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I love software. I love tweaking, critiquing, and creating software. I like client applications, but I really enjoy web applications. Recently I realized that I am spending a good amount of time commenting upon and providing feedback too application developers/sites via email and it seemed to me, that my insights and 20 plus years of technology, strategy, and B2B experience might be valuable on this blog. Marketing is fun for me, but what I enjoy most is technology and “strategy.

So, I am going to make a slight shift in the content here. I will still provide marketing information, tips, and ideas that I think businesses of all sizes will find useful, but I am also going to start providing revies of applications, strategies, etc. for software that I give a try.

Hopefully the developers will find it useful and those of you visiting will too.

The review will focus upon usability, enhancements, needed features, target markets, etc. It will hopefully be of interest to developers, product management/marketing types, venture capitalists, and founders of web 2.0 companies.

My first two will be reposts of emails I’ve shared with some folks that have a cool CRM and productivity applications.

There are so many good things that come out of Marketing Experiments and I am never disappointed when I return to read, listen, and watch. This lesson is no exception. Read the blog post, but then listen to the seminar.

Clarity trumps persuasion — and lifts conversions

The principle: Clarity trumps persuasion.

Sounds simple, right? Maybe even too elementary? Perhaps you’re thinking, “My CEO and six-figure marketing budget don’t need catchy maxims. Give me something I can use.”

Don’t be fooled. There’s a powerful idea hiding in those three little words. But it’s easy to miss because we’ve been trained to persuade. To sell the sizzle, not the steak.

We try to entice prospects into our sales funnels with peppy copy, splashy offers and incentives that don’t cost too much. Meanwhile, behind the curtain of our clever creative, we’re not concerned about connecting with people. We’re chasing sales numbers and revenue goals. So we ignore the fact that our prospects hate being pitched and sold to — just like us, when we’re in their shoes.

As I started to write this post I thought I better check out the Motley Fool web site and see what is going on there and if there is still value in visiting. Sure enough, the site is still chock full of useful and free information. That was surprising to me, because I hadn’t bothered to visit their site in ages.

I don’t begrudge anyone changing their business model and making more money and evidently their strategy is working, but of late the only communications I’ve gotten from the Fools, is hard sell, hard come on, long sales letters schlock.(below is a screen shot of page 2 of 16 pages of emai):

The Secret Behind
Oil’s Hidden Millionaires

Yes, I know, those long cheesy read all the way to the end and you will buy sales letters work, but that doesn’t have to make me like them. Every email I’ve gotten from them in the last 2 years has been these over the top you will be wealhty, act now before you die broke emails selling me some report that’s worth $23,000, but I can have it for $595and look how much you’ll make, etc etc. Sigh… whaat happened to the Motley Fools that just wanted to help me? Sales of their books weren’t enough? Anyway, its their business, but its also their brand and right now I put them in the same leagues as late night infomercials, ginzu knives, and used car salesmen. Whatever works for them is fine with me. Go schlock your money to the bank. but its just not the way I want my brand. Their web site is chock full of value, but I don’t bother to visit anymore, because I have a bad taste for who they’ve become.

I am writing a book on Prospect Value Marketing and this is a perfect example of losing the value of the brand, because you stopped providing value with every communication to me.

Good luck and best wishes to the Fools, but I’m just not foolish enough anymore.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is hugely important these days, but most small businesses are fairly clueless about how to make their sites look as good as possible to the spiders of the web. An extremely cheap (actually, free) way to see if your site is up to snuff is to go to HubSpot’s websitegrader.com, which gives out useful and detailed information about your site’s SEO juice.

Great insights in this piece from Pete.  I feel so far away from these folks, but at the same time it seems like only yesterday….

I can definitely relate to that strange cat John in HBO’s new series “John From Cincinnati” when he mutters, “There are some things I know, and some things I don’t.”

This is reinforced every summer when an intern (usually from Cincinnati) arrives at my desk. I get that anxious, insecure feeling that I’m not moving fast enough, not digesting enough technology, and beginning to drift toward Planet Irrelevance.

Chandler From Cincinnati…and His Insights

Here’s what the little punk has taught me so far:

• Google rocks and scares at the same time. Like so many others, Chandler seems tortured over Google. “Google keeps coming out with extremely useful tools but is walking a very fine line between evolutionary corporation and Big Brother,” he says.

• Facebook trumps MySpace. As far as Chandler’s concerned, “the end is near” for MySpace. Not sure I entirely agree, but here’s his rationale: “The cluttered, spam-filled, and teenager-controlled world of MySpace has been unable to keep up with the nonexclusive version of Facebook, which also has a cleaner interface and controlled ads (no pop-ups!), is organized around real-world communities, and most recently has shown an active ability to continue evolving with its launch of an integrated third-party development platform.” As he sees it, Facebook has successfully built on MySpace’s early foundations to take social networking to the next credible level.
• Friends are social currency. Friends, Chandler insists, are your social currency and the key to your reputation.
• Reputation is earned, never assumed. True online street cred must be earned, says Chandler. “If it happened yesterday and you post it, you’re a little behind the curve. If it happened a week ago and you post it, you’ll lose your readers and be run off the Internet,” he says.
• Simple packaging really matters. College kids seek order, not clutter. “Where do folks find time to do all this stuff?” Web 2.0, at its core, is an organizing principle.
• Your life is your résumé. In the Internet dominated world, Chandler insists your résumé’s always in play, even when you don’t know it. 
• A fine conversational bloom must be groomed. “Always keep the conversation well-managed and fluid,” says Chandler, “and don’t kill the bloom.”

Ten Great Marketing Insights From My Summer Intern

This is yet another model of rewarding customers for watching ads, but for some reason videos make it easier if they are good. I am not so excited about the magazine subscription, but the rewards can be improved.  

Do you feel the value? If the ads are creative enough you will watch the videos and look at the products. I just did with a Kleenex ad. I never like these concepts, but maybe this one will work for a phase. Then again, you never know and I was compelled to at least check it out.  

The San Francisco-based start-up AdPerk has begun its service with Dwell magazine.

Visitors to the Dwell home page are provided with a subscription offer. Those who watch a few videos get free magazines.

Marketers connect with targeted audiences.   On this new platform, ads and other content are “pulled” by the registered users.  Viewing ads are by choice and viewing them offers a rewards. 

Advertisers in the launch include Duxiana, LG Electronics, Delta Faucet Company, Disney Mobile and Kleenex.  Here’s the company’s news announcment.

This could be an important way for marketers to get their ads watched by folks who want them.  It could be good way for content creators to generate revenue. 

Here’s the take on this by New York Times reporter Louise Story.

Get Rewards for Watching Ads | AlwaysOn