davewilkinson.me http://thinkdave.posterous.com Most recent posts at davewilkinson.me posterous.com Mon, 06 Dec 2010 06:23:00 -0800 Social marketing and the ugliest boots in the world. http://thinkdave.posterous.com/social-marketing-and-the-ugliest-boots-in-the http://thinkdave.posterous.com/social-marketing-and-the-ugliest-boots-in-the

Boots

A few weeks ago Zachary Cohen wrote a blog post about social marketing and how a small clothing store in London nearly changed a purchasing decision he'd made.

Here's what happened: 

  • Zac found a pair of boots on ssense.com and sent out a tweet asking his followers what they thought. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, Hub Shop, a London boutique, picked up on Zac's tweet and recommended he try a pair of boots from their store. 
  • Under normal circumstances you may consider this spam but in this case, as Zac points out, 'they were putting one of their products in front of a customer'. 
  • Now, he didn't end up buying the boots from Hub Shop, but he did end up subscribing to their mailing list and checking out their website. Which means there's a chance he will become a customer at some point.

Why this is a good marketing strategy for small business

What Hub Shop did was start a conversation with someone passionate about fashion (you'd have to be passionate to wear those boots). If your small business could find the time to legitimately start conversations with 5 people each day you'd have a powerful marketing system in no time at all. And all at no cost.

Hub Shop also gave Zac as many as 5 proactive options simply by pointing him to their website. He had the choice to:

  1. Subscribe to their newsletter
  2. Like them on Facebook
  3. Follow them on Twitter
  4. Subscribe to their RSS feed
  5. Buy something

Finally, they followed marketing principles 101 and followed up. I've taken a look at their Twitter stream and they've sent Zac in the region of 4 follow up tweets offering other products he might like - without sounding pushy.

Why this can be a bad marketing strategy for small business

Unfortunately there's a flipside. What if every time you put out a comment on Twitter or Facebook, you were bombarded with promotional messages? I'd imagine this would get very tiresome very quickly. As social media users we aren't giving marketers permission to sell to us, only to start conversations, and it's a very fine line between casual chit-chat & spam. 

How can your small business do what Hub Shop did/tried?

  • You can be more passionate about your products. We're enthusiastic about your stuff and we expect you to be too (Hub Shop could do this a lot better)
  • Our time is valuable and we don't tolerate spammers. But we're also egotistical, so feel free to start a conversation.
  • Don't rush us. We won't buy until we're ready and we scare easily.
  • Give us options. I hate Facebook and love Twitter. My wife is the opposite. By giving us a Twitter stream and a Fan page to follow you, you're covering your bases.
  • Have fun. People who buy ugly boots need to have a sense of humour, so find someone in your organisation who can make me smile while they spank my credit card.

That's all. You can get back to work now unless you have something to add on Twitter.

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Sun, 05 Dec 2010 22:35:51 -0800 The first 2 years http://thinkdave.posterous.com/the-first-2-years http://thinkdave.posterous.com/the-first-2-years 2 years ago yesterday, Karin, Connor and I arrived at a snowy Heathrow Airport to start our new lives in England. We didn't know it at the time but this was going to be the toughest thing we had ever done as a family.

The first 3 months
Over the course of the first 90 days I watched as our rented house slowly became a home and our bank balance started looking scary. I had no job and thanks to the recession, there wasn't much available. Finally I settled on an underpaying job updating a bed company's online store. What followed was the longest, worst year of our lives.

The first year (and a bit)
A lot happened that first year. Karin fell pregnant then contracted a weird illness that could have devastating effects on her unborn baby. For the duration of her pregnancy she attended the hospital every 2 weeks for a scan, and each time she did the doctor found something he wasn't happy with. 

I hated my job more and more with each passing day, and at one point we were exactly 2 weeks from being completely broke. 

Most days I got home to Karin in floods of tears and I can't count the number of times we said 'this was a mistake'.

Strangely enough the only person who was having a blast was Connor. He had the one thing we always wanted; freedom. Freedom to play in the streets until late at night, freedom to go off to the park on his own and freedom to be a child. This alone was probably the only thing that kept us here.

Lucky break
And then things changed. I decided to go for broke with my freelance business by focusing on a tiny niche and nothing else, and business picked up almost immediately. 

Matthew was born on November 3rd, and both he and Karin were completely healthy. He had a few issues that led to a 6 weeks of very little sleep but we got him sorted out with the help of Google and a great doctor.

March 2010
We were almost, dare I say it, happy. There was just one piece missing. So I quit my job to freelance full-time. 

December 4, 2010
Almost as if it never happened, Karin mentioned in passing 'it's 2 years since we arrived'. 

We've completely settled. We have awesome friends. Karin gets out once a week to yoga. I get out twice a week to football and poker. Connor has about 2 gazillion friends and Matthew just started walking. 

Business is good. Frustrating at times, but good. My parents even decided to move over and buy a house down the road.

We're happy.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Sun, 07 Nov 2010 15:07:41 -0800 Bear with me, I'm re-teaching myself to write http://thinkdave.posterous.com/bear-with-me-im-re-teaching-myself-to-write http://thinkdave.posterous.com/bear-with-me-im-re-teaching-myself-to-write
10 amazing things you can do with an elastic band.
  1. You can shoot someone in the eye. That's always good for a laugh.
  2. You can hold a box closed.
  3. You can hold a box open if you suspend the elastic band from the ceiling and tie it to the top of the box.
  4. You can cut off the flow of blood to any of your appendages. Yes, even THAT one, although I'm not sure why you'd want to.
  5. You can use it as a catapult. Use your fingers as the frame and a folded piece of paper as your ammo and it'll be like school all over again.
  6. You can hold Monopoly money together. Or playing cards. Or hundred Dollar bills (or billion Dollar bills if you live in Zimbabwe).
  7. My grandmother uses elastic bands to hold a plastic bag over the top of her sugar bowl (she's old. Old people do odd things).
  8. If you've got a few million elastic bands you can tie them together, tie one end to a bridge and the other to a friend's legs, then push your friend over the edge and see if you measured the stretch potential correctly (hint: bring a few friends, just in case).
  9. I know there must be at least three things you can do to torture a cat with an elastic band but none spring to mind right now.
  10. You can ponder what led to the invention of the elastic band in the first place. Once you've finished pondering, try number 1 again just in case you missed the first time.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Wed, 03 Nov 2010 23:43:55 -0700 The Process http://thinkdave.posterous.com/32429252 http://thinkdave.posterous.com/32429252

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:52:04 -0700 Where do astronauts hang out? http://thinkdave.posterous.com/where-do-astronauts-hang-out http://thinkdave.posterous.com/where-do-astronauts-hang-out
Spacebar

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:28:00 -0700 Rowan Atkinson - invisible drum kit http://thinkdave.posterous.com/rowan-atkinson-invisible-drum-kit http://thinkdave.posterous.com/rowan-atkinson-invisible-drum-kit

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:52:06 -0700 Simple things http://thinkdave.posterous.com/simple-things http://thinkdave.posterous.com/simple-things
While I've been focusing all my efforts on growing a WordPress theme development business, Posterous and Tumblr have grown into really mature web publishing platforms. In many cases, they do things better than WordPress. Much better.

Perhaps it's time to take a closer look at the competition...

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Sat, 15 May 2010 02:08:00 -0700 This is Indexed - funniest sketches on the Web http://thinkdave.posterous.com/this-is-indexed-funniest-sketches-on-the-web http://thinkdave.posterous.com/this-is-indexed-funniest-sketches-on-the-web

Card2573

and something to bear in mind as I prepare to start the Dukan Diet...

See more of these very clever sketches at http://thisisindexed.com/

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:42:40 -0700 Third & Grand Redesign = Gorgeous http://thinkdave.posterous.com/third-and-grand-redesign-gorgeous http://thinkdave.posterous.com/third-and-grand-redesign-gorgeous It's been a while since I found a truly inspirational new website. Behold Third & Grand's truly beautiful redesign below. Awesome!

Thirdgrand


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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:56:51 -0800 Blogs I like - Geeks are In http://thinkdave.posterous.com/blogs-i-like-geeks-are-in http://thinkdave.posterous.com/blogs-i-like-geeks-are-in

If I were a more talented designer, the Geeks are In blog would be the type of blog I’d design. I like the slightly grungy look. I love the graphical elements scattered about the place. And the pac-man references in the footer make me smile. Good effort on the design.

The content is not unique though. In fact, this is more of an archive of other people’s stuff than a blog containing original content. It was created because Twitter’s 140 characters just weren’t searchable enough (yet).

Header:

Image001

Footer:

Image002

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:05:28 -0800 Blogs I like - Abroadening http://thinkdave.posterous.com/blogs-i-like-abroadening http://thinkdave.posterous.com/blogs-i-like-abroadening mmmm. How awesome is this? Probably the best Thesis customization I've ever seen.

Abroadening

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:05:33 -0800 Blogs I like - Billy Tamplin http://thinkdave.posterous.com/blogs-i-like-billy-tamplin http://thinkdave.posterous.com/blogs-i-like-billy-tamplin I had this really great idea a few weeks ago. Find great looking blog designs and post them here as (a) a showcase of stuff I think is really good and (b) inspiration for my own work. Then we had a baby and nothing has happened for 4 weeks, which leads me to conclude that I'm just as useless at microblogging as I am at normal blogging.

Anyway, here's a look at Billy Tamplin's new blog. It's awesome for 2 reasons:

1. The design is lovely. Clean, calming, somewhat playful.
2. The blog posts take the form of achievement milestones. Every time Billy achieves something noteworthy, he blogs it and awards himself an achievement badge. Nice!

Tamplin

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:30:00 -0700 WordPress perfection - Icondock http://thinkdave.posterous.com/wordpress-perfection-icondock http://thinkdave.posterous.com/wordpress-perfection-icondock

Icondock

My favourite WordPress-driven site of all time is without doubt icondock.com.

Not only is the site beautiful to look at but it also uses the WP e-commerce plugin perfectly, creating a clean, easy to use online store/blog/static website. If you're interested in social commerce this is the site you need to use as a reference.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:26:00 -0700 Blog of the week - Gaby Castellanos http://thinkdave.posterous.com/blog-of-the-week-gaby-castellanos http://thinkdave.posterous.com/blog-of-the-week-gaby-castellanos
Parecidos-razonables

I've been searching for beautiful blog designs and came across Gaby Castellanos' blog on CSSMania. The attention to detail on this site is really something, especially on the sidebar and footer. Don't rely on the screenshot; visit the site: http://www.gabycastellanos.com.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:22:44 -0700 Testing in York http://thinkdave.posterous.com/testing-in-york http://thinkdave.posterous.com/testing-in-york Just testing

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:54:07 -0700 The Stumbleupon Effect http://thinkdave.posterous.com/the-stumbleupon-effect http://thinkdave.posterous.com/the-stumbleupon-effect

Stumble

On August 27th, Stumbleupon kindly sent a ton of traffic to thinkdave.com, all to read my award-winning (not really) WordPress as a CMS post. Sadly, none of those visitors hired me to build them a WordPress theme...

Even more sadly traffic has completely returned to normal now, making my Google Analytics graph look somewhat sad.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:22:12 -0700 I never expected to see this http://thinkdave.posterous.com/i-never-expected-to-see-this http://thinkdave.posterous.com/i-never-expected-to-see-this
Goshdarnit

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:18:37 -0700 11.75 bottles of Mrs.Balls Chutney http://thinkdave.posterous.com/1175-bottles-of-mrsballs-chutney http://thinkdave.posterous.com/1175-bottles-of-mrsballs-chutney
Chutney

When you come across Mrs.Balls in the UK, you BUY BUY BUY!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:53:40 -0700 Google's Honesty http://thinkdave.posterous.com/googles-honesty http://thinkdave.posterous.com/googles-honesty
Media_httpnewmediafunnyjunkcompicturesgoogle30jpg_jjpicigxihdbipt
via funnyjunk.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:50:59 -0700 Top Gear t-shirt http://thinkdave.posterous.com/top-gear-t-shirt http://thinkdave.posterous.com/top-gear-t-shirt
Media_httpnewmediafunnyjunkcompicturestopgear0jpg_agacwzyatfrstjr
via funnyjunk.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/736798/avatar2.png http://posterous.com/users/eUlqx9IOA1 Dave Wilkinson thinkdave Dave Wilkinson