- America is drowning in processed sugar and flour, Jason speaks the truth, notice the power of marketing in step 4.
- The world’s greatest marketing podcast is going to take over your brain, resistance is futile. Lots of good stuff on email marketing
- All that too much to take? Look at my soothing Flickr Photos
Category: Daily Life
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Tales from the Chasm
Mad Marv sent me a link to this post discussing Crossing the Chasm. I’ve talked about the Chasm in many podcasts, the soundbite is that there’s a gap between the adoption of technology by geeks from adoption by the rest of the world.
I’ve found the Chasm to be very helpful because it bundles a lot of concepts such as targeting niches, creating an error-free user experience (ok, reasonably error free), and usability, that can help grow a business.
Here’s a big idea from the post:
The problem is that compared to a few years ago, the speed with which new technologies are coming to the market has increased dramatically. All these technologies are aimed at the early adopters. And they love it and they try it. But the question is what happens when your early adopters run off to play with a new great thing before you have a chance to take your technology mainstream?
For example, some people who used to blog regularly, blog less now because they discovered Twittering (microblogging). Or, early adopters who have discovered Second Life might not have as much time to spend on MySpace anymore.
And from the conclusion:
Early adopters are enticed by new things much more often today than 15 years ago. Expanding on how to retain the early adopters would be good thing to do in the next edition
Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of patience reading analysis that becomes more academic than practical. It’s interesting how the comments go from bubblegum pop (Blue Ocean and The Tipping Point), to academic textbooks (Castells).
Here’s my cranky old man assessments:
- If the early adopters run off it’s time to put the office furniture up on Craig’s list. You’re done.
- Don’t confuse social apps like MySpace with useful technologies, buzz and crowds are different from products that are sold to customers.
- You get your customers one at a time, this is a mindset you need to use to balance your plans for bridging the Chasm if you want to continue to make payroll.
- In my experience the VP of Sales gets the axe before Marketing, but your mileage may vary.
I’m off to record Marketing Over Coffee now. Marv, thanks for getting my brain warmed up!
Doug tagged me for BlogDay, so here goes:
First, the rules established by Jeff:
1. List five Blogs that you find interesting and if you can tell, include the city/country where they are from.
2. Identify five Bloggers to tag to join in this game with you. I recommend emailing the bloggers you tag to give them a heads up of you tagging them.
3. Use the tag: BlogDay2007 in your blog post.
4. (Optionally): Contact the owners of the blogs you shared as your “blogs to take a look at.â€
A Lotta People Don’t Know That – This guy blogs about the idiot in the cube next to him
Retro-Remixes – 80’s tunes you can’t find
Mike Champion – My arch enemy, I am forced to track his every move
All Eyes on Jenny – With Sex and the City no longer on HBO, at least there’s something good to read, and it’s even real.
DS Fanboy – Nerd Alert.
The reading lists I want to see (I tag you) – Dr. Penn, Mike, Jenny, Barbara, and Clarence
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Where can I get a fake eyeball?
I’m back from another busy weekend. We were out in Western Mass and I’ll have some photos up on Flickr by tomorrow night.
If you want to get the story behind the fake eyeball and some other interesting and funny stuff, check out the latest M Show, which I must admit is a good one this week.
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Whole Brain
No, that’s not where organic food zombies shop, but it is another half baked theory I have. While trying to find good Marketeers I’ve found an interview question that I like: Marketeers tend to fall into two camps: artistic or analytic. Which one are you?
The truth is you need both to be a great Marketeer, but the pendulum has swung hard to the analytical side in the past 10 years. Tomorrow on Marketing Over Coffee I’ll see if I can get some other traits of great Marketeers out of Mr. Penn.
In less serious news you can check out the Flickr photos of my vacation.
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Once upon returning home
Just hanging out at DTW getting ready to catch a flight home. We’ve been delayed 1 hour but given the stories I heard about delays over the weekend it sounds like we are not that bad off. The latest M Show is up with some live reports from the trip to Torch Lake. I think it’s better than last year but I still haven’t been able to catch the lightining in a bottle that I found during CigarCast 1.
We had a great time and I’ll be posting some photographs up on Flickr so you can see the lake. More when I get back to business tomorrow.
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Happy 40th Madman
Today is Mike’s 40th Birthday (more about Chicago Mike) and his wife sent me a letter saying that she was throwing a virtual party and everyone was encouraged to call, email, etc. For some unholy reason Mike actually follows a lot of this crap I churn out. I’m sure it’s because of the wisdom and charm of my co-hosts, and perhaps fond memories of cranky people in Boston.
I met Mike when I came back to Boston around 1997 and joined the Boston Junior Chamber of Commerce. The Jaycees are a civic organization that develops leadership in 21-40 year old young professionals. Serving with Chairman Mike on the board of directors was an invaluable experience that I could not get anywhere else.
All the best to you old man and see you next time you are in Boston!
I’m off to the lake and coverage is a bit spotty so just a quick post from the road. Christopher Penn and I discussed some interesting techniques to give you some search engine and Technorati juice in the latest Marketing Over Coffee, the best marketing podcast coming out of dunkin donuts in Framingham.
I’ve got to check in with Hollywood Steve but it seems like the sneak preview is a great way to get a movie rolling. The key is to find the Mavens that will generate interest in the movie prior to the opening weekend, which seems to be all that matters these days. (Queue flashback music) I remember back in the days when theatres only showed one movie and it stayed around for months if it was good. Although I could get misty eyed over the “Lost Golden Age†I think it’s more like how people revere the early baseball players but all of them know, deep down inside, that a lot of those old drunks would get their asses kicked if they had to play in today’s supercharged steroid swilling, dog maiming leagues. (climbing down of cranky old man soapbox).
Carin and I were invited to a sneak preview of No Reservations, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and the girl from Little Miss Sunshine (the movie that made Carin laugh so hard she couldn’t breathe). No Reservations is a great date movie, and it even has a few moments that are above and beyond. I worked for a number of years in foodservice so I have a great appreciation for that environment. (Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential is a great read for more on that).
It was a packed house but we were lucky enough to get to sit with Clarence, who’s got a unique voice that is just fun to listen to, much like Julien Smith. Also in the house were C.C. Chapman, Steve Garfield, Doug Haslam, Kroosh, and a few others I can’t remember right now. I was a little bummed though, I had to get home to take care of the dog so we weren’t there early enough for drinks beforehand and we had to get home right afterwards so I could pack for vacation and the 5am alarm for Marketing Over Coffee (did I mention that’s the best marketing podcast?).
I rarely miss lunch. I’ve found that if I don’t get away from my desk for a break in the middle of the day I tend to get worthless around 3pm. Getting outside, walking around, breathing some different air and seeing a few different colors recharges both my mind and body. It’s also a great opportunity to talk to other people that I work with that are beyond the shouting range of my workspace.
On Friday I was driving over to Whole Foods to get some lunch (I know, I’m a lucky man to have that kind of food selection a short distance away, I can go high protein low/no carb and never even get bored) and there was a funeral going on as I drove by. Traffic was stop-and-go and I was by the ceremony as the salute was fired.
Had I stayed at my desk I would have been wrapped up in work as usual, instead I returned with a bit more perspective on what’s important and how fortunate I am to be free to do my work thanks to those who put their lives on the line for our way of life.
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Dark and Stormy
I was out in LA a few months back and Hollywood Steve hooked me up with a great summer drink – the Dark and Stormy. You get the spiciest Ginger Beer you can find and add a shot of Dark Rum and a wedge of lime.
The only problem is, like many drinks I have while out and about, I’ve had trouble recreating it. I first tried Reed’s Ginger Beer and that didn’t cut it. I also tried The Ginger People and that was much better. I have yet to try Barritt’s which, along with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum®, is supposed to be the official thing. I submitted a question via their website about where to buy their product in the states and got a message back from Bruce Barritt, that impressed me a lot.
So, drinking aside, I also finished the Harry Potter book and posted the latest M Show for the faithful listeners. Now back to work.