A Consultant's Chronicles

Nokia Smartphones: Correction

Recently I wrote a post about how Nokia's top-of-the-line smartphones are too expensive. It was my understanding that their problem centered on a shortsighted business plan, which did not include a relationship with a carrier for their "A-line" of smartphones. As a result their product was sold "unlocked" to be used by all carriers but at stratospheric prices when compared to their competitors. However, after conversing with someone more intimately familiar with Nokia I discovered that in fact there are other more complicated technological reasons involved.  Therefore one of my criticisms of the company was off the mark so in the interest of fairness, I felt it important to post a correction. 

They Still Need A Better App Store

It remains the case that they are also busily scrambling trying to get up to speed with their app store, which is something I correctly pointed out in my earlier post. If I am going criticize a company, it's got to be for the right reasons even if the essential bottom line is the same: Nokia is lagging behind its competitors losing dedicated customers like me in the process. Now can they catch up? The smartphone market is evolving so rapidly that I think the safest answer is "yet to be determined at press time."

Website Grader: How Effective Is Your Business Website

Recently I saw a news clip of Ed Koch, the former mayor of NY. In the clip they talked about how he was fond of asking his fellow citizens "how'm I doin?"  While he meant it to be his own way saying hello, ask any New Yorker a question & they will not be shy about telling you what they really think so this was hardly a risk-free strategy. Of course the only kind of answer he could possibly get to the question was a subjective one [except of course on election day]. Elections serve as any politician's "grader." Get an "A' & chances are you'll get re-elected.

How’s Your Business Website Doin’

However, more relevant to this blog as well as to your business is finding out how your business website [or blog] is doing online. Unfortunately, unlike Ed Koch, you can't just ask people on the stree "how's my site doin' ?" Nonetheless getting a "grade" for your business website is vital. For example, is it generating any traffic? What percentage of that traffic turns into real business? The good news is there is a great tool to answer these & many other key questions about your website. It's fast, it's simple, it provides a wealth of valuable data & best of all, it's free. Not only does it tell you how your site is doing but it also tells you how it's doing relative to the competition. Basically it provides the crux of your SEO picture. Pretty cool. It's called Website Grader, which is a tool designed by an online marketing company I discovered last year called Hubspot. These folks know everything about online marketing & they provide fabulous tools for any business. How your site is doing [objectively speaking] is just the start of a significant array of inbound marketing tools you can learn about. This is news every business can use!

Is The Newspaper Industry Capable of Changing

I live in the San Francisco bay area & our newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, is like a 3 legged stool with 2 wobbly legs & 1 leg so compromised that if a strong wind comes along, the whole stool [read: newspaper] will fall. As a result, well-known writers have had to take buy-outs, opt for early retirement, etc; basically they have had to "order" from the same undesirable menu as employees in many other industries all over the country.  

Means vs Medium

Opining about the death of newspapers [particularly her own] & questioning whether there is even a shred of a chance of saving the dying industry, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd cleverly frames the problem by appropriating a theme from the new Star Trek movie. Borrowing from one of the movie's themes, the difference between what is morally praiseworthy & what is morally obligatory, she maintains that while newspapers may do the praiseworthy thing of shining a bright light on our political & cultural darker tendencies, it seems that society as a whole no longer views this endeavor as obligatory.  Personally I believe this is only partially true. I think she's mistaking means & medium. People are hungrier than ever for news otherwise things like blogs & sites like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon & many more simply could not exist. On the other hand, what has changed is the desired medium for information. Instead of newspapers people have turned to their computers, mobile phones, Ipods, & Kindles.

Newspapers Are No Longer In A Class By Themselves

Basically if they want to thrive, newspapers have to stop seeing themselves as a "protected class," & change their delivery system with the times. The entertainment industry [music, TV, & movies] changed its delivery model & newspapers must do the same. Not unlike the American auto industry, their choice is change or become extinct.

 

Twitter & Business: One Foolish 'Tweet' & You'll Never Be Back

While I am in the "social networking pool" I am not [yet] on Twitter. Why? There are a lot of reasons not the least of which is that somehow I can't grasp the idea that perfect strangers would be interested in what I am doing at any given moment [in 140 characters or less of course]. There's also a little thing called time. How do I find the time to write my blog if I have to 'tweet' about writing my blog first? Clearly I am missing something. Then again maybe it's like being a new driver when at first it's overwhelming to think about all that you have to do in addition to actually driving the car [shift gears, check the mirrors, the speedometer, etc] but I digress... Whether I actually join Twitter doesn't change the fact that the growing frequency of poor professional judgment when using it or other social networking tools today is pretty astonishing. This seems especially true on Twitter perhaps because of its brevity & speed of transmission.

One Foolish 'Tweet' & You'll Never Be Back

Recently I wrote a post about the person who was fired soon after being hired by Cisco because of a stupid 'tweet'; as a result the nickname of "Cisco Fatty" was born. This morning I was talking to a friend who is in the business & he told me of yet another case, this time involving another large well-known company. Apparently some businessman flew to their home office located in a small southern town attempting to recruit a new client. When he arrived, he sent a 'tweet' complaining about the town saying something along the lines of hoping he never had to return to this godforsaken place. After giving his presentation & returning home, his pitch was declined so this way "he'd never have to return to that godforsaken place again" [& by the way, they thought his presentation wasn't any good]. Quite sensibly since they were doing business with him, they were following his 'tweets.' I guess they didn't appreciate his disrespect when it came to their hometown. Again, it really reflects much more than disrespect. It's a sign of poor judgment as well as a lack of professionalism.

Treat Your Online Profile Like Your Credit Report

It never really is "just business" especially in today's hi-tech world! These days people research each other for personal reasons so they are certainly going to do it for professional ones spanning Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & other sites like them. This is precisely why it's important to treat your online profile like your credit report-guard it with your life. In the case of Twitter, when part of the premise is to "have followers," don't 'tweet' anything that will give your [professional] followers cause to "bite you from the rear!"   

Line of the Week 4-05-09

This week's line of the week comes from author Jonah Lehrer. Discussing the science behind the "romantic thinking" when it comes to marriage  [yes, she contends such a thing exists] Hannah Seligson, a contributing writer for the Daily Beast, quotes author Jonah Lehrer about the relative limits of human information processing. He says:

"...the rational brain can only take in seven pieces of information at one time...when it gets more than that, it’s like an old computer trying to run Vista...”

Ouch!

New Trends: Permission-Based Job-Hunting

In the "stone age" if you needed to find a job, the first thing you did was check a clump of papers dropped at your doorstep for the classified section. They were called newspapers [remember them?]. "Back in the day," after carefully consulting the papers, you then "pounded some pavement " trying to get interviews. When successful, it was even possible to be hired on the spot. However, the late 20th century & now the 21st [century] added email, & on-line job boards to make better use of your basic resume & cover letters. A job interview today means something closer to  many meetings [including pre-interviews], as well as drug & credit checks before being hired. Clearly as times change, tools become outdated.

Present Yourself As A Hologram

With the competition fiercer then ever, it's critical that your potential employer see more than the single dimension of your skills represented on your resume. No matter how slick it may be, resumes do not capture the hologram that is you. So how can you get such textured information out there in the world for the right people to see & more importantly want to "buy" [read: hire you]?

Permission-Based Job Hunting

Borrowing from the latest trends in marketing [after all, you are selling your skills]comes one of the newest ideas in job hunting: permission based job-hunting.  The idea comes from one of the major proponents of permission based marketing: David Meerman Scott. The thinking is that the old paradigms are very much like interruption based marketing & now job seekers have to supplement their efforts with permission based marketing. How? This can be achieved through things like [business-related] blogs [like this one], e-books, articles [that can be acquired online of course]. The idea is to give your potential employers a window into your ideas, how you view the world, your problem-solving skills,etc. Ideally these will be the things that make them seek you out, Now this does not mean you get to throw away your resume & cover letter. It does mean adding more tools to your job hunting toolbox .

Fired Because of Social Networking: The Lesson of 'Cisco Fatty'

This morning I read an article about what has to be one of the all time dumb mistakes made by a [new] employee so it was no surprise to me that her actions got her fired. When employees or job-hunters post silly things on the net, it should be clear by now that doing so is at your own peril. Like your personal reputation & your credit score, increasingly today you also have to preserve your online profile [to the extent that you can; sometimes there are things posted about you that are beyond your control].

Cisco Fatty & Her Big Bucks

Let's use the now infamous case of Cisco Fatty as an example. Who? Cisco Fatty is a real person who has a real name [which I have elected not to reveal here] but she got it because after getting hired by Cisco, she sent out the following 'tweet:'

"...Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work..." 

That's the kind of dialogue that you have privately with family & friends not something you share with 5000 of your nearest & dearest online or anyone who can Google. Upon reading these very public "pearls of wisdom" someone at Cisco got hold of the hiring manager & in a New York minute Cisco Fatty was kicked to the curb.

The 'Facebook Faux Pas' Meets the 'Tweet' 

Apparently now you can be fired faster using Twitter than if you make a Facebook faux pas, which has gotten more than a few people separated from their jobs as well. An expert on social networking maintains that as we all get increasingly more comfortable with social networking soon this will be a mere blip on the radar screen but I disagree. Quite aside from the fact that no company will look kindly on negative PR no matter the reason, source, or intent, professionally thoughtless "tweets" or Facebook entries reflect something far more significant. They tell the employer that the author lacks loyalty, discretion, &/or judgment. That kind of assessment has nothing to do with comfort with the internet & its tools. To the contrary; the reason why people get "caught in the act" is precisely because these days, the boss is online too.

Separate the Public from the Private

Remember, separate what can be public from what needs to be private [read: unwritten]  & remember the internet axiom: never write [or show] anything online that you wouldn't show to your mother.

Note: This post has been updated in order to correct the pronouns which were incorrect. My apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Dead End: When Father Greed Meets Mother Nature

At some point on either Sunday or Monday, each week I think about how I will kick off the week's blog post. Usually I have a few ideas "marinating" & this morning was no different until I read an article by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman who is clearly one of the most thoughtful writers of our time. He suggests that maybe; just maybe, we are asking ourselves all the wrong questions about our current economic state of play. As usual he has a much bigger idea in mind.

Is Our Current Blueprint For Building Wealth Unsustainable

He suggests that perhaps the meltdown of 2008 is something far greater than a severe recession. Friedman speculates that over the last several decades it is quite possible that we have constructed a blueprint for growth that is economically & ecologically unsustainable and like the once badly defeated boxer Roberto Duran, our system has finally declared "no mas [no more]." Basically he posits that as a spend/replace society we have reached the nexus point of "Mother Nature & Father Greed" only to find one gigantic sign that reads "dead end." In terms of our worldwide assets, the wealth model we have used to date has been depletion based while we have not renewed or protected much so simply put, things now have to change. Friedman cites an Australian environmentalist  Paul Gilding who has coined a name for this point in time: "the great disruption." I've got to admit that it's at least an interesting concept worthy of our consideration. Let's talk about it...

Marketing Tips For A New Business With A Small Budget

Starting a business or thinking about changing your marketing campaign? Short of funds and wondering how anyone will know your new venture exists?  Fortunately money is no longer a requirement for a successful advertising campaign [although I won't lie...it does help!].  So what can you do that costs little or nothing? Plenty. Instead of spending money it will cost some time & brain muscle.

Intrusive vs. Permission Based Marketing

Essentially, we have moved into a world of permission based marketing. While there are companies still using "old-school" marketing [which forces you to take extra steps to block it out] including things like tv/magazine ads, mail order marketing, cold-calling, and other intrusive techniques, increasingly technology has given us the means to block them all out. The new & better way is with the consumer's permission through interactive modalities like:

• blogging
• social networks
• youtube

Using these techniques, you can get the word out about your business & without spending big bucks.  This post will focus on blogging. If you've found this, chances are excellent that either a. you already have a blog or b. one is in the pipeline. Let me say this about blogging & it comes through hard earned experience. When blogging for business, use your website as the home for your blog.

Using A Free-Standing Platform vs. Your Website

A common error people make [including yours truly] is launching their business blog from somewhere other than their website. In terms of SEO, which simply means getting on p.1 radar of search engine sites this makes your job harder.  Therefore if you can avoid it, do not create your business blog on Google, Typepad or any other free-standing platform [this is particularly painful for me to say because I love Six Apart, the parent company for Typepad].  Blog on a separate platform & the platform gets the hits; blogging from your site brings pagerank & potential business right to your [online] doorstep. So why am I still on Typepad? I'm still here because after 1.5 years, this is where my readers know I exist & I don't want to lose them. If I could do it all over again however, I'd do it from my site. However, Typepad has recently created some new instruments, which I am looking into that may have the net effect of bringing customers to my site in a more direct fashion.  If however, you are writing a personal blog than I definitely recommend either Google orTypepad. The other possibility is to create your website directly on Typepad but that's another post.
Next time: social networks

For more detailed information go to hubspot.com

Got A 'Big Idea'-Maybe Now Is the Time To Launch It

Bay Area TV reviewer Tim Goodman has a favorite saying "everything I know I learned from TV."  While this saying does not hold true for me, the marriage of two pieces of information from different shows are the genesis of this post. The first comes from an interview w/money maven Suzie Orman who believes that we won't completely be out of this economic muck until 2015...that is 2-0-1-5!!!

When Small Concepts Become Big Business

On the other hand, I was watching an interview with former Madison Ave ad man extraordinaire Donny Deutsch [& host of the "Big Idea" currently on hiatus] & he was trying to inject optimism into what otherwise have been mostly grim proceedings when it comes to employment. Deutsch believes that this is the perfect time to "dust off that business idea that so many people have tucked in the back of their minds." The marketplace is full of great examples. My 2 favorites are Post-Its, which was created through a "failed" attempt to create a new glue  & Scrunchies, which for the men online are hair accoutrement products. This was originally patented* by a woman who was broke but wanted a prettier way to create a pony-tail instead of just a rubber band. Her first product was a roaring success & now she has a broad array of product offerings & is raking in millions.

Launching Your Big Idea

Launching a new product takes remarkably little effort if you have thought it through & it's not necessarily expensive. According to Deutsch, probably the two biggest expenditures would come from a. patenting it [a few hundred, maybe even less if done online] & b. manufacturing a prototype.  Creating a prototype can be done for unbelievably small money by outsourcing the job if you are not handy enough to do it yourself.

Creating "Buzz"

OK, so you've protected the idea & scraped together the money to create a prototype, what next?  The next task is to create buzz for your new product & that according to marketing guru Mike Volpe of Hubspot can be done using your time & brain with very little monetary cost. Things you can do to create buzz are: blog about it [including commenting on other people's blogs where appropriate], feature it on "youtube" in an engaging & interesting way, & talk about it on social media sites. Add just a dash of luck, & you ought to be "in production mode" for the masses. So what are you waiting for?

*The product was designed by Phillip Meyers for the Scuncci familiy but patented by Romy Revson