Marketing Hipster

I was in the middle of writing a post on how our individual reputations as marketers in this industry truly matters and how small this industry can actually be; when I spotted a post over at 10,000 Marshmallows about a report done by Wal-Mart’s old agency GSD&M. The report said that Wal-Mart as a company suffered a lack of respect that could drive away shoppers. I then followed the link from 10,000 Marshmallows to a New York Times article that discussed the report even further.

In the Times article, they had a quote from a Wal-Mart representative who said,

“I’m afraid this particular piece of work is not very useful, not least because it’s now completely out of date and in some areas just plain wrong.”

Now I have never done any real research into Wal-Mart, but as a human being and a consumer, I would say that Wal-Mart absolutely suffers from a huge lack of respect in the marketplace.

My post here is not meant to bash Wal-Mart, there are already plenty of posts out there for that. The point I would like to make is that it seems to me there are so many companies and businesses out there that have terrible reputations and they seem to be doing nothing about it. Burying your head in the sand and pretending it is not there is not going to solve anything.

Based on my experience working with clients with a reputation issue, it seems the biggest problem they have is where to start. How do you start digging yourself out of that hole? My recommendation has always been fairly simple, start listening.

For the longest time, marketing has always been just a one way street. We have told our messages through multiple mediums and that was pretty much it. Today, I believe listening to what customers and consumers are saying and feeling is just as important as getting your message out. By listening, you can figure out what the issues and problems are and actually put together a plan on what can and should be solved and what cannot. It also can have a dramatic effect on how and where you market in the future.

I am going to shut up now and listen.

Technorati Tags: reputations, marketers, GSD&M, Wal-Mart

…. But at least I am enjoying the ride”.

So my friend Tola sent me this link from TechCrunch that in the next 24 hours, Dead.net will be relaunching as a full blown social network for of course DeadHeads!!

Now even though I play a tech-web marketing geek during the day, underneath my button down shirts and slacks beats the heart of a unshaven, dirty, tie-dyed hippie wishing he could hit the road like the old days and not come back. It sucks getting old doesn’t it?

Oh by the way, my girlfriend last night pointed out that I have a bald spot on the top of my head.

Life was so much easier when I was doing drugs… Oh well…..

Facebook announced this week their “next evolution of Facebook”, the Facebook platform. I have been waiting to write about this till after I was able to read all the info on this. I believe this is a HUGE step for Facebook and will be critical for the eventual domination over the likes of MySpace.

Just to quickly summarize what this Facebook platform is, it enables outside vendors, companies, etc. to build “widgets” that can be integrated into Facebook users profiles, main pages, etc. Unlike MySpace who has no formal development policy and depending on what mood they are in and whether their servers are up or not, has pulled and blocked apps for at times no apparent reason other than that they can. Facebook has built an architecture, rules and procedures for integrating with Facebook.

Let me give an example. Amazon can now build a widget very much like they have for blogs that Facebook users can list on their profile what books, music, games, etc. they are using right now. Each one of these can be linked to Amazon so users can be driven from a Facebook profile page directly to a product page within Amazon to buy.

I believe the real challenge for Facebook will be how much control are they going to give to these outside vendors and if some of these apps become successful, will they want a piece of that pie?

Either way I believe this is a huge step forward for Facebook and in the long run this among many other things Facebook is doing will spell the demise of MySpace. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Facebook platform, Facebook, MySpace, widgets, Amazon

In SFGate.com, Robbie Bach, the President of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division declares that Microsoft has sold over 1 million Zunes, their digital media player and competitor to Apple’s iPod.

Now I know in the grand schemes of things, 1 million sold is not that large, but to be honest, I was surprised that they sold that many. I have not had the opportunity to even hold or play with the Zune, but every review and article I have read on them, has not been that positive. So any Hipster readers who have Zunes, I would love to hear what you think of them and does that “squirting” (share songs via Zunes) actually work? Let me know, thanks.

Technorati Tags: Robbie Bach, Microsoft, iPod, Zune

I have been a member of LinkedIn for a quite a long time. Presently, I have 2,228 connections in my LinkedIn network. I have always been an evangelist for LinkedIn and have referred numerous people to the network. Though recently, I have to say that LinkedIn is really starting to annoy me and I am getting to the point that the hassle of LinkedIn is just not worth the value I am getting out of it.

If you are not familiar with LinkedIn, it is a business network where people can connect with others through companies, positions and schools they have worked or attended. For example, when I put in that I worked for Dell, LinkedIn shows me every person who also did or still works for Dell whom I can send an email to and connect with.

From the beginning, LinkedIn asked users to only send an invite to people they actually know, but if you worked for a company, LinkedIn showed all of people who also worked there and myself like a great many other people would at times send invites out to more people than just the people we knew. If I saw a person’s profile who I thought might be an interesting contact, but I did not know them, I would send them an invite to connect.

Recently, LinkedIn has begun cracking down on this tactic and if someone receives an invite from someone they do not know, they can click on a button that says I do not know them (I also think we should have this button say, “I am so anal that if you would stick a lump of coal up my butt, in a month it would turn into a diamond”. Maybe a bit too much, but I digress.) If a specific user gets several of these I don’t know clicks from invites they send out, LinkedIn is now restricting their account.

Now I do not have a real big problem with any of this. If LinkedIn has decided to finally start enforcing a rule that they let slip for several years to build up their membership, fine. What I do have a problem with is how they are going about doing this. When LinkedIn restricts your account they ask you to send an email to their customer service which then you have to wait anywhere between 3-10 days to actually get a reply.

If you look at any discussion boards about LinkedIn, the number one complaint about the company is the poor customer service and long response times. My question is why would you force more users to contact a customer service department which is already doing a poor job? LinkedIn, all your success is 100% because of the users who joined your network and then recommended your network to others growing it to over 11 million users. So now that you have gone big time are you forgetting about the people who got you there in the first place? What would happen if half of your users stopped using your service? Your traffic would drop by half, your advertisers would start seeing a dramatic drop in impressions and click-through’s and you would have a serious problem.

You are not bigger than the game and it is time that you start remembering who is most important to your long term success – THE PEOPLE – your users. Start treating us the way we deserve to be treated or you will suffer the long term consequences.

Technorati Tags: LinkedIn, Dell

I thought this would bring everyone a chuckle as it did for me. Thanks to Jeremy.

I have gotten tagged a couple of times recently and I have been behind in responding to them, my apologies. I thought I would bang out all my tag responses all in one post. Ok, here it goes, in order of when I was tagged.

Antman tagged me on a Magazine Meme asking what magazines do you read on a daily basis. Here’s my list in no particular order:

1. Time
2. Newsweek
3. Wired
4. BusinessWeek
5. AdvertisingAge
6. OMMA
7. Red Herring (Now online)

That’s about it, most of the stuff like many others, I just read all online and don’t get the actual magazine. Thanks for the tag Antman and thank you for your kind words in your shout-out.

Marty tagged me for a 5 Goals Meme. My top 5 goals at the moment again in no particular order:

1. Get off the ground the couple of start-up ideas that I have been thinking and mapping out for WAY too long.
2. Move into the next phase with several of my clients so that we could really start doing some interesting things.
3. Spend more time in the personal life and spend less time thinking about work or other things when I actually am enjoying my personal time.
4. Be healthier! Start taking better care of myself. I am not a young pup anymore.
5. Start going to more conferences.

Thanks Marty for the tag!

And finally, Matt tagged me for the 5 Top Reasons I Blog. Here’s my list:

1. To be apart of an incredibly interesting and exciting community.
2. To continually learn and improve my skill sets in any number of different ways.
3. A reason to write, without this blog I would not be writing close to as much because I am lazy and that is not good.
4. I love the opportunity blogging provides me that on any given day I could meet someone new who will interest me and hopefully teach me something.
5. I like holding both people and companies accountable for their actions. Blogging allows me to share my opinions when things are done right and when they are not.

Thanks Matt for the tag.

UPDATE: I am sorry, I missed Meg’s tag. I think my link checker skipped over Australia. I am sorry Meg. Meg tagged me to choose 5 blogs that make me think. That is a tough one as so many do, but here is a list off of the top of my head.

1. Andy Beard – Great content, well written articles, but he makes me crazy with this PPP stuff.
2. Sean Howard – CrapHammer is always well written and makes me think even though he is in Canada.
3. Steven Phenix – 10,000 Marshmallows is a site I was recently introduced to and Steven provides some good insight and articles that make you ponder.
4. FranticIndustries – Another recent addition to my RSS Reader. Well written and knowledgeable posts that I have been enjoying recently.
5. Brains on Fire – A blog that I have read for a long time, but for some reason never really mention. I like how many of their authors provide great information, but do it with heart.

I am going to do this. Instead of tagging specific people, I am going to have an open invite to any and all who reads this to take a meme! If one sounds interesting to you, you’re tagged, run with it, make it yours. Thanks.

Technorati Tags: tagged, Meme, magazine, Goals, community

A couple of weeks ago, I decided with summer coming it was time to get myself a new pair of sandals. I did what many many other people do when they are searching for something online, I began at a search engine. In Google, I typed in Birkenstock. From there based on the natural search results, I don’t click on PPC, I began looking at many different web sites to see what kind of selection they had, what their prices were and what kind of experience they gave me on their site. In today’s world, what a user experiences when they land on a web site will have a significant impact on not only if that person buys, but also, how that person thinks and feels about the company, brand and products. In other words, if your web site is crap, users will equate your company with crap as well.

As I surfed on these sites, if I ran into any problems like not being able to find what I was looking for quickly and easily, poor content or product pictures, I would immediately close that browser tab and move on to the next result in Google. You have one chance when a user lands on your site, if you do not take advantage of that chance, you most likely will not get another.

After looking at a half dozen different sites, I finally landed on a site that I really liked. The site had a clean look and feel, good navigation, great content and product pictures. Before even knowing what I wanted to buy, I had already decided where I was going to purchase from. After a little bit of time surfing and exploring different styles, I decided. The checkout process was easy and before you can say, “Damn Fricken Hippie” my new sandals were purchased.

Now many E-commerce players out there might believe that this ends the customer experience. I would disagree and say that once an order is purchased, the experience continues with the kind of service a user gets post purchase.

About a day or two later after ordering, I got an email from the company saying that my order had shipped. Fabulous! The company did everything right in the email which included a link to UPS so I can track my order. I clicked on the link with great anticipation to see when I could expect the package and that is when the wheels came off the wagon. UPS’ expected delivery was 9 days. NINE DAYS?!?!?!? Was this package coming in from Neptune or had the pony express come back?? NINE DAYS?!?!?!? What takes nine days to be delivered these days?

Annoyed, I went back to the companies web site and found in very small letters that ground shipping can take from 3 to 11 days. Now maybe I should of looked more closely when I was ordering, but I would guess that I am far from the only person who had ordered from this company and then was surprised at the great length of time it will take for delivery. If that was properly communicated to me during the checkout process, I would of probably been willing to pay more for quicker shipping, but instead this was hidden from me.

This company just lost any chance of me becoming a repeat buyer for them. But even more importantly, they turned a user, me, from a possible customer evangelist into a person who will never recommend this company to his family and friends. No matter where a customer is in the process, the customer experience never ends.

Technorati Tags: search engine, Google, Birkenstock, PPC, E-commerce, customer experience

One of the TV shows presently on my DVR is The Ultimate Fighter. A show of UFC wanna be’s who for several weeks kick the crap out of each other until there is one man left standing and he is crowned the champion. I just finished watching this weeks episode which included a fight between a guy who the entire season has been talking a great deal of smack and spent the first couple of episodes barking at the other contestants, that’s right, literally barking. He faced off against a guy who had already lost once and was kicked out of the tournament, but was given what most people don’t get in life, a second chance.

So both of these guys had a huge amount to prove and after weeks of talking and chest pounding, they finally had the opportunity to show what they were made of. What happened? When the bell finally rang, they both crumbled. The fight sucked, it was boring, there was no action and neither fighter was fighting to win, they were fighting not to lose.

The reason I bring this up was that I thought this was an interesting comparison to many of the discussions we have been having here on the Hipsters when it comes to marketing. That we as marketers have been doing the same exact thing. We go out everyday and instead of trying to win for our clients, we are just trying not to lose.

It makes perfect sense. We don’t want to be criticized, we don’t want to lose our clients and we don’t want to lose our jobs. So instead of going out and swinging for the fences, everyone is playing CYA so we are not the last one standing when the music stops.

But then I think what is worse, having all those bad things I listed above happen to me or continually wondering after the fact, what if? What do you think the losing fighter on this weeks episode would give up to get those three rounds back?

Technorati Tags: Ultimate Fighter, UFC