Thanks to Gene Hunt for permission to use this Photo.
I finally took the time to read a book that I’ve been interested in checking out for awhile. It’s called The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris and its’ innovative perspectives on how almost anyone can create an entrepreneurial lifestyle for themselves is definitely worth reading. Instead of summarizing the contents of the book here, I’ve included this podcast interview with Ferris conducted by Yaro Starak of Entrepreneur’s Journey.
I think all of our students will be motivated by Mr. Ferris’s very pragmatic ideas on how you can break free from “the system” and pursue your own business endeavors with confidence. Please share your thoughts with your student community on the Ashworth Student Forum. I’ll talk to you again soon. Thanks…
I guess that being paid $10 million for the advertising campaign and appearing with the chairman Bill Gates might be the sole reason why Seinfeld is joining forces with Microsoft, but maybe not. It might not be the money, and certainly not the fame (even though Seinfeld might be less famous now than 10 years ago). I believe that his reason might be all related to creativity and the opportunity a huge advertising campaign brings. Seinfeld is a comedian, and he is a creative person. He is one of the best people in the business, and now he has the chance to work with some of the best people in marketing. The advertising campaign will most likely be really cool, and people will be talking about it for months.
But what is he going to promote?
My first thought was that he can’t be hired to promote something like “start using Microsoft Windows”, because way too many people are already using it. But according to Washington Post, that’s exactly what he’ll be doing, and it’s all because of Apple.
The next question is how?
The first thing that comes to my mind, is the “Get a Mac” ads. But hopefully they will do something completely different, because trying to do the same thing, that would be just plain stupid. The funny thing is, if you look at most of the Seinfeld episodes, you’ll see a Mac on his desk in the corner. Maybe that’s what they’ll be focusing on in the advertising campaign, that Seinfeld finally switched from his old Mac to a PC, and started using Microsoft Vista?
My tips to a creative and cool campaign would go with Truth or dare, Jerry Seinfeld vs Bill Gates. (more…)
Dare to be different. A look at why advertising professionals should consider standing out from the competition, not copying them. To make your advertising work, follow the principle if your competition is doing it, don’t. To succeed in today’s crowded marketplace where most of the products and advertising look exactly the same, a small business owner must stand out, shouting above the din with a message so clear and compelling that prospects stop and take notice. It’s a matter of business survival. Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs quickly retreat to the supposed security of sameness, soon to be lost in a sea of anonymity and a tidal wave of frustration.
In effect, albeit at a subconscious level, they are saying , “I don’t want to be different”. In back room offices and store fronts everywhere, salespeople are telling business owners they should do this or that kind of ad because it worked so great for their competitor. The owners nod and sign on. It’s already proven to be a winner, right? WRONG! Change the name, background color and a font style and you’ve got sameness. Put those ads in the yellow pages, a coupon magazine or a TV commercial cluster and you’ve got advertising death. Want proof? Get the latest statistics on small business failures.
About the author: Brian Grinonneau is the general manager of McMann and Tate advertising, an agency that works with small business owners helping them stand out from the crowd.
I am really not that interested in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Well, don’t get me wrong. I am very interested in traffic from search engines, but I have not been studying SEO at all. I know a few things, but that’s about all. The reason why I have not studying Search Engine Optimization is that I have thought that it’s too time consuming and a very difficult task. And if I am going to be good at SEO I would have to work really hard at it, something I don’t have the time to do at the moment.… but when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, I have a few things that I am aware of.
I try to be strategic about them and I believe that they are very important and not that hard to understand.One problem regarding SEO is that search engines are always trying to change, they are very dynamic, and they are always trying to “catch” cheaters. To be among the best, you need to keep reading, keeping studying, because you never know when a new update at Google, Yahoo, MSN or AOL will come. Now, to me, Search Engine Optimization is all about getting my site on the first few choices of a search engine result page, as a result of the keywords punched in. And of course, the keywords should be relevant to my content.
I am writing about Internet marketing and stuff related to that topic. It wouldn’t be that great for me to get to the top at Google for the keyword Opera singer. Well, I would probably get a lot of traffic, but my visitors from that keyword would probably be interested in reading more about Opera singers than Internet marketing. So, they would be at my site for 1 minute or less, and probably never come back. Search Engines are a great way to get targeted traffic, and that’s the kind of traffic I really want. But it’s not that easy.
A few years ago, it looked like all you needed to do was write the same keyword over and over again in the meta tags. If you did that enough times, you would get ranked in the top 10 (it wasn’t really that easy.. but to me it looked that way). Search engines do not go through each and every site carefully and then put them up on the web. You might think that, but they don’t. They have algorithms which are programmed to rank pages according to the text relevance. If you have a flawed design or irrelevant coding then your site might appear for a totally different keyword or would appear at the bottom of the result page.
There are four things that are important to me when it comes to Search Engine Optimization: (more…)
The “blogosphere” represents an interactive social media environment that continues to grow in scale and influence every day. With thousands of new blogs flooding the internet every month, all competing for attention and exposure, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the entrepreneurial-minded blogger to get noticed. Well, there’s no secret formula to attain blogging fame, but there are effective methods you can apply to reach your intended audience at a higher rate of success. The following video features Guy Kawasaki. Mr. Kawasaki is a world renowned marketer and venture capitalist, who has also somewhat suprisingly become known as one of the most prolific and read bloggers on the Internet. He offers a fascinating glimpse into his use of RSS feeds and discusses his blogging “philosophy” in this very informative video. Whether you’re an active blogger or not, I think you’ll be motivated by Guy Kawasaki’s perspective on this medium. I’ll be dropping in again soon with some additional insights for you to consider. Until then, stay focused on your studies. You’re doing a great job.
Whether you are an entrepreneur with small business aspirations or a sales professional chasing a management promotion, it’s imperative for you to understand how “web 2.0″ technologies are radically transforming the business landscape. In contrast to many of the highly specialized web tools of the past, which required the average user to possess advanced IT skills/knowledge, the user-friendly tools gaining mainstream appeal today are empowering both the individual and the organization. The following podcast directly addresses the sales organization and its’ management of what’s described as a “sales 2.0 funnel.” You may not be familiar with the interviewee, Stu Schmidt, but you may have heard of WebEx, an innovative communications company that provides various remote meeting/video conferencing applications to businesses. I think you’ll find this interview quite insightful. After listening to this podcast, share what you identify as some implications of the funnel for tomorrow’s sales forces.
Thanks to Thomas for permission to use this Photo.
I have been surfing a few traffic exchanges for some time now, even though it’s been a while since I have been active, I have thought about an interesting feature that I would like to see.
A Traffic Exchange is a great way to drive free traffic to your websites. A standard traffic exchange is a way to show people your advertisements. The more advertisements you see, the more people will see your advertisements. Usually, you get points for viewing other advertisements, and you use the points to get other people to view your advertisements. You can show people a splash page, banners or text links. Usually, this is all there is to it. The traffic exchanges I recommend using are also the ones I am using:
I am always (well, it’s been a while) testing new traffic exchanges, the list of traffic exchanges I recommend might be different in a few months from now, but at the moment I am suring the five above. Now, to the feature I would like to see.
I have been told that you should never use a general splash page at traffic exchanges, this is because a lot of people are using them. And the more people who are using the same splash pages, the more people will have seen yours, and the less likely it will be that they click on yours. To me, that sounds reasonable. (more…)
I’ve met two types of entrepreneurs. There are those who have always known that they wanted to start a company, but they just needed to find the right idea, and then there are the people who stumble upon an idea compelling enough to convince them to start a business. I happen to fall in the latter group.
Based on my experience, one type of entrepreneur is not preferable or superior to the other. Chances for success are much more dependent upon the quality of the idea, a little bit of luck, and a lot of spot-on execution.
A good business idea (or a bad one) can come from anywhere: the classifieds sections of magazines like Entrepreneur, trends in industry-related or mainstream news, or the recognition of some “pain” in your day-to-day life, whether it’s at your job, at play, or at home. Many pains have a remedy (that you can monetize) if you’re resourceful and creative enough. In mid-2006, a couple of months after graduating with my MBA, I needed to buy a gift for my then-roommate for his birthday. He was (and is) a DJ, and I wanted to get him something really cool that he’d appreciate and enjoy… but I didn’t know the first thing about DJs or the stuff that they use.
Web sites like Amazon and Epinions weren’t much of a help. They’re very useful when you know what you’re buying, but all I knew was for whom (an amateur DJ) I was looking to buy. Since I do everything online, I wanted a Web site that would help me find a great gift for someone with a particular interest or hobby.
And that’s how a pain in my everyday life sprouted an idea. Through my frustrations as an average online consumer, I had identified a genuine market need which I thought I could address.
Things Change
I’d argue that there’s no bad source of ideas, just bad ideas. For instance, if the market you’re considering is saturated with competitors, and your idea isn’t significantly differentiated, then you probably have a not-great idea on your hands. But that’s not necessarily a sign to give up; it’s a cue to ask yourself whether another, better idea can address the pain you’re trying to solve. (more…)
Thanks to anyjazz65 for permission to use this Photo.
I wrote yesterday that today was the day for my very first Facebook marketing campaign, and that was the plan until I couldn’t find the time to actually do it. Now, I am telling you that tomorrow will be the day.
I did something else today, something related to the marketing campaign and something very important. In fact it’s so important that I need to tell you to start with this before you start with any Internet marketing campaign, this is not only related to Facebook.
Do you have any idea what I am talking about? I am talking about statistics and spending time to set up tracking for your marketing campaign. I am all set for tomorrow, and I am using Google Analytics and their campaign tracking. They use something called link tagging which is a way to identify your marketing campaigns.
I am not going to use a lot of words explaining how to install Google Analytics, I am not going to write about how to use Google Analytics in general or how to integrate Google Analytics with Wordpress, but I am going to tell you a few things regarding the most important things to remember when you are tracking a marketing campaign.First, you need to know the basics. There are five elements that you need to understand in a Google Analytics link, you don’t need to use all the five elements, but I think that you need to know about them. (more…)
Steve Iser has been online since he was 9 years old. Now he’s 21 and makes money using social media sites like MySpace and Facebook marketing tools to promote products.
I called Steve up to do an interview after I finished reading and listening to his Ready.Aim.Wired information product, which teaches how to use social marketing sites to drive leads, build a list and make sales. The book is solid and presents a system that I can actually see working in MySpace because it uses the same language and “model of interaction” as Steve calls it, to establish relationships.
Just like with email marketing or any form of online marketing, you have to build relationships in order to get a positive result and if you are using sites like MySpace to do so, then you have to use the same language and community behavior. Ready.Aim.Wired is a great introduction to how to execute this concept based on what Steve has done in the past. In the call I wanted Steve to break things done for us because I still didn’t quite understand how his methods work. Steve explained things really well in this interview, so I expect after listening you will have a solid grasp of what it takes to successfully market using social networking sites. (more…)
Subscribe to Feed
