff online? On and on it goes with mindless dialogue of people seeking fast answers for complex problems.
For many years Seth Godin and others have been preaching a reverse strategy that is contrary to conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom is build a good business, then incorporate technology, including the Internet. New wisdom is build a business that centers on new technology and social trends. In other words, consider Facebook and the Internet when you architect your business model.
But there is yet an even newer business model, which isn’t really a model at all. I’m not sure what you’d call it. It’s a process, a philosophy and a rough sketch. It baffles traditionalists. Amazon made no sense to most people. For years Amazon lost money. Yet it was valued at ridiculous numbers. Few understood the phenomenon. But other sites began to do the same thing - build traffic. Build traffic, then figure out how to make money later. Such thinking turned the world upside down. Wall Street didn’t understand. Hardly anybody understood. It was counter-intuitive to everything we knew to be true in the world of business.
Today, there are thousands, perhaps millions, of start ups that are trying to climb the mountain of bassackwards business. They’re trying to build web traffic. SEO (search engine optimization), Google Analytics and other technologies are part of the process. Content isn’t always king. Sometimes things just catch fire thanks to a YouTube video, or a high-profile blogger writing about something or somebody - and the next thing you know, it’s red hot!
Things can happen fast on the Net, or not at all. Aaron Wall started learning SEO in 2003. He became one of the top SEO experts earning well over $500 an hour. He wrote a critically acclaimed, and highly usable ebook, SEO Book. He launched his website and things rolled along nicely. But recently he’s abandoned the ebook business model. It wasn’t a model he was in love with. He just went that route because he knew the world of SEO changed so fast that no printed book could possibly keep up. The ebook technology solved that problem. But now he’s migrated away from the ebook to a subscriber-based website. He also migrated to Drupal, a content management system that is more elaborate and allows him to better manage a subscriber-based site where most of the content is premium (or paid for).
Wall is typical of the genius required to change and adapt. He hasn’t attempted to squeeze his services into a preordained model. Rather, he’s allowed the technology advances to dictate how he’s able to best serve a customer base that suits him. The ebook got him many fans, and readers. But many, like me, were amateur SEO folks. I bought the book, but I’d be lying if I told you I use it regularly. I’d be lying if I told you I read it all the way through. It’s an extensive volume. But there are others who are actively involved in SEO. They need dedicated help that no ebook can provide. They’re willing to pay more than a one-time charge of $79 for an ebook. So Wall now has a service for these people. $100 monthly. No contracts. Cancel at any time. It’s a month-by-month service. Many people who need SEO right now can subscribe. Then as their needs, or interests change, they can unsubscribe if they like. Wall will be able to extract the more serious SEO clients from the merely curious. His services will likely be more precise and efficient. And his clients will be paying a premium (and likely well worth it). Wall delivers value.
Wall is just a single example of the bassackwards business model where the business doesn’t dictate the need to squeeze in some use of technology. Rather, the technology allows a complete change in the delivery of the service, the business.
Today it would not be unwise to consider how to best reach prospective customers with technology and construct your business accordingly. It’s all about delivery. It’s about access. It’s about traffic. It’s about management of all those things. Traditionally business has been interested with these things, but we’ve had to limit such ideas to the physical realm, not the virtual realm. So, it’s high time for most businesses to turn themselves upside down, inside out and examine their approach. It’s not time to hammer a square peg into a round hole. Is it ever?
The Internet is not a quick fix. It’s not a magic bullet that will solve every sales or revenue problem facing businesses. You must do more than build a website. It is not true, if you build it they will come. They won’t. Getting traffic is extremely difficult. But if you find a way to get them to your site, then you must give them some compelling reason to stay, and you must provide something valuable for them (either free or fee-based, or both).
Proof of how hard all this really is are the abandoned sites that litter the Net. Digital space is full of derelict sites that haven’t been updated in years. People and companies thought it would work better than it did. They thought it would happen faster than it did. They found it harder than it first seemed. So they just stopped. Some presumably searching for the next magic pill that would fix their problems.
I often wonder why some companies are paying for hosting on a site that hasn’t been updated since 2004. What are they thinking? No web presence is better than a derelict presence. Like any business activity, web-based activities require smart thinking and hard work. Just because it looks easy doesn’t mean that it is.
Reverse your thinking. Stop thinking about your widgets and think about your customers. How can you better reach them? How can they find you? What can you deliver to them? How can you best serve them?
Wait a minute! This isn’t really bassackwards at all. Isn’t this how it should have been all along? Putting customers or prospective customers first - then figuring out a way to better reach them, and serve them?
Forget Mike. I wanna be like Favre, offered $2M a year for the next 10 years to NOT work. I’m in negotiations to make that happen. I’ll let you know how it works out.
There’s plenty we do not know about this saga in Green Bay. It makes little sense to me. Why would Green Bay not want this guy back quarterbacking their team for another year? Why would Favre not negotiate a deal that pays him to sit back without risk of injury? True, he’s due to earn $12M this year. Twelve million this year beats $20M over the next ten years. Surely Favre could get that amount elevated. Rumors were that it went to $25M over a 5 year period, but I suspect that wasn’t true. Such an offer as that would have/should have been very tempting to him, and his family.
There are 32 NFL teams. That means there are 32 starting quarterbacks, not all of them very worthy. In any given season there are probably a handful of teams that aren’t real solid at that position, meaning they really don’t know who should play at that position. There are many others who aren’t solid because they don’t have a player who is capable of doing the job at an above average performance level consistently. So rare are these creatures, it baffles me why Green Bay wouldn’t want Favre back.
Are they worried they’ll lose Rodgers? How can his stock be that high? He’s not started an NFL game yet.
Are they worried the locker room will be divided? I really fail to grasp that notion. Brett Favre walks into the locker room as the starting QB and we’re supposed to think some in the locker room might mumble under their breath, “What a jerk. I can’t believe they’re not letting Aaron play.” I’d like to meet the player who would do that. Better yet, I’d like to give him an IQ test.
It’s possible that GM Ted Thompson so hates Favre that he simply refuses to let Favre back into the Pack? Today, anything is possible!
Another interesting part of this story is the belief that Ari Fleischer seems to be advising the Packers’ communications efforts. And that Favre’s agent, Mr. Cook, is silent. We need Scott Boras or Drew Rosenhaus to be on point with this deal. Then we’d really get some great quotes.
No matter what happens, Favre is going to come out great financially. I so wanna be like Favre!
I hear Engelbert Humperdinck singing…
Please release me, let me go
For I don’t love you anymore
To waste our lives would be a sin
Release me and let me love again
I have found a new love, dear
And I will always want her near
Her lips are warm while yours are cold
Release me, my darling, let me go
(Please release me, let me go)
For I don’t love you anymore
(To waste my life would be a sin)
So release me and let me love again
Please release me, can’t you see
You’d be a fool to cling to me
To live a lie would bring us pain
So release me and let me love again
(Let me love, let me love)
But FREE isn’t often worth it. In fact, in my recent experience FREE is worthless. Perhaps it’s because “you get what you pay for.” Nothing gets you nothing.
The Internet is full of freebies. My inbox is deluged with free offers. Free webinars and free ebooks abound. I’m overwhelmed with them. Few of them offer anything worthy of my time. There’s the rub - my time, which is NOT free!
Marketing geniuses are among the worst offenders. I suppose that means these free offers work because companies like Peppers and Rogers (I enjoy their books and have benefited from some of their free offerings) continue to do it. On average, I get an email from Peppers and Rogers every other day. Each one offers a free webinar or whitepaper. Each time you must complete all the contact information. It doesn’t matter that you gave them the same information two days earlier. Do it again. Sometimes, I bail out deciding that this free whitepaper isn’t worth the time required to give them my vital data, AGAIN. I enjoy the Peppers and Rogers publication 1 to 1, but their emails whip me.
You’d think these guys would know better. They’re smart people. They’re sought after experts in the field of one-to-one marketing. I know I could opt out, but I really don’t want to opt out entirely. I just want them to offer me something worthwhile and stop offering me free stuff ALL THE TIME.
They’re not the only ones doing it. They’re just the most ironic ones on my list. The webinars are worthless. Some titles have captivated me, but they’re simply glorified pitches for other services by partnering companies. If you read and keep up with current business practices (as I do), you’ll not learn anything new by wasting an hour of your time listening in on a free webinar. I defy anybody to prove to me that a free webinar provided any value whatsoever. If you’ve experienced one, please tell me about it. It’s an hour you’ll never get back. If you earn $10 an hour, that free webinar was expensive - costing you ten bucks. Give me 10 bucks and I’ll find something free to give you. Just PayPal it to me.
Free will always cost you time. No matter what. And sometimes it’s worth it, but not often. Some years ago my wife and I spent a few days at a rural resort. Upon our arrival I was offered a substantial discount if I’d be willing to invest two hours to hear their time-sharing sales pitch. It was a rather new resort and part of the pitch included a tour of the place (something I was interested in doing anyway). The discount was $150 (about half off the price of a single night). I thought it was worth it. And it was. It was also something free that gave me value. In addition, my expectations were clearly established. I knew there would be a sales pitch. I was prepared for that and had no trouble spurning the offer. I also knew I’d be given a $150 discount (a coupon given to me upon completion of my time spent hearing the pitch). No problem. Value. Expectation. Both made free worthwhile.
That’s so rare these days. Deception is behind almost all freebies. It’s free because it’s worthless and your expectation won’t be met. It’s free because it’s designed to pull you in and sell you something that has a higher cost (and greater return to the company/person making the offer).
The way to capitalize in this age of sound and click clutter is to be unique. Be different. If you’re marketing anything, stop blitzing people with free offers. Stop playing the numbers game thinking if you aim the shotgun at the most people and pull the trigger that a bigger number of us will drop to our knees for your stuff. Rather, give us something of value - something we can’t get anywhere else* - and don’t disappoint us. Rather, shock us by giving us more than we expect. Do that and we’ll be blown away because NOBODY is doing that.
* I read lots of books. Peppers and Rogers are perfect examples. You know why I logged onto their website year’s ago? Because I’d read their books - and continued to read the new books they publish. I own every book they’ve ever written. You know what you get in the webinars? Hi-lights of what they’re written. I realize many people - maybe most people - haven’t read their books. But I have. That makes me a good customer. I’m a buying customer already. They give me NO VALUE because I already know the material they give away for free. I bought the books and invested the time to read them. So, I’m insulted and annoyed.
That’s a dung beetle pushing a ball of dung. Business people do this job every day! Because business people often peddle dung, it only makes sense that they speak the Language of Dung. Businessmen aren’t the only ones who speak the language of Dung. Politicians are gifted in the language, too. I’m not terribly interested in politics though. I’m much more interested in business. Business and politics both are free flowing when it comes to dung.
The Language of Dung is different than the Language of Expertism. They’re very closely related though. Read a business book by a member of academia and you’ll understand the subtle, but significant difference. The “I’m the expert so you mere mortals can’t possibly grasp the depth of my intellect” is rampant in the business world. Words you’ve never heard or seen are often used by such gurus. I’ve read thousands of business books in my life and I confess that I’d read entire chapters before without understanding the point. That’s Expertism. But Dung is Dung, not Expertism.
Quality questions can put people on the spot. They can clarify, or confuse. They can provide a businessperson the opportunity to speak the truth - or dung.
Dung is the language of ignorance. It’s the “I-don’t-know” answer. It’s the grown up version of the essay question we all remember from our junior high history class. Just drone on and on with the few facts you do know, and couple those with lots of verbiage in hopes the teacher won’t take the time to read it carefully and call, “Bull $#@!” on you.
A job applicant asks the interviewer, “What is your company’s compelling reason? Why should customers choose you over a competitor?”
The answer comes forth. It will either be truth - a very valid compelling reason that makes sense - OR - it will be dung. “Our people make the difference.” My dung-meter is pegged!
A potential investor seeks answers about a company’s poor annual report. He reads the report and the letter written by the CEO. The CEO either takes responsibility and lays out his plans to fix the problems, or he more likely takes up the language of Dung and paints all the problems in rose colored hue.
A customer experiences a problem. They ask for a solution. They’re either told how their problem is going to be addressed, or more likely Dung is spoken and they’re told why their problem can’t be fixed.
Why do businessmen speak bull$*@!?
Pure and simple. Because they don’t have a real answer. So they make something up hoping somebody will believe they’re really telling the truth. Or, they do it to impress. To make people believe they’re highly intellectual.
It’s a ridiculous habit. But wouldn’t we all just fall over dead if we heard the plain spoken truth - all the time?
This man would never survive in the business world. He’s much too forthcoming.
Headline: NASCAR Squeezes Horsepower Down On Toyota Motors
My neck isn’t red. I don’t drink beer. I don’t have a Confederate flag flying at my house. I don’t have any tattoos. I don’t use tobacco. I have all my teeth. I don’t wear wife-beater T’s. Well, you get my drift.
I do watch NASCAR. I’ve never been to a live race, but I do often watch it on TV. I find the telecast of NASCAR intriguing. The sport is a fantastic marketing machine. No sport televises as well. Not even close.
I’m up-to-date enough to know that Toyota has been on a roll this season winning 14 of 21 races. I know the Chevy teams have been complaining that they want the “new” engine so they can be competitive. I don’t profess to understand why Chevy didn’t give it to them. But I really don’t understand NASCAR’s latest move to ratchet down the horsepower of the Toyotas.
In a game where pushing to be your best and do your best seems the goal - it seems odd to penalize a team (any team) for performing better than the others! Rather than have the other (non-Toyota) teams dig it out and elevate their game to compete, NASCAR decided to put a harness on the Toyota teams so the poorer performing teams would have a fighting chance.
It’d be like the NFL taking draft picks away from the top 4 teams in each conference so the other teams could better compete. I don’t get it. But then again, I don’t have an eagle on the hood of my Trans Am.
“Capitalism without failure is like Christianity without hell,” said Warren Buffett at yesterday’s annual press conference with partner Charlie Munger. This news conference took place one day after the annual report for Berkshire Hathaway was released. Buffett was referring to his belief that not all financial institutions are worth saving. Some deserve failure based on their past and current practices.
At 77 Buffett is as quotable, and blunt, as ever. I suspect he’ll become even more so given his age, and the current state of Wall Street.
Speaking of the sub-prime fiasco - and other idiotic acts of the banking industry - Mr. Buffett said, “You’ve got a lot of leeway in running a bank to not tell the truth for quite a while.”
Among the more humorous interchanges are this one, as reported by The Financial Post. The topic was the succession plan at Berkshire Hathaway.
Charlie Munger, Mr. Buffett’s business partner who is seven years his elder, humourously added to the applause of the audience: “We still have a rising young man here named Warren Buffett, and I think we must encourage this rising young man to reach his full potential.”
Mr. Buffett joked that because he and Mr. Munger average 80 years of age (Buffett is currently 77 and Munger is 84), they are getting only 1.25% older per year, while a 50-year old executive is getting 2% older each year. That means Berkshire’s top executives are ageing more slowly than the top executives at nearly every other company.
A few weeks ago I read an article that listed some of the salaries of the Dallas Mavericks. As I’ve confessed before, I’m not an NBA guy. So, the numbers were shocking to me. I knew the elite NBA guys made enormous money, but I had no idea that no-name guys were making such fortunes. I’m naive.
Next season here’s a short list of salaries of some Dallas Mavericks:
Jason Kidd - in excess of $21 million Dirk Nowitzki - in excess of $18 million (if I’m Dirk, I’m unhappy Josh Howard - almost $10 million (that’ll buy lots of pot and birthday parties) Erik Dampier - almost $10 million Jason Terry - over $9 million Eddie Jones - $2 million Didier Ilunga-Mbenga - almost $2 million
Today, sports talk radio is buzzing about the firing of coach Avery Johnson and the idiocy of Josh Howard. Rightfully so, after the New Orleans Hornets shamed the Mavericks into an early off-season golf tournament. But that’s not my point. Money is my point.
Did you know that the Dallas Mavericks paid Shawn Bradley $5.2 million this season? He was waived by the Mavericks in October 2005.
He’s got to have the best job in America. $5.2 million for doing absolutely nothing. He’s a player who was never worth the money. But when you’re 7 feet tall and able to walk upright - NBA teams pay you big money. I’m just a foot too short.
Steve Ott is the Dallas Stars player in the picture above (#29 with his mouth agape). Stu Barnes is the other player. Stu makes $900,000 a year. Both are well worth the money. Today, Ott (nicknamed, “Otter”) signed a 2-year deal that will pay him $1.35 million next year and $1.5 million the following year. Chump change compared to NBA contracts, but still good money. And he’ll earn every penny of it by being a player who makes a positive difference for his team, the Dallas Stars. If anything, Steve Ott’s money is unreasonably low - but only slightly. He’s only 25. His next contract will likely be higher if his career continues to advance as it has.
Brad Richards is the highest paid Star earning $7.8 million each year. Goalie Marty Turco makes $5.7 million a year. Mike Modano and Brenden Morrow each earn over $4 million a year. Goes to show you how vast the difference is between NBA contracts and NHL contracts. Kids, if you have a choice between hockey and basketball - play basketball. It pays much better. And you don’t have to know how to ice skate.
These contracts seem ridiculous - and they are. An ABC News story reports on what people earn. An actress who plays a detective on TV earns $7 million. A real detective in Georgia earns $40,000 annually. The average American earns about $37,000 according to the story.
I love sports. I love the NHL. So, I think Steve Ott, Stu Barnes and most of the other players are well-worth the money. Brad Richards has proven to be a great addition to the Stars, but no - I don’t think he’s worth the money. He is the fortunate recepient of a big contract that goes with being the MVP of the playoffs a few years ago when his team - the Tampa Bay Lightning - won the Stanley Cup. He’s still a young guy, but he’s smart enough to know that his next contract won’t likely be as large.
For years I’ve long thought the back-up quarterback on an NFL team has the best paying gig in all of sports. His body doesn’t take a beating. He earns a big contract - assuming he’s in the #2 spot directly behind the starter. And his career can last, and last, and last. But, he’s worth it because his team needs the insurance of having a capable person direct the team if the starter should be injured or unable to play.
Professional athletes aren’t paid unreasonable money only because they can do something most others can’t. They’re paid unreasonable money because people will pay to be entertained. And they’ll pay big money to have their $37,000 a year life entertained. The professional athlete - and other entertainers - can earn big, unreasonable amounts of money because their are millions of $37,000 a year people (and some who earn much more) willing to support their team, sport, TV show, movie, concert, recordings, or whatever other diversion they provide.
Jerry Lewis was once funny. Stupid, but funny. I’ve seen many of the Lewis and Martin classics. I confess that I’ve never seen this movie, “It’s Only Money.” Here’s a recap of the movie:
Lester March (Jerry) is a 25 year old orphan who operates a radio and television repair shop. Although he prides himself in his work, his heart is really in pursuit of becoming a private eye like his buddy and role model, Pete Flint (Jesse White). In the course of becoming a detective and television repair man, Lester is discovered to be the heir to a fortune. Suddenly Lester is the hunted, as the family fortune is up for grabs. Sight gags galore in the attempts on Lester’s life, and the happy ending as Lester and his bride drive off into the sunset.
Here’s a scene that I found posted on YouTube.
Okay. So it’s probably not terribly funny. Few people find money funny. Even fewer find losing money funny. Especially their own.
I’ve lost my share of money. Sometimes I’ve misplaced it. That’s bad. Worse is losing it by being stupid. It makes you feel like you’ve been kicked in the crotch. That’s how Jerry looks in this photo. I’ve experienced this pose before. Not often, but enough to be ashamed of my foolishness.
It’s only money. You’ll earn more. Hopefully. Even so some lessons in life are expensive. I admit that I’ve trusted people before - only to realize I’ve been duped. I’m not talking about a professional con. I’m talking about a legitimate person with a legitimate enterprise where an investment goes south. It happens.
This economy is not being kind to many of us. People are lamenting the results of their 401K. Stock portfolios look like those cliff divers in Acapulco. Real estate prices are falling. Gas prices are soaring. Economic life sucks. But it’s only money.
Some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned have been expensive. Maybe that’s why they were valuable. They cost me so much! Or maybe that’s why I remember them. I don’t know.
I do know that I’m a cynic. And growing more so by the day. As a young man I remember a teacher telling me I was too young be to so cynical. She was an idiot. I never did trust her.
Today I realize I’ve not been nearly cynical enough. Years of losing various sums to people I trusted have taught me that my teacher was all wet. I wasn’t quite cynical enough. Then, or now.
Trust should never be given. It should be earned. Then tested 3 times (minimum). Then and only then should it be considered. Not given. Just considered. And tested 3 more times - over the course of at least 5 years total. Then, the scope of trust should be no higher than $100. That’s right. Six tests. Five years. One hundred dollars. It’s fair. It’s safe. Remember that equation:
6 tests + 5 years = $100 max.
After all, it’s only money. I’m learning valuable lessons. Earn your money. Invest it as wisely as possible. Never invest it with a friend, or an acquaintance. Never. If you lose your $100 investment after the 5 year testing period - realize that for $100 you got a 5 year education in how not to be foolish. Invest more - and you’ll learn the same lesson. It’ll just cost you more money. As for the loss of time - you’re really not losing anything. It’s not like your working on a slave ship for 5 years. You’re just waiting it out. What you’ll have to battle is the thought that you’re missing out by not investing. It’s a bad thought process that will cost you nothing, but time and money.
You’ll make more money by the things you refuse than the things you accept. Always. Book it. I’m right. I’ve got the tread marks on my back to prove I’m right.
Here’s just a sampling of idiotic things that have cost me money and provided little or no return. This list is not comprehensive. I lack the web space to fully capture my stupidity. However, this list represents a vast sum of money, that if invested in something that would garner a safe, conservative 6-8% annual return - would have earned me about $30,000,000 today.
- Hot rodding a car when I was a teenager (countless thousands)
- Stereo gear (a weakness I’ve long had)
- Books (way too many books)
- Music (what good is the stereo if you have no books)
- Software (countless pieces of software, including ridiculous numbers of updates - to software I bought, but barely use; gotta keep it updated, you know)
- Anything that goes in my garage (anything, including my car)
- Clothes (one suit, two dress shirts, three ties, one pair of dress shoes, two pair of jeans, 5 casual shirts and one pair of athletic shoes - it’s all I need; but I have more because I’m such a clothes horse)
- Toys (I have an awesome $100 laser pointer - I stand outside at night and blind airline pilots with it)
Some investments (it’s really an expense) are worthy of a stiff prison sentence. I should probably be in a prison for life for the stupid things I’ve purchased. And the stupid investments I’ve made.
I’m older now - and slightly wiser. So now my objective is to invest less time and money in foolishness. After all the mistakes I’ve made, I should be well on my way to incredible wisdom having learned too often the hard way. My advice is simple: keep your hands on your wallet and do not invest what you cannot afford to lose.
Better said, don’t invest it if losing it will make you want to commit a crime against the person you gave it to (that includes yourself). Think about it. It’s only money. Prison isn’t worth it. Prevent the crime before it happens.
For the past 6 years or more I’ve sat in on a variety of conferences and seminars where one topic seems to rise to the top - “how do we take full advantage of the Internet?”
Jerry Lewis was once funny. Stupid, but funny. I’ve seen many of the Lewis and Martin classics. I confess that I’ve never seen this movie, “It’s Only Money.” Here’s a recap of the movie:
I’ve lost my share of money. Sometimes I’ve misplaced it. That’s bad. Worse is losing it by being stupid. It makes you feel like you’ve been kicked in the crotch. That’s how Jerry looks in this photo. I’ve experienced this pose before. Not often, but enough to be ashamed of my foolishness.
