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Let’s Have A Coffee

August 9, 2010 in Boston, Business, Marketing, Miscellaneous with 0 Comments

I had the pleasure of meeting up with Matt over at CustomMade this morning for a coffee and chat about our respective companies, the internet, and randomly related things. On my way out, I was reminded how much I love doing this sort of thing; meeting and connecting with interesting people and just sharing ideas and thoughts on all sorts of things.

As such, I want to do this more frequently, and am thinking of trying to do a one-on-one coffee with someone new, every week. It doesn’t much matter who you are or what your background is (though online/product/marketing/digital/advertising types are preferred), but mainly that you are interesting and passionate about whatever it is you do.

So if you are up for grabbing a coffee (Espresso Royale on Newbury Street is my go-to spot), get in touch.

Unintentionally Not For Profit

August 4, 2010 in Business, The Internet with 0 Comments

You Don't Make Money

Loved this. Via David Karp’s Tumblr.

Coin Operated Nothing Machine

August 2, 2010 in Business with 0 Comments

Around the corner from our office is a small Chinese restaurant. And next to the counter of this restaurant, are some of those “Love Test” machines, where you drop a quarter in, put your finger on a little sensor, and find out what sort of lover boy (or girl) you are. Essentially, some lights flash and it gives you some obviously bogus read-out. Beyond some basic blinking-light mechanisms, there isn’t much going on here.

Coin Love Machine

It got me thinking one day, that it’d be fun to have a machine like this, that quite literally did nothing. Or more specifically, didn’t even claim to do anything that would even be remotely of value to the user.

Rather than a machine that flashes and beeps at you under the guise of providing some love-test results, I’d like to create a little machine like this that merely asks you to deposit a quarter and then nonsensically flashes colored lights at you for 5 or 10 seconds, with no other perceived value beyond just the flashing lights. Maybe call it “The Amazing Flashing Light Machine“. The end.

I can almost guarantee, that this machine, placed in a bar, would make money.

Measuring Social Media Marketing

July 20, 2010 in Business, Marketing with 1 Comment

Just read a post on the HubSpot blog entitled “7 Reasons Social Media Is Bad for Marketing“. Though the title is a bit more incendiary than the article is (HubSpot is good at writing juicy headlines to draw readers in), there was one of the bullets that I thought was dead on.

Focus on the Wrong Metrics – A fan or a follower isn’t a business objective. Social media has enabled marketers to chase metrics that don’t impact their business. The reason for most of the discussion surrounding social media ROI is caused by measuring the wrong metrics. Reach, leads and sales should be some of the tangible metrics that are measured as part of social media marketing strategies.

Amen.

So often I hear marketers say things like “We’ve got a gajabillion Facebook fans!”, and when I ask “Ok, so now what?”, I receive a blank stare back. It isn’t just about collecting fans or followers, it’s about leveraging those open connections you’ve made, effectively. Extracting (and providing) value through that channel.

Whenever there are random numbers thrown around in our office, I always think of the exchange between Jerry and George in the Seinfeld episode The Little Jerry.

JERRY: Hey, guess what! Little Jerry ran from here to Newman’s in under thirty seconds!

GEORGE: Is that good?

JERRY: I don’t know.

Hey, I’ve got 40,000 Facebook fans! Is that good? I don’t know.

Full article here. Link via @pc4media

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