Archive - December, 2009

What Matters Now

December 18, 2009 in Books, Business, Career & Work, E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Social Media, Success, Technology with 4 Comments

Looking for some direction in 2010?whatmatter2

Seth Godin has compiled a free eBook titled “What Matters Now” with a collection of ideas from over 70 “big thinkers” about the world in 2010.

You can download the eBook free directly by clicking the button below. WhatMatters

Here are a few of my favourite ideas, thoughts or quotes from the book.

Seth Godin – This year, you’ll certainly find that the more you give the more you get.

Chris Meyer writes about the evolution of capitalism but does so by comparing business to Darwin’s finches of the Galapagos Islands. Darwin observed that the finch’s beaks would evolve and change shape to match the form of the flowers which provided their food.

Chris suggests that businesses will need to evolve as capitalism changes in our new economy. Chris suggests that the game is changing and businesses in  developed countries will need evolve their beaks and learn the new rules of the game.

Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell’s story on “Bacon Salt” and how it’s our job to find the “one percenters.” The 1% of people deep in the trenches of a niche who become the roots of word of mouth marketing.  Many are looking for the masses right out of the gate. Focus on finding the one percent first and allow them to get the roots buried deep into the soil.

William Taylor suggests that in the past businesses found a feeling of comfort by staying in the middle of the road and today the middle of the road is the most unsafe place to be. Where is your business?

John Wood – “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos.com) – Everything Tony learned about business he learned from Poker. Here’s an example: The guy who never loses a hand is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.

Guy Kawasaki on Evangelism. Guy’s message is usually pretty consistent. He is constantly hammering home what it takes to be successful. You think he’s trying to tell us something?

Dave Balter on “Dumb”

For example,

  • Putting a college Yearbook online was considered dumb..
  • Limiting small micro updates on the web to 140 characters was considered dumb.

“Recognize that your dumb idea may be tomorrow’s huge breakthrough.”

I remember when the iPod was first announced. It was considered “dumb.” Why would anyone want to carry all their music on a digital pocket device?

Look at the hilarious comments (especially the last one) left on CNET”s very first article about the iPod being introduced

“Naw …. wont take off”
“This will be the last thing from Apple ever, they’ll never be successful with this.”
“apple is going to go bankrupt with this new mp3 player thing. mp3s are going to be obsolete within the next couple years anyway”
“This is crazy. Next thing we know Apple will move all the Macs to Intel processors”

WOW. In case you don’t get why the last one is the funniest it’s because just a few years later Apple did switch to using the PC’s Intel Processor.

Gary Vaynerchuk and the “Thank You Economy.”

Gary is  right on the money and I’ve seen it in action. Two years ago if you made a video, posted an online petition and tweeted about Frito Lays not delivering enough Fritos to your restaurant, nobody cared.

Today, Frito’s headquarters calls you up and takes care of the situation personally. It’s an amazing world and the tools are here. How are you using them?

My father-in-law over at Quoteflections has done three awesome posts of his favorite quotes from the book. Check them out as well. #1 , #2 , #3

~Noah

“How much is this?” It’s free. “What about this?” Free. “And this?” Still free.

December 7, 2009 in Business with 6 Comments

This weekend my wife and I, along with some of our close friends, traveled to the USA for our annual Christmas shopping trip at the Somerset Collection Mall.  The mall itself is a grand collection of upscale and luxury shops that can easily put a large dent in your wallet.

The mall has both a north and south side but don’t worry, you don’t actually need to walk from one side to the other; instead you take the “skywalk” which is nice, to be perfectly honest. It allows you to put your bags down for a minute and catch your breath in the midst of the shopping chaos.

You’d think when you visit a mall like this you’d top off the weekend by spending a night or two at a luxury hotel with lavish heavenly beds and exquisite dining opportunities.

You’d think that….

But we end up staying somewhere else each year.

We ended up staying at the Drury Inn & Suites in Troy, Michigan. The hotel sits alongside the I-75 Freeway and looks like your typical budget hotel/motel. Driving by, you’d think it looks ok, but that you would probably want to spend a few extra bucks to stay somewhere a bit “nicer looking.”

But here’s the thing. The Drury in Troy rocks. Not only do they hold the #1 ranking spot on Trip advisor for Troy but they also beat other hotels at  two, three or four times the cost! Screen shot 2009-12-07 at 3.00.23 PM

They do a few things right and it got me thinking.

I should add that this wasn’t our first time staying at the Drury. We’ve stayed there five years in a row now so this experience wasn’t a fluke.

I like to think of it as the “little hotel that could.”

I’m not sure how other Drury hotels compare to this one. I did a quick look on Trip Advisor and found that some don’t fare as well in the reviews. I believe the Troy, Michigan Drury has a solid system in place and it’s working for them.

Firstly,  check-in is a breeze. It’s quick and efficient and the energetic front-desk staff treat you pleasantly.

Next, you’re treated to an onslaught of freebies so intense that it almost becomes the running joke by the end of  the night.

Screen shot 2009-12-07 at 2.59.32 PM

For example:

  • Free Calls – 1 hour of free long-distance phone calls and 15 minutes of free calls  to Canada. (It’s a great time to call your mom in Saskatoon.)
  • Free Net- The hotel is wired for free wi-fi or wired Internet access in your room. You choose. (Most hotels I’ve been to charge anywhere from $24-30 per day for Internet Access)
  • Free Booze - Three free alcoholic beverages. Yes, three. Is this the secret formula? :-)
  • Free Food – Happy Hour snacks – Friday night includes nachos & cheese, salsa, hot dogs & chilli
  • Free Work Tools – Business Center. Fax machines, computers, printers… all free of charge..
  • Free Food, again. – Hot breakfast in the morning. Eggs, waffles, sausage, biscuits, juice and coffee, absolutely free.
  • Free Parking

Screen shot 2009-12-07 at 2.59.25 PM

Now you do need to realize that the food isn’t gourmet but it’s decent quality, and the hotel is clean, has friendly service and is a great experience.

Here’s what I took away from this.

The Drury is doing more than just giving away free stuff. They are turning your stay  into an experience. From checking in to enjoying your drinks in  buzzing & vibrant lobby, they instantly create the experience of a great pre-pre-party to start your night. It’s a little cheesy but it’s fun and when you’re with friends it’s a total blast.

The Drury is monitoring their brand within the social media. Check them out on Twitter…. not just constantly tweeting out deals but actively responding to their customers and conversing with them.

There are always going to be people who will pay more to stay somewhere else simply because it looks nicer and costs more money but the perception of cost equaling  a “better experience” or a “cheaper so it must be worse” mentality isn’t always the case.

If you’re the smaller, grungier, cheaper competitor in your field, it doesn’t mean you always need to be second best or seen as the second-rate cheaper alternative.

Be like the Drury in Troy. Do a few small things better than everyone else consistently you’ll eventually beat the big dogs.

P.S. You’re probably wondering how much this all cost us… $59.99

Speaking of Seth Godin…

December 2, 2009 in Books, Entrepreneurship with 3 Comments

Yesterday I mentioned Seth Godin. Today I saw  Seth tweeted out that he’s offering 3000 people the chance to get an advanced copy of his new book for *free ($30 donation to charity required)

Check out the details on his blog.linchpin

Looks like another great book and a great opportunity to snag a copy a few weeks early.

Jump!

Social Media, Skynet & The Terminator

December 2, 2009 in Internet Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Technology with 0 Comments

This is an excellent presentation by Tara Hunt. Tara provides some solid advice and thinking in regards to the ways we use social media both personally and within our businesses.

I couldn’t stop thinking of the Terminator films when I viewed the presentation hence the title of this post! :-)

Tara writes:

“The presentation I gave at nextMEDIA in Toronto today. Basic premise, let’s put human stuff first when using the ‘new’ media (and in every case, in fact). Stuff like personality, quality, relationships and taking the time to invest in the people you follow/follow you is really important for being able to raise that crucial social capital that helps us achieve our goals at the end of the day (job, growing our business, changing the world, raising money, etc).”

Some of my best friends are robots

View more documents from Tara Hunt.

Seth Godin & Pop Marketing

December 1, 2009 in Books, Business with 3 Comments

Back in August my Wife’s Uncle Ed gave me a copy of Seth Godin’s book  “The Purple Cow ~ Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable” as a gift.

Ed told me that he found the book at a used bookstore and he remembered once that I had blogged about Seth so he thought it was a fitting gift, and it was. I’m sure at one point I had a copy of the book but I couldn’t find it so it was nice to see it back on my bookshelf.

Side Note: Ed was visiting local second-hand shops because he had “accidentally” thrown away ALL of his wife’s cookbooks!! :-) I was flattered that during his time in the dog house he thought of me.

This morning I was spending some time thinking about stuff and I just happened to grab the book and take a look at the inside cover.

Ed had left me a little note inside… “Pop Marketing, But enjoy.”

In a sense I get how Ed could have viewed it that way. The book at quick glance looks like a collection of short stories about the brands we all know about and the things they did to achieve success…Trendy, Pop-Type Stuff… i.e. Starbucks photo(2)

But as I skimmed through the book I began to quickly see why I’ve always enjoyed Seth’s work.

Seth has a certain way of saying things, but always follows up by giving you his outlook,  and then asking us to look and think about what was said and how we can apply it to our own situations.

Let’s face it, traditional marketing books, training, and  professional marketing educations” focus on the good old textbook taught 4 Ps of marketing.

I even once had a potential client in my office questioning my qualifications and my ability to grow his business. He did so by asking me if I knew the 4 Ps of marketing,  assuming that if I did know the 4 Ps I was clearly qualified to be given his money.

Seth says the new P is the Purple Cow.

But here’s the thing I realized about Ed’s comments. It does look a little like Pop Marketing, I get it. But the underlying message is the same. If you want to achieve success you need to take massive action and if you want to achieve above average results, you need be a purple cow.

I mean, I’ve read through so many business books over the past few years and in the end they are really all saying the exact same thing.

Yet we continue to need more books and more of a push towards the same message being  told in a different way.

The Personal Development niche is the same….Know your outcome, take massive action, don’t stop until you get the desired result.

Being a purple cow means taking massive action and being willing to fail, fail again, and fail again after that. But being a purple cow also means doing things differently than everyone else… kinda like stepping outside your comfort zone!

Here are three things from Seth to apply to your business today:

  • Don’t Be Boring
  • Safe is Risky
  • Very Good is Bad

Ta-da!