Danny Starr

Why Taylor Swift and Her Team are Brilliant at PR

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:23:00 +0000

I read this story on Perez Hilton's site today about Taylor Swift doing a marathon 14 hour meet and greet with her fans. I really think the video is something to be seen:

I couldn't help but think that this was an absolutely brilliant PR move. Here's why:

1) I doesn't come off as a PR stunt: Everyone is there to meet Taylor Swift and she is there to meet her fans but if you really think about it, it is a PR event.

2) It was interactive: More than just a star sitting at a table, she stood and talked to her fans and even more important, they got to talk to her. They also got to see costumes and sets from her tour.

3) It was personal: she took the time to connect with everyone as best she could on a personal level. She signed almost everything imaginable and seemed genuinely interested to be there. It seems like she was supposed to only be there for 13 hours but at the end of the video she says she was actually there 14.5 hours.

4) Earned media: I am sure that fans are going to put pictures on Flickr, upload videos on Youtube, talk about it like crazy and share their experience anyway they can. I'm sure the dollar value of that media would in the millions of dollars.

I have often said that companies should always keep their eyes and ears open to what they can learn from other people/companies/industries and I think this is an perfect example of something that could be used by even the smallest of companies.

It's about about being a real person, going the extra mile and giving people something that is interactive and unique.

Doesn't that sound like fun?

The Wonderful World of Microgreens

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:02:00 +0000

Having recently re-connected with an old friend from my days at Mount Allison University, I decided to make the trip to see his microgreen farm over in Gatineau.

Here is a detailed description of what microgreens are, but the short version is that they are small plants that are harvested when they are small. They are edible and are often used as garnishes for dishes in restaurants and decorations at events.

My friend, Dawson Kelln, owns and operates Butterfly Sky Farms. Originally, he had one farm up in Sarsfield but he recently purchased his biggest competitor over in Gatineau and when I visited him yesterday, he was busy relocating his old operation into the larger one in Gatineau.

Here's a great article that describes Dawson story and his business in more detail. That's him on the left. If you want to talk to him, his number is 613-797-1377.

I grew in Ottawa, just steps form the Civic Hospital so my knowledge of growing and farming techniques is quite limited. Regardless, I was rather impressed with the simple technology that is used in this operation. Everything is grown using a fairly simple hydroponics system, enclosed in rather large greenhouse structure.

Right now, the operation is fairly small and the only employees are Dawson, his partner and a student they have on-board to work on some new systems. Dawson has plans to kick-start some major marketing activities in the near future and I'm sure we'll see him on the social media platforms soon enough.

Here's a few more pictures:

Review-O-Rama!

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:13:00 +0000

I'm back from vacation and had a great week up the at the cottage despite the fact that there were about four of five semi-disasters but that's a story for another time.

I have lots of great posts swirling around in my head but I'd like to take the time to talk about a few things I have read/listened to/experienced recently.

Seth Godin's book "Linchpin": Read this book ASAP. Then, give it to as many people you can and then make anyone who is older than 16 read it. Why? Because in the world of today and the the future, the only way you are going to remain happy and employed is if you make art your job. How? Art is causing change for the better, connecting with an audience and giving gifts. Do this and become indispensable but watch out for the resistance which comes in the form of a lizard brain in your head that tries to keep you safe and things around you that tell you to stop and fit in. Much of what is in this book was floating around me for years but reading it written so clearly was like having a grenade go off inside my head. I am going to do some posts inspired by my experience of reading this book really soon.

Image via Wikipedia

Apple's iPad: Finally got a chance to spend some time in the Apple store yesterday and played around with an iPad. My initial thoughts: really interesting device but because I am used to my iPhone, I felt it was a bit difficult to type on and I thought the home button was to far to the middle for me to read when I hold in portrait mode. However, it will make you the coolest dude in the room if that's what you are after. Plus, the data plans kinda suck here in Canada and the Telus one is a joke ($25 for 500mb and $0.10/mb over that).

Movies you should watch: We had some dicey weather a few times over the time I was away so we took some time to dive into some movies. Here's two I watched that I recommend you see:

Wall Street: Gets better the more times I watch it. Michael Douglas paints a masterpiece as Gordon Gecko. Also interesting to watch to see what technology was all the rage in those days. Motorola Star-tac mobile phone anyone?
The Book of Eli: The world as we know it has been destroyed in a nuclear war and one man is charged with bringing an important book on an important journey. Gee, sounds like a tagline for an ad doesn't it?

Glad to be back, have a bunch of interesting things that I am working on. Finished working at Roam Mobility but am actually busier than ever!

Vacation reading list

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:31:00 +0000

I'm going to my cottage today for a week with my family and friends. I haven't really had a true vacation in a while so I'm looking forward to it.

Picked up a few books at the library and I have about a month's worth of The Economist to catch up on.

The first book is Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. I have been looking forward to reading this one for a while.

The second book is Linchpin by Seth Godin. I am equally excited to read this one. I have read most of his other books, love his blog and find that he writes really well (because he likes to be short and to the point).

Our Telecommunications Industry is Hurting Us

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:06:00 +0000

To be clear: I am not a huge fan of the Canadian wireless industry. Our service providers treat customers poorly, knowing that we aren't going to get better service elsewhere. When it comes to price, we pay high prices and there isn't much difference between carriers.

Recently, I starting thinking about how our high prices and terrible service was going to affect our ability to compete in the global wireless industry. Specifically, I was wondering how this would affect our ability to innovate in the space of mobile applications.

Then I read this interesting article from the CBC about a recent wireless industry study. Some of the highlights are:

-Our earnings percentage at 46.7% was the highest of 21 developed nations studied. Average was 38.3.

-Our carriers have the highest average revenue per user in the study (ARPU) at $54.73. Average ARPU for developed nations was $42.90.

-Canada was last among developed nations in wireless penetration.

-Data represented only 23.9% of the monthly bill versus average in developed world of 31.8%. You might think this means we have lower rates but the study also found that while carriers have lower per minute revenues, they have higher charges for additional features, which includes data, and this is what contributed to our higher ARPU.

-We posted the third highest minutes of use, but that seems to be because we are one of only a few countries that still charges for incoming calls.

Reviewing this information, I can't help but wonder if we could say that cost is a big reason more Canadian's don't have wireless phones. There doesn't appear to be any data in the study on this but I don't think it would be a stretch. I also wonder if high prices are keeping our data usage to a minimum.

I worry about what the effect of all of this will be on Canada's wireless industry. We used to be highly regarded in the wireless infrastructure business but as the gap between us and the rest of the world in terms of usage increases, I would suggest that it will not help us lead the way in innovation.

More importantly, I wonder about how this will affect our ability to innovate on the application level. If mobile isn't part of our populations DNA, as it might be in places like Japan, then how can we be expected to lead the way in application development going forward? If our own citizens aren't consuming mobile data as part of their daily routines, then how are we to grow our industries related to data?

I supposed that one could argue that it doesn't matter where an application is developed because as long as it gets onto devices in the language required, it doesn't matter where it was developed. But I still can't help but feel that we are increasingly being left behind as the rest of the world charges into the wireless future.

Computers for Communities

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:17:00 +0000

I would like to tell you a bit about a new non-profit that I am really excited about being involved with. It is called Computer for Communities.

In order to understand what C4C does, I'm actually going to lift something about the organization from its own website:

We believe that no one should be left on the wrong side of the digital divide. We believe that through volunteering and skills development individuals will learn about computer technology and thus build the potential of their community. We believe that we can help build the bridge across the digital divide in our National Capital Region.

According to Statistics Canada (2006) Approximately 54,000 households in the National Capital region are without access to a computer. Over 67,000 households are not connected to the Internet. We believe that by offering people opportunities to develop skills and earn a themselves a computer we can narrow this gap.

There were a few things that caused me to gravitate towards this organization over others that I had been looking to volunteer my time with:

1) This is a small but growing organization that is in need of assistance

2) This organization supports open-source software and creative commons licensing of intellectual property.

3) Computers for communities gives volunteers (usually youth) a computer for each 24 hours of volunteer work they perform.

4) This organization has lots of room for growth and is at a stage right now that I believe will be critical to its future.

The reason that I am telling you about C4C is that I hope that it inspires you to learn more about the challenges in your community so that you can start focusing on solutions to those problems and being a part of the movement to provide those solutions.

Apple has a problem

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:34:00 +0000

Unless you've been living under a rock, you are probably aware of the fact that there is a lot of chatter out there about Apple's iPhone 4 antenna and how touching it will cause changes in reception. Now it's coming out that Jobs was warned by an engineer early on. If you're really interested in the issue, there was a great discussion of the topic on a recent This Week in Tech (TWiT).

The first thing I would like to say about this whole mess is that your business has a problem if your customers say that is a problem. What this means for brands/companies/people is that you don't get to decide if something is a problem or not. The longer you let the customer define the problems with your business without addressing them, the harder it is going to be to fix the damage to your brand later. Worse, these problems begin to be noticed by one of the most important groups of people out there: your prospects.

Apple seems to be reluctant to address this "issue" as a problem. Jobs even said that people are holding the phone wrong.

To be clear on how I feel about Apple: great products, bad attitude. I love my 3GS and am anxious to get an iPad and upgrade to and iPhone4 but Apple's attitude is ridiculous.

This is for sure to be one of the big crisis/issue management cases of 2010 and I'm having a blast watching it all unfold.

Sure, they are breaking all sorts of sales records with the product but what do you think all of the chatter is doing to the minds of potential iPhone customers?

Do what you say

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:37:00 +0000

Mitch Joel wrote a great blog post recently about why more brands don't market products that simply do what they are supposed to do. I liked it because it said so many things that I have been thinking about recently and so I commented on it.

In fact, it was such a good post that I was even thinking about it last night as I was walking down to Ottawa Bluesfest but in a broader context: what if weren't talking about brands, what if we were talking about people.

If we were forced by some magical law of physics to do everything we said we'd do, how much better of a place would the world be? If this magical law applied to everyone, then wouldn't that mean that every marketer would have to deliver on the promises they make on behalf of the brands they manage?

Personally, I think integrity is one of the most important qualities a person can have and I wonder why more people don't make this a priority for the brands they manage. I suppose that some of the reasons why people don't are:

They don't care because their job is only a paycheck anyways.
The company is not configured to provide integrity.
Even if they wanted to act with integrity.

This lead me to look up what integrity means and according to Wikipedia (which is a terrible source but I'll use it anyways) is

Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcomes.

Interesting. The entry goes on to say that in western culture, it has come to mean the opposite of hypocrisy and many of the other secondary meanings we have given it but my point here is that I think it is hard for people to act with integrity because we live in a world that changes and because of that, we are constantly changing.

I might agree to play in a tennis tournament today because I feel like playing tennis but as the weekend draws closer and I see that the weather is going to be really hot, I might change my mind. I might be nice to my customers today because I'm in a good mood but tomorrow I will be tired and cranky. I might think that I am marketing the greatest widget in the world but tomorrow I realize that it's no different than anything else out there.

In the end, I think that both people and the brands they manage need to understand that integrity is important. Much like trust, it takes a long time to build and only a short time to destroy. I have always said that you need to live your life in the way you want people to remember you when you're gone.

The real question then becomes, what do want written on your gravestone?

What you can learn from Tom Cruise about managing your brand

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:52:00 +0000

This post is dedicated to my good friend Jackson Wightman, blogger, retail entrepreneur, master of all things PR and known the world over for his lists posts.

It is also dedicated to my love of celebrity gossip, but that's something you can ask me about if we ever meet.

I came across this article about Tom Cruise's "comeback" in The Ottawa Citizen recently and couldn't help but think of a great list post about we could all learn from TC about managing a brand, whether it be your personal brand or your corporate brand.

Avoid Nepotism: Back in 2005, Tom fired his longtime publicist and hired his sister. His previous PR rep kept a firm grip on his image and wouldn't allow questions about his religious beliefs. The big lesson here is that you should always hire the right person for the job, because investing in people is the single most important investment you can make. Your employees are your brand and they represent you every single day.
Hire People Who Challenge You: As a follow-up to the point about nepotism, I also think that Tom Cruise didn't hire people who challenged him. I bet that he said to himself "I'd like to talk about my beliefs more" and hired somebody who was going to let him do exactly that - and look how it all turned out. If you're hiring people who simply nod and agree when you propose something then you're not getting any value out of having them around. Innovation is often the result of conflict and is the result of overcoming conflict. If you don't have anyone challenging you, then you're never going to innovate and move things forward.
It Doesn't Take Much: Tom Cruise's image was destroyed by a few key events but the most popular one was the jumping on the couch incident from Oprah. A lifetime of goodwill can vanish pretty quickly so it is important to remember that it really doesn't take much to ruin your brand. A few bad days or even one bad moment everything people perceive you to be is forever changed. If you're company doesn't have a social media policy then maybe it's time to think about drafting one. I am completely in favour of trusting and freeing employees to be who they are but as you can see from the issues with Tom Cruise... one jump and you're done.
You Gotta Know When to Shut It: Just like knowing when to fold'em, you have to know when to shut your mouth. This is an important skill and one that can be very difficult to learn (trust me) but knowing when to shut your mouth will save your behind time and time again. In Tom's case, he should have backed off getting involved in the private lives of other people (Brooke Shields).
Go to the Box, Feel Shame: This is a classic line from the hockey movie Slapshot, and it means that there will be times when you need to give yourself a timeout. In Tom's case, this was a two year break from the intense glare of the public spotlight. For corporate brands, this might not be possible and may require a re-branding exercise but I think that more and more, brands should be asking themselves if they need to take a break instead of constantly thinking that everything they do is magic.

Tom Cruise is still a fantastic actor who makes entertaining movies. I have also heard that he is a genuinely nice guy but I think the the rough path he has taken in the last few years is paved with lessons for all of us. The question is whether or not we both to listen to them...

Book Review: The Sales Bible by Jeffery Gitomer

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:33:00 +0000

For the past few months, I have been looking for a good book on sales. After listening to a podcast recently that had Jeffrey Gitomer on it, I realized that he had written what I believed would be the perfect book for me - The Sales Bible.

Sales is as much about personal motivation as it is about tactical sales knowledge and this book does a great job of helping you understand this and, more importantly, assessing whether or not you should even be in sales in the first place.

It's obvious from the first page that this book is written by a true salesman. It reads "I just made a sale!".

Gitomer writes using highly impactful (sales-y) language and doesn't go on and on about particular ideal. He tells you why it is important, shares some stories then lists some steps or ideas that you can use. Topics range from motivation to techniques. You learn how to meet people and generate leads and then how to turn those leads into sales. Cold calling is covered in great detail, as is the sales presentation.

In the end, I think this book really has a broader audience than just salespeople... I think it is a book for EVERYONE. I believe this because at some point, everyone will have to sell the most important thing in the world.. themselves. So there are many applications for the material in the book and I highly recommend you pick it up ASAP.

Book Review: Buy-ology

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:38:00 +0000

For months I had been waiting to read "Buy-ology", a book by Martin Lindstrom about the science behind consumer behavior. I first heard about the book on Duct Tape Marketing's podcast, but had to wait for it to be delivered to my library branch before I could check it out.

Martin Lindstrom is a well respected branding expert. The book is an exploration of what Lindstrom and his researchers learn when they use brain scanning technology to test consumers' reactions to marketing messages... so it's not hard to see how this book is interesting...

What Lindstrom finds is rather shocking. We learn that most of the traditional anti-smoking ads are ineffective because they actually trigger cigarette cravings in the brains of smokers. We also learn what I suspect most marketers have always had a hunch about, that consumers buy products for different reasons than they say. For example, a consumer might say they purchased a product because it had all the features they were looking for when in reality, they bought the product because they thought it would make them cool. I won't spoil all of the great nuggets in this book for you, but trust me, you'll have a hard time putting it down.

The book is very well written. Each chapter flows into the next and the research questions are laid out like a mystery that the reader is working through with Lindstrom as he receives the results for each of the studies that are conducted. It was for this reason that I found myself reading upwards of 50 to 75 pages each time I would pick it up.

Worth a read for anyone interested in what REALLY happens when we shop. You can learn more about the book and Martin Lindstrom on his site.

What "Made To Stick" taught me about speaking to high school students...

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:49:00 +0000

A few months ago, I volunteered to speak at my former high school, Ashbury College, about e-marketing and e-business.

It was a career day activity that involved grade 10 students where they signed up for sessions to hear about careers they might be interested in. I was paired with Omar Sheikh, the CEO of eBargainBuddies. We were told that we'd have 30 minutes total with three separate groups of students. Omar and I spoke on the phone in advance and planned out our presentation. We made a PowerPoint slide deck and decided that he's start the presentation with a top 5 reasons why you should get into e-marketing and e-business, tell them about himself and then he's throw to me and I would introduce myself and give a breakdown of e-marketing. Omar would then finish up with 5 minutes on social media, eBargainBuddies and some advice and we'd come in at 20 minutes with 10 mins left for questions.

I have to say that I think Omar and I did a really good job of preparing. We made an interesting deck, switched up who was talking and did our best to make our presentation as lively and interesting as possible. We recommended they do something they are passionate about, get started as soon as they want and try to have as much fun as possible doing it. I used Perez Hilton as an example in some of the things that I was talking about in an attempt to make it more relevant to them. In the end, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

A short while after the presentation, I started reading Chip and Dan Heath's "Made To Stick" and I kept thinking back to the presentation and how I could have applied what I was reading to that presentation.

I won't go into detail, because I think everyone should read the book, but it says that ideas stick when they display any number of the following characteristics:

Simplicity
Unexpectedness
Concreteness
Credibility
Emotional
Stories

As I read the book I kept thinking back to the presentation and wondering what I might have done differently.

Here's a few:

Unexpectedness - Although we did a top 5 reasons to get into emarketing/ebusiness slide at the start, I would have done something much more unexpected and shared a piece of trivia that asked them to answer a question or something fun where the answer was completely unexpected. I could have been something interesting about Facebook or something else that might have grabbed a bit harder at the start of the presentation.

Concreteness: Here I should have used the story of Perez Hilton to illustrate what and how somebody could go about getting to emarketing and ebusiness instead of just using it as an example in a few places. I think that the Perez Hilton story really interesting and I think it shows how an average person can transform a simple blog into a multi-million dollar business. Actually, emarketing/ebusiness is loaded with stories just like that of Perez and I could have picked any number of stories to use this idea of concreteness.

Credibility: I believe that this is an important concept for any idea but when dealing with teenagers, I think credibility is key. I learned this from many years of coaching tennis/skiing but I also learned it the say of the presentation when I told them I was their gym teacher's brother in law (instant credibility). In this area, I could have shared some quotes from prominent figures about ebusiness/emarketing that might have helped them understand the ideas and concepts we were talking about (making more concrete) were in fact real and achievable by almost anyone with a little hard work.

What you can learn from Lisa Lavie...

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Youtube is celebrating its 5 year anniversary this week. I remember pretty clearly when I first saw Youtube back in early 2006. Back then it was just a collection of silly videos people were doing for attention and while in some ways, not much has changed, it has been interesting to see it grow into the second most mentioned brand on Twitter and earning upwards of 2 billion views a day.

Perhaps later this week, I'll post some of my favorite clips but for now, I'd like to share what you can learn from Lisa Lavie, the Youtube singing sensation who's story is featured as part of Youtube's 5th.

1) Don't wait to start: Lisa started her career with nothing but her cashier savings. In today's world, there is no point waiting for somebody to tell you that you can do something. Get out there and do it.

2) Connect: Lisa takes the time to respond to everyone who posts comments. It's not some automated robot like those people who have auto-replies answering follow messages in Twitter, it's actually Lisa that does that work. People respond to people, not machines.

3) Give back: What did Lisa do with her network of fans and peers? She organized them to raise money for the earthquake victims in Haiti. More and more the idea of giving back is starting to be the primary, if not secondary reason why people use social platforms like Youtube. Use what you have to give back.

All of a Sudden, It's All About Privacy

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:59:00 +0000

My feelings towards Facebook are fairly well documented and quite widely known. And as much as I would love to see it go down the drain, I have to admit that I am growing more skeptical that it is ever going to go the way of Myspace.

One of the reasons I have always felt the way I feel towards Facebook is their handling of privacy. Which unless you've been living under a rock, has been the big subject this week. Because I love his blog, I'll point you to George Parker's (warning, language) summary here. I should also mention that some of my favorite podcasts had AMAZING discussions on the matter that are well worth a listen if you'd like to hear some highly informed and well thought out discussion on the issues. Here is the best one I listened to this week. Take the time and listen for SURE.

Privacy on Facebook tends not to be a huge issue for me personally because I have always been careful with my privacy settings. I don't share many of my albums, I have my profile fairly well locked down (my gf complains about this often) and I generally review my settings often to make sure they are the way I want them. I am also fairly vocal to my friends about Facebook privacy and like to remind them to review their settings.

The summary of my position at this point is this: I think Facebook's approach to privacy (catering to the lower common denominator) is dangerous and wrong but the average person doesn't know enough or even care enough to leave the platform. This means that while everyone will grumble, it will in the long run blow over.

At the same time, I think Facebook has stepped into a hornet's nest and it better be careful how it walks in the future. If the management is smart, they will take this as a wake up call.

The reason I say this is that until very recently, much of the chatter was kept inside "tech" circles and didn't really get heard by the general population that made up the bulk of Facebook users but I think that this is about to change.

Supposed transcripts of chats make for great stories and it is only a matter of time before the issue of Facebook's maverick approach to privacy is something that everyone knows about. Even more importantly, it may soon be something the people that are NOT on Facebook hear about and something causes those on Facebook to leave.

The world we live in is changing. Our lives are becoming increasingly shared and digital and for the longest amount of time, people's expectations of privacy had not caught up.

If you ask me, the winds of change are blowing and the only question now is where everyone will end up.

UPDATE: Here's a story from the BBC about Facebook calling an all-employees meeting on the issue.... so maybe they are listening.

My Thoughts on Starting Out in Sales...

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:41:00 +0000

I'd like to share some thoughts on sales for those people who are considering or starting to make the jump into sales. Sales can be extremely challenging but also extremely rewarding. Here are some of my thoughts.
You Sell Everyday: Sales is all around us and we do it every day. We sell ourselves and our ideas on a continual basis and I think that anyone getting into sales should take some time and think about how they sell themselves and/or their ideas and what works for them in a natural setting. I learned that for me, it is important that I have a thorough understanding of what I'm selling because that breeds confidence in what I am talking about. I need to feel like I am authority on my product or service category so that I can engage prospects on many different types of conversations and ultimately help take it to my product or service.

Do Your Homework: I'll say it again - there has never been so much amazing information available for free. Do some research and find sites and podcasts about selling. I mention a few here. Listen to them and take what you feel will apply to your situation. You'd be surprised how quickly you can improve using information available for free.

Get Motivated: I believe that sales is as much about being motivated as anything else. There are lots of people out there who go to work everyday and can sit in a cubicle and avoid talking to people all day. In sales, you're not moving opportunities forward or closing deals in less you are talking to people and every time you do this, you have to bring your A game. I'd say a good 25% of the sales materials that I read are about attitude and motivation so if you haven't figured out what gets your heart pumping.... you better!

Develop a System: While every sales interaction is going to present something different, I think it is important to develop a system to how you sell. Everything from keeping track of leads to how you follow up should be made in a system that works for you. I'm sure that it is going to be different for everyone but make sure that your system is manageable and can scale as you get busier.

Get a Mentor: Personally, I don't have a mentor in sales at this moment, but this is one of the next things on my list. I have spoken to many a sales professional that tells me getting into a mentor relationship with a seasoned sales veteran will help you set goals and stick to them. It always helps to have somebody looking over your shoulder and giving you the encouragement you need to be successful.

What are some of your secrets to sales success?

Doing The Trade Show

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:48:00 +0000

Sorry that I haven't been posting too much lately, things have been busy at work. I should mention that I have still been thinking about some blog posts and there should be a few good ones on the way soon.

I spent a few days in Toronto last week at the LLHA show. I did some fundraising at an event on Friday and then painted floors at a cottage all weekend. LLHA stands for Luggage, Leather Goods, Handbags and Accessories. I was at the show to get a feel for the luggage industry, to meet current retail partners and of course, to meet some new ones.

The luggage business has been through a few years of declining sales. Some reports suggest sales in the luggage and travel accessories business is down between 20 and 30%, depending on the sub-category. Regardless, things appear to be picking up and by all accounts, this year's show was bigger than last year's show. There were more suppliers displaying product and more buyers there to make purchases.

There was a seminar that presented the current state of the accessories business with some good insight from an industry analyst and I summarized that on my company's blog.

A former colleague of mine has a good post about some things he learned at a recent trade show. Worth a read for sure but here are some of my thoughts on trade shows.

You Gotta Display: My company didn't have a booth because we didn't meet the criterial (we should for next year) but if you're going to be a trade show, and the people you want to talk to are the ones walking the aisles, then you should display. If you're there to meet with potential partners, and they are displaying then I think you can get away without having a booth. The reason I am saying this is that it can be really hard or close to impossible to find people on the floor. In my case, many of the people I wanted to talk to had appointments at booths for discuss orders so they didn't spend too much time walking the show floor.

It's All About Lunch: I ended up doing some good networking in the lunch area. People are relaxed and everyone is gathered in one area. Just be sure to be respectful of the fact that people are taking a break so don't take up to much of their time.

Keep Your Head on a Swivel: Trade shows are a complete attack on your senses and things will be happening all around you at all times. I recommend that you work hard to keep your head moving at all times because you never know when opportunities will come your way. I met potential partners in the elevators, lobby and in the shuttle on my way to and from the show each day. Business doesn't start and end on the show floor!

I was a great few days in Toronto (I used to live there) but I'm glad to be back in Ottawa. More posts coming this week so get ready...

What Every Marketer Needs To Do: Take Risks

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:34:00 +0000

The concept of risk taking in marketing is something that I believe every marketer must do. I came to this viewpoint after hearing over and over in various different things I have read/listened to. In marketing, there really is "death in the middle".

Most recently, the idea came up in Mitch Joel's podcast, Six Pixels of Separation in a discussion he has with Sally Hogshead around her book Fascinate. Long story short, the conversation boils down to the fact that in order to influence people and change behaviour, we need to fascinate them. In order to fascinate, there 7 triggers, which are explained a bit more in this Globe and Mail article.

For example, if you want to fascinate somebody you need to trigger lust. Not love, not like - lust. And like all of these triggers, they are not "middle of road" type emotions. They are extreme and they live on the outer edges of the human experience. As a marketer, you need to push to the edges in order to realize the gains of that trigger.

Seth Godin also talks about this concept often and it is one of the cornerstones of his new book, Linchpin. If you're going to inspire change in people and organizations, then you need to stick your neck out and take a chance. You need to push the envelope.

This is exactly what makes marketing fun. This is why I believe people get into marketing in the first place. You can do all the research you want, you can segment the market as carefully as you want but in the end, you need to stick your neck out and push for the edges.

The idea also came up again in a Duct Tape Marketing podcast I listened to back in December. The podcast is a discussion with Martin Lindstrom who wrote "Buy-ology" which looks at why we buy things. One of his findings: You need to slap people in the chin. Doesn't sound too safe to me! The idea there is that people need to be "slapped" in order to sit up and take notice of what you're offering.

It is important to say that I am not advocating for needless risk taking. And there is a distinction that needs to be made between pushing for the edges and p*ssing people off with your delivery. For example: Sending a message with strong imagery versus sending that same message over and over until the respondent opens the message and unsubscribes. There must be a distinction between tactic and delivery.

Here are some suggestions for how you can incorporate all of this into your marketing activity/process.

Check your pulse. Does what you're doing make your heart beat fast? If not, I suspect you're not pushing it enough.
Ask your co-workers. If everyone likes it and sees it the same way, then you're probably not going to cause a strong reaction among your audience.
Brainstorm. I suggest coming up with ideas and then ranking from 1 (safe) to 10 (risky) so that you can see and understand how you can ratchet things up a little bit.
Start Fresh. Scrap everything you have done before. Forget about it and see what new ideas or approaches you can come up with. If somebody suggests something similar to your old work, toss it out and keep going.

Brad Slyde at Mercury Lounge and Peace Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:53:00 +0000

My first foray into promoting house music in Ottawa is coming up on April 30th at the Mercury Lounge.

Going to be a great night of music and for a good cause. A portion of the proceeds are going to be given to Peace Voice, organization that assists in conflict resolution and the promotion of respect for the world, it's cultures, and inhabitants.

The DJ for the night will be Brad Slyde from Montreal. If you want to know more about him, visit his site Disco Break but I can guarantee that the music will be everything from disco to house and I am certainly looking forward to hearing what gives us but you can download his mixes here.

Tickets are $10, available at the door.

Is "Direct" going directly into the garbage?

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:10:00 +0000

I drove to Toronto and then onto Guelph this weekend for a friend's stag and doe. Normally, drives of that length would be insanely boring but I was able to download a bunch of archived shows of my favorite podcasts.

I tweeted about this episode of The Beancast (link directly to mp3 of it here) and I can't say enough about how much I really enjoyed the discussion. It really spoke to something I was thinking about back in the fall and something that came up recently in a job interview.

I was interviewing at a software company for job that was going to be very much focused on direct marketing, particularly email marketing, which something I have a strong background in. The interviewer asked me what "levers" I believe that I can pull as a marketer. My answer centered around segmentation, offer, presentation, pricing and the like. He countered that he liked to think of it as audience times response. So if you need more sales, just get a larger audience or increase the response rate.

I replied saying that I felt that it was too simple to look at things that way because you're forgetting that not everyone is going to respond directly to the promotion. Essentially, you are forgetting about the entire marketing ecosystem that exists out there, which is something that if you're using analytics, you can actually see. For example, I worked at a company and we noticed that email marketing campaigns led to increases in search volume... meaning, email recipients would receive the email and then to a search engine to find the company or search for products. I suspect in some cases, they might have been looking for deals elsewhere (hence why you need to have your channel strategy well planned out in advance folks).

And that's why I really enjoyed the discussion on that particular episode of the Beancast... the panel was talking about how marketers are all too quick to think about direct marketing something as simple as audience times response rates. I think these marketers are the same ones that often play really loose with permission levels. They say to themselves "hey, if somebody isn't an open or a click or a purchase, the message didn't register and I can hit them up again next week". This is the type of attitude that I think is all to pervasive in marketing and one that I believe gives the field a bad name.

Worse, who wants to work at a firm that likes to market itself in this manner?

In the strangest of places if you look at it right.

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:34:00 +0000

I went to my first Marketing in Ottawa Meetup today. The group is organized on Meetup.com and is made up of people in Ottawa that either work in marketing or run a business and need marketing help.

There was only about seven people there but everyone seemed to have a slightly different background and that is what makes these things so interesting. You never know what you're going to hear or what you're going to pick up. After spending time studying marketing at the MBA, I found that I really enjoyed talked about marketing strategy at a more grass roots level.

In formal marketing programs, you often talk about marketing with large budgets (or at least some budget). When you get in the room with small business owners, you are often talking about marketing with NO budget. On top of this, you are often taking about marketing with limited expertise. For example, I may suggest that somebody set up a blog, and while this isn't too difficult, it does take some knowledge and time (money) to start. In the end, I just found that I walked out with a much great appreciation for what marketing really is to most of the people that do it on a daily basis.

Here's some of the people that met:

Elaine from Wild Pigments, an Ottawa art studio. Elaine teaches art to people of all ages.

Caroline from Evolv. Evolv is a new fortified water product that increases stamina, energy and endurance.

Judi from Judi's Studio. Judi has a number of things on the go from the Kids to Be and Me show, to a few other businesses based out of Judi's Studio.

Marie from Trusting Yourself. Marie specializes in helping all sorts of people live better lives. Powerful stuff!

The meeting was organized by Linda. Linda is an interior decorator.

We also had a real estate agent in the group, which is always interesting as I find the real estate industry is one that is really embracing e-marketing and particularly social media strategies. Amie is a real estate agent who specializes in all kinds of property all over the Ottawa area.

In all in all, it was a great lunch and I'm glad I got to meet and get some feedback from these people.

Why Our Mobile Phone Pricing Makes Us Look Like North Koreans.

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:25:00 +0000

I was reading the Ottawa Citizen business and technology section and the mention of a particular mobile phone and how it was priced really irked me.

The write-up mentioned the Samsung Galaxy Spica (terrible brand name) at Rogers for $85 with a three year contract that carries a minimum monthly charge of $45. You can see what I was reading here.

I get why phones are offered on a discount with a contract (so the service provider can make back the difference) but my issue with advertising phones in this manner is that it continues the practice of getting Canadians hooked on what appears to be cheap hardware.

There are few places left where consumers have been trained to buy phones at discounts. In most other places, customers purchase the phone at full price and then shop around for the best deal in terms of network service. A good smartphone (and I hate the term smartphone) costs upwards of $500 dollars if it is unlocked.

I did a bit of digging and found out that in the US, only about 5% of phones are sold unlocked. Worldwide it is about 50% but as high as 80% in Asia and 70% in Europe. If it is 5% in the US, I would imagine it is about the same if not less in Canada.

I think the problem in Canada comes from the fact that when it comes to mobile phones, we are like the citizens of that fateful nation North Korea. In North Korea, Kim Jong Il has them so brainwashed, they believe they live in the best place on earth. No, really.

It would then appear that in Canada and US, we have also been lead astray because we have no concept of the true cost of a mobile phone. We just take what we read as being true.

How can the media get away without reporting the true cost of the hardware and why do they have to quote it at the 3 year contract discounted rate? I believe the answer to that is quite simple. The network operators strike exclusive deals with hardware manufacturers for phone exclusivity. Because Rogers is the only one offering that phone, you have to get it through Rogers and are then able to quote "their" price with a contract.

Once Canadians get locked into their service provide, it's over. The network operator can provide you with poor customer service (that we complain about) and you have no choice but to stay with them or pay a penalty for leaving your contract. I just hope more Canadians decide to stop taking these types of practices sitting down and instead give the operators feedback with their feet.... by walking somewhere else and getting better service or by purchasing unlocked phones. I was glad to hear about Google's plans with the Nexus One to offer it unlocked and I hope that it begins a trend here in North America. Let's hope for all of our sakes it does!

What Applied then Doesn't Apply Now

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:11:00 +0000

I read an article in the Financial Post recently about the Public Mobile launch that caught my eye. There were two things interesting about the article to me. The first was that Public Mobile is launching without an operational network and if you sign up early, you can get unlimited in Canada calling. The second is that Ted Rogers gave some advice to the Public CEO that I think is dangerous to listen to.

The article says:

"Ted said to me," recalled Mr. Krstajic, a veteran in Canadian telecommunications circles and former Rogers Communications Inc. executive, "don't let technical issues with the engineers stop you from selling."

I think that following Ted Rogers' advice in 2010 could be detrimental to the image and therefore future of WIND Mobile.

Here's why: when the mobile industry was new, it was a novelty and a luxury for most people. Even as far back as the year 2000, when mobile was starting to gain mainstream acceptance, mobile phones were still something being used by early adopters. I think that early users of mobile technology were more accepting of issues with networks than they are now. Just look at what is happening to WIND after their launch.

Add to this that customers in 2010 are more connected and able to share the nightmare of bad experiences (think about what's been happening AT&T in the last year with their network issues) and you have a recipe for disaster.

I believe that when it comes to mobile technology, users want a great customer experience and have come to expect it from the handset through to the network. Even in our home connections are not lightning fast, we still want them to be. And this means that we want our mobile experience to me quick too. We don't want to wait for applications to launch and we don't want to wait to get service before we make calls.

I just think what might have been true for Ted Rogers then isn't so true anymore.

The article goes on to say that Public Mobile doesn't have network issues and are taking the time to make sure it is 100 percent so it appears as though they get the pressure they are under. Let's just hope they deliver as our mobile industry is dominated by Bell, Telus and Rogers who together own 95% of the market.

Twitter is getting turned out

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:45:00 +0000

I have always felt that the pace of technology adoption is increasing, and that the increase has also meant that new technology gets adopted and therefore ruined by spammers quickly.

Take Twitter, it's really only been around since 2007 (even though it was developed sooner) and you could even argue that it really only took off in 2009. Facebook has been around much longer and has been hugely popular since 2007.

I have been on Twitter since 2008 but have noticed in the last year an increase in the amount of spammer-like activity. For the record, I consider spammer-like activity things such as using mentions to get marketing messages seen, the use of bots to automate activity and follow requests for the purpose of marketing goods.

Listening to Inside PR today and they quoted some research from Barracuda Labs that says:

Barracuda Labs also created a statistic called the Twitter Crime Rate, which it defined as the percentage of accounts created per month that are eventually suspended for malicious or suspicious activity, or otherwise misused. The Twitter Crime Rate was 1.2 percent in 2006, 1.7 percent in 2007, 2.2 percent in 2008, and 12 percent in October 2009.

This jumped right out at me because it appears as though the amount of spam increased sixfold over 2008... that's a pretty large increase. And I suppose that you could argue that this is because there isn't much by way of tactics to really catch them... although Twitter did announce measures this week.

But there isn't much to really stop this behaviour before it gets caught in your Twitter stream, so I am concerned that the trend is going to continue and get even worse.

I wonder.. is Twitter going to jump the shark soon? As much as I look at Twitter with skepticism and as much as I like it... something is telling me that Twitter could be in for some bumpy times ahead!

Death to Ambiguity

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:35:00 +0000

I have been thinking about this one for a while. I suppose the debate happening in the Canadian House of Commons about euthanasia got me thinking it was time to post about it.

I'd like to propose an end to ambiguity. We should hunt it down and offer a bounty on it.

Ambiguity is the single biggest threat to our productivity and our way of life. Every single day, ambiguity and the need to eradicate it from our lives forces us to waste large amounts of our time and effort (and by extension $$$).

I am not proposing that we stop brainstorming or sharing ideas but we must ensure that people are always concerned with ambiguity. Ask yourself "What's next?", "When?", "Who owns this?". Nail it down and then write it down and make sure everyone understands.

But that is just the beginning. I can't tell you how often people fail to share the fact they have made a decision. You ask for something, somebody makes a decision on it but never shares the answer. Maybe they are afraid the answer is NO. Maybe they are afraid the answer is YES.

I tend to care more that there is answer made rather than what the answer is. Sure, I would often prefer something go in my favour but still:

As long as I know the answer, I can move forward.

Without an answer, I stuck calling or emailing you back an hundred times to find out. Without an answer, I am forced to keep you in my inbox. Without and answer, I am forced to keep you in my "world".

Perhaps if we focused a little bit more on getting rid of ambiguity, we'd all have more time to do the things we really love in life.

When a telemarketer calls (which happens rarely these days), I don't waste my time (or theirs) making them go through a long speech only to say that I'm not interested. I tell them I'm not interested and move forward.

If a potential supplier is trying to sell me something and I am not interested, I may ask for more material from them but then I don't ignore their follow up emails and phone calls. I tell them that I have reviewed the material and decided against moving forward. No harm, no foul.

Think of all the time we'd have back over the course of our lives if we put as much effort into getting past ambiguity as we do in trying to slack off and hide from giving answers.

New Blog Layout

noreply@blogger.com (Danny) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:28:00 +0000

As you may have noticed, my blog has a new design and header image (thanks K!).

Blogger finally updated the templates and I jumped all over the new features. The most important one for me was being able to increase the width... something I have been dying to do for a while. In fact, I was starting to look at moving over to Wordpress in order to fix that but now I'm not sure that I need to.

The header image was taken a few weeks ago at the National Gallery of Canada here in Ottawa. I spent the day wondering around a few weeks ago. The water in front of me has a glass floor so the room under it is illuminated by ambient light. Really cool.

I haven't been to the National Gallery, go.