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Wobo Library Updated, and added: Lucent Whites. *Wobo is just a word I made up to call those businesses who aren’t honest with the customers. Wobo Name(s):
The Bottom Line: Be prepared to pay $88.98 for one month supply of the product.
December 2nd, 2009 |
Hard workers don’t always win, not anymore. In this day and age, businesses who can figure out ways to deliver the least expensive products/services to customers in the shortest amount time, with the best customer service, wins. That’s the reason why newspapers are failing: they can’t beat free, take an extremely long time to publish (by online standards), and basically offer no customer service. Just because you are working hard, it doesn’t mean that your customers should care or be willing to pay you, not when there are far superior choices available. December 1st, 2009 |
Whatever message that you are trying to convey with your marketing campaign, you are probably hoping that it would somehow catch your audiences’ attention. And if you repeat the process enough times, you are hoping that people would then spread the words on your campaign and eventually remember and choose your brand at the time of their purchase. I believe you should aim higher though — above everything else, you should seek to be missed by your audience, as that is the true mark of a great brand. Example? If Apple announces that they would stop making new products today, millions of Apple fans would be crushed. So next time you decide to launch a product or run a marketing campaign, perhaps you should have this question in the back of your mind: Will it help me to be missed by my customers? November 30th, 2009 |
If you are, don’t change a thing. Otherwise, first figure out what makes you happy, then change. Waiting around just ain’t gonna cut it. November 29th, 2009 |
If you own a little shop in a big mall, and for some reason, the mall directory keep sending random people to your store, would you ask the people who make the directory to pay you? Of course not! You should pay them, or at the very least, thank them. It wouldn’t make any difference even if 90% of the traffic are unqualified buyers for your products, would it? So can someone please explain to me why Rupert Murdoch insists on getting paid by Google for sending traffic to his website? November 28th, 2009 |
all the great people in my life: my family, friends, and YOU! November 26th, 2009 |
Wobo Library Updated, and added: Official IQ Quiz. *Wobo is just a word I made up to call those businesses who aren’t honest with the customers. Wobo Name(s):
The Bottom Line: Be ready to pay a monthly fee of $19.99 on your cell phone bill.
November 25th, 2009 |
The world is rarely ready for your world-changing ideas. Not at first anyway. You should be alarmed if everyone tells you that your idea is “fail-safe”. That generally translates into nothing more than average. Courage and self-discipline, why don’t we teach them (more) in school? Is math really that important anymore when I can do this online? Things have gone from bad to worse for newspapers. I feel overwhelmed from following only 100+ people on Twitter. How to people keep up with 100,000+ followings? Thanksgiving is just 2 days away. Be thankful! November 24th, 2009 |
According to MarketingVox.com, this marks the 14th straight quarter of total revenue declines for the newspaper industry, while online revenue has fallen for six quarters straight. Online newspaper advertising revenue dropped by 17% in Q309, while total newspaper revenue shows a 28% decline. Classifieds plunged 64.7%, while real estate and auto both saw 43% declines. All in all, things are not looking very pleasant for the newspaper industry. Of course, they are still searching for the answer to transform business models to position themselves as top players in a “multiplatform media universe”. The thing to pay attention in this case, though, is that when the whole industry is in such bad shape, it probably means that your past proven methods are no longer working. Obviously, you are not being beaten by your direct competitors. So the first thing that you should aim for is to identify your true competitors. Secondly, you should realize whatever improvements or modifications that you are looking to make on your past proven methods will probably fail you. Instead, it is time for you to completely blowup your current business model and start a brand new one. Think invent, rather than re-invent. Sometimes it’s inevitable for the once highly touted technologies to fade. The question is, how would your business/industry deal with the painful road of the continuous revenue decline which appears to be both hopeless and endless? November 23rd, 2009 |
Picture from Hugh’s blog @gapingvoid.com.  What People Say November 21st, 2009 |
rarely happen when everyone agrees with you. November 20th, 2009 |
Michael Jackson might be worth more dead than alive. The King of Pop — arguably the most influential figure in Pop music history — who lived a life full of amazing accomplishments and controversies, is worth more dead, than alive. What a sad statement to make. Relatives, friends, and anyone and everyone who had the slightest relationship with him are popping up everywhere, trying to claim to their piece of the pie, all after the death of the pop star. The irony here, of course, is that had they shown this kind of interest and care 2 years ago, their share of the pie would’ve been a lot bigger. It’s a shame that we sometimes let death be the only sign of us losing something precious. Go ahead, start today, treat someone as if they have just died. Don’t be afraid to show that you care. My bet is that it’s much more fun to visit their houses instead of their funerals. November 19th, 2009 |
Wobo Library Updated, and added: Max Acai Extreme. *Wobo is just a word I made up to call those businesses who aren’t honest with the customers. Wobo Name(s):
The Bottom Line: Be Prepared to pay at least $79.62 for one month supply of the product.
November 18th, 2009 |
Is it time for an online driver’s license? Now before you get all sensitive about your privacy, take a minute and think about this: we don’t have any problems handing out credit cards at gas stations, business cards at trade shows, or drivers licenses at motels, all to complete strangers who if they wanted, could use the information to their benefit. What makes disclosing our information online so different? No, I don’t mean that every website should have access to our private information, and I understand perfectly that one of the most unique aspects of the Web is its anonymity. But for anyone who wants to run online businesses, review products, or provide local services, doesn’t it makes sense to ensure their customers that at the very least, it’s a real person behind all the operations? It isn’t all that difficult. All we need is a reputable and trustworthy organization to collect and verify all of our “sensitive” personal data, and assign an unique id to us — just like a driver’s license. The infrastructures are already pretty much in place. Gmail addresses, Facebook usernames, and MSN Messenger ids could all be used as identifications. What’s missing, of course, is just the final verification and authentication process. November 17th, 2009 |
Sorry for the bad news. As a marketer or a brand, you automatically fall into the untrustworthy category. It’s not your fault. It’s the end result of numerous (online) scams that have been trying to take advantages of consumers for many many years. Today, when consumers hear something that seems too good to be true, their first reactions usually are, “it’s probably just another scam.” Trust has to be earned. It takes years to overcome years of misbehavior by your peers. You need to keep delivering on your promises for as long as it takes to earn back the trust which has been lost. Don’t expect shortcuts. If you don’t see the success you’d like to see, it doesn’t always mean that your are not on the right track. Instead, it could very well be because you haven’t sustained your efforts long enough. Quitting while you have a better alternative is not the same as simply giving up. November 16th, 2009 |
Here is an interesting video from Jason Calacanis on “how to kill Google”. Basically, he is suggesting that the top 10 publishers in the United States should all team up and sell the right to index their content exclusively to the highest bidding searching engines. If Google refuses to join the bidding war, then there is chance for them to lose a major chunk of its users to other search engines who are willing to pay — much like what Rupert Murdoch is planning to do with News Corp. Realistically, this probably won’t happen. I, for one, am going to be furious if it did happen: Why should we, the consumers, lose our right to choose among search engines, just so that some greedy rich media companies who simply can’t figure out the Internet could get paid? November 14th, 2009 |
Don’t let anyone tell you what the future holds — it usually does nothing more than limiting your creativity and imagination. November 13th, 2009 |
When something doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Along with millions of others, I have heard the “airline safety announcement” countless times. And I think I can safely say that none of us actually pays attention to what it says. Sure, sometimes the announcer makes it funny, but you hear it, laugh about it, and then forget about it completely. So instead of repeating is obviously ineffective process over and over again, why not try something different? For example, offer to have a passenger do the announcement, and whoever can complete the entire announcement gets a free ticket for their next trip. It takes courage to admit that what you have always done might not be working well anymore. Alas, not many businesses/people are capable of doing that. November 12th, 2009 |
Wobo Library Updated, and added: Sparkle White. *Wobo is just a word I made up to call those businesses who aren’t honest with the customers. Wobo Name(s):
The Bottom Line: Be prepared to pay at least $92.37 for one month usage of the product.
November 11th, 2009 |
Most of us would agree that the second time Michael Jordan came out of his retirement was probably a mistake. Not that it has tarnished his legacy — it didn’t — but it also didn’t add any value to it, which means that he could’ve done something different that would, in fact, help building his legacy. As an organization, I think it’s important to know when to stop. Too often, I see people or businesses get caught in a downward spiral in which everyday, they seem to be stepping farther away from their initial goals — all because they didn’t make the decision, before they started, on when to stop. For me, the minute that I define when I stop doing something is also the moment that my goals are clearly set for me. It’s simple really: we can’t figure out the right directions, without first knowing our destinations. November 10th, 2009 |
This is probably a little out there, but nevertheless, somewhere someone ought to give it a try. I have heard numerous times that Wikipedia is somewhat a miracle. It’s just hard to imagine that in such a short period of time, a few people (roughly 5,000) is able to build something so powerful and beneficial to the entire population on this planet. When you give up control and simply provide a platform for your customers, one of two things usually happens: total chaos or in Wikipedia’s case, with just a few simple rules and minimal moderation, something absolutely amazing. Have you ever thought about letting your customers design your website, your product or your company? Hand over control and eliminate boundaries. Maybe what you fear is precisely what you need the most. November 9th, 2009 |
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