Everyone has an off day. Kobe Bryant misses the shot. Clayton Kershaw gives up a game winning home run. Even Johnny Carson had a monologue go flat once in awhile. You prepare, you rehearse, you plan and still it just doesn’t work. But some people keep on trying. And that’s where you find success. A few years ago, Nike ran a commercial featuring Michael Jordan, who was shown shooting baskets and voicing: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 … [Read more...]
THE 15 GUIDELINES (#4): DON’T TRY – REALLY BE CLEVER
March 18, 2013 by 1 Comment
A near miss can be exciting for you, but deadly dull for everyone else. Almost is one of the saddest words in the English language – not quite, just a little short. In the creation of content, don’t just try to be clever – be clever. As Yoda admonished young Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back, “Do or do not…there is no try.” We’re in the midst of a series of 15 critical marketing tips for Internet and direct marketers. And #4 is Be Clever. When you write, whether for a … [Read more...]
THE 15 GUIDELINES (#2): TALK TO ME LIKE AN EQUAL
March 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Do you want to do business with idiots? You know, the ones on TV who scream that they are such bad business people that they ordered too many cars, forgot to pay their rent or just have too much stuff, so they are willing to let you get the deal of the century. “Please come do business with me” the ads scream, “because I need you to save me from my stupidity.” Really? It’s the lifetime value of a customer that is important to a successful business, so build a lifetime customer … [Read more...]
THE POST PC ERA
March 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Are you a PC-osarurus? The question lead off the USA Today’s business section, citing data that mobile device shipments have dwarfed traditional PCs. Even ignoring the smartphone, Canalys reports 2012 tablet shipments worldwide of 113.5M units, compared to only 36.6M PCs. And to channel that old favorite of the Who Goin’ Mobile, about 80% of the PCs that shipped were laptops. So what does it mean to you? Well, assuming you are not a part of the private equity takeout of Dell, really … [Read more...]
The Coming US EU Consumer Privacy War
March 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Want to be in the middle of the worst trade war with the EU in modern times? You just might be whether you want to or not. The Obama Administration and the EU are in discussions to update their respective Consumer Privacy Guidelines, and while there is great alignment at the top level, there are significant disagreements on the details. In 2010 the Obama Administration published a “consumer privacy data framework” that address six basic consumer rights – individual control, transparency, … [Read more...]
TUNING OUR BRAINS BACK TO STEREO
February 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In college, I worked at the campus radio station. During my junior year, we blew out the FM stereo transponder of the transmitter, causing all of our music programming to come our sounding flat and monotone. Weeks later when the equipment was repaired, we celebrated the return to high quality stereo. Imagine the richness that can come with switching our brains back to stereo. This three post series is a little different than typical Daily Conversions content. Typically, we look at ways to … [Read more...]
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