September 13, 2006
UK based GoinGreen is the manufacturer of the world’s best selling electric car – the G-Wiz.
The G-Wiz looks perfect for the UK and European major city markets where fuel costs are high and traffic congestion reduces overall travel speeds.
Goin Green doesn’t have any showrooms. Prospective buyers book a convenient time to meet with representatives to go for a test drive.
Buyers can even customize their car exterior with a digi-wrap leopard print and order their car online.
See a G-Wiz in action on YouTube.
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in Digi-wrap, Electric Car, Electric Car Manufacturer, G-Wiz, Goin Green, GoinGreen, London, Test Drive, YouTube | 1 Comment »
September 13, 2006
Pink sheet stock promoters have found a new more efficient way for reaching the gullible and greedy – zombie spam.
According to an assistant professor of finance at Purdue Laura L. Frieder and Jonathan L. Zittrain professor of internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute, “relationships between spammers and virus authors have caused millions of virus-infected personal computers to be harnessed as ‘zombies’ to send spam further lowering its cost.”
I met professor Zittrain while sailing the Queen Mary 2 from Southhampton to New York in the summer of 2005. I attended his University of Oxford continuing education series along with others including actor Richard Dreyfus. He showed me how to make a free voip phone call from the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean using Skype.
The professors have published a study: Spam Works: Evidence From Stock Touts and Corresponding Market Activity
Next time you receive a hot stock tip in your inbox, thank Bill Gates.
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in Bill Gates, Email Spam, Hot Stock Tip, Inbox, Influence, Influenza, IP Phone, Laura Frieder, Pink Sheet, Pump and Dump, Queen Mary 2, Skype, Spammers, Stock Promoter, Stock Promotion, Stock Schemes, University of Oxford, VOIP Phone, Zombie Spam | Leave a Comment »
September 13, 2006
Google global search traffic patterns over a twenty four hour period.
Here are three of my favorite resources for making your own Google maps.
Google Maps Mania
Map Builder – build your own maps.
Huge Maps Mapping Programs – great for marketers – types of maps include:
Zip Code Boundaries Maps
Town and City Boundaries Maps
County Boundaries Maps
Core Based Statistical Area Maps
Reverse Geocoding – converts a latitude and longitude coordinate into an address
Geocoding – address conversion into lat and long coordinates
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in Address Conversion, Boundaries Maps, Direct Marketer, Direct Marketing, Geocoding, Google Maps, Google Traffic, Lat and Long, Latitude, Longitude, Map Mashups, Marketer, Search Traffic, Zip Code | 1 Comment »
September 10, 2006
Yesterday while relaxing at the beach a young couple and their children sat down next to us.
After settling in, they decided to go for a swim in the Gulf.
Soon after a couple who were walking along the beach approached the father and began pointing toward the water. As the couple walked away, the man told to his young children to get out of the water.
What could this couple have said in less than three minutes that caused a family to change their beach plans for the day?
Red Tide.
Yet, if Red Tide was so dangerous why were there other parents and children in the water? Why had our hotel’s managment allowed us to enter the water? Because Red Tide isn’t dangerous to humans unless a person eats seafood infected by it. Apparently these questions were lost on the father.
Granted, Red Tide isn’t the ideal but it isn’t prohibitive.
He simply took the couple’s advice as gospel and scuttled his beach plans for the day based on the unsolicited advice of total strangers.
How often is bad word of mouth spread by unqualifed sources?
What can the business do to combat this form of misinformation?
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in Bad Word of Mouth, Lido Beach, Misinformation, Opinion, Red Tide, Unsolicited Advice, Word of Mouth | 1 Comment »
September 10, 2006
I witnessed firsthand how word of mouth can influence the decision making process.
Yesterday my wife and I happened to be in Sarasota, Florida during the Atlantis Space Shuttle launch. I wasn’t aware of the launch until my wife mentioned it. It was 11:00 EST and we were planning to leave for the day. The shuttle was scheduled to launch at 11:15. She asked if I had read anything about whether the launch had been cancelled or not. I happened to be online and couldn’t find any news about a cancellation.
We turned on the television in our hotel room and discovered the shuttle was due to launch in a matter of minutes.
My wife had lived in St. Petersburg, Florida during the 1970s. She said she had been able to see a Apollo launch from her home at night even though Cape Canaveral was 150 miles from St. Petersburg.
We both thought there was a possibility we could see the launch from the club section of our hotel.
We got our bearings and walked across the hall. We told one of the staff what we were planning to do. She got excited because she had never seen a shuttle launch. She disappeared and within a minute reappeared with two of her coworkers.
All of us then became excited at the thought of seeing something we had never seen before live – albeit from over a 170 miles away – a Space Shuttle launch.
Shortly thereafter the five of us watched the Space Shuttle Atlantis ascend into the sunny Florida sky.
My wife and I may have seen the shuttle launch but the other three surely wouldn’t have had they not been referred to the event by word of mouth.
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in Cape Canaveral, Miles, Referral, Referrals, Referred, Sarasota, Space Shuttle Atlantis, St. Petersburg, Word of Mouth Marketing | Leave a Comment »
September 9, 2006
In the Ted Nicholas book Magic Words Will Bring You Riches, Ted lists a number of practical communication strategies for influencing people. I have tried and proven several of his strategies work and now practice them in my daily life. One strategy he recommends is to mention you are celebrating when making reservations.
My wife and I are are celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary over a four day weekend getaway at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota, Florida.
My wife booked our trip and per Ted’s recommendation notified the reservations staff of our anniversary celebration plans.
When we got to our club level room, we were surprised to find rose petals spread in the shape of a heart on our bed. If I had only thought of doing this just once over the past sixteen years.
Her mention of our celebration plans have also seemingly been spread to all of the hotel staff. An incredible feat considering the scope and size of this property.
We celebrated our anniversary at the Ritz Carlton Members Beach Club. We were treated to a personalized photograph and frame which included the date of our anniversary. Not once in sixteen years have we ever received a complimentary photograph and frame of a dining experience.
On the second day of our trip, I noticed something which I believe has set our Ritz Carlton experience apart from nearly every other.
Every staff member wears a radio and headset. They communicate with other hotel staff members about our needs and movement throughout the property. They have even went so far as to have the valet bring our car around without our having to ask him to get it. Sounds pretty simple. Yet when you are on the receiving end of this level of personalized attention and service, you realize why the Ritz Carlton brand enjoys the reputation it does.
Isn’t this marketing and marketing communications at its purest? Identify and when possible even anticipate your customers needs and wants while also allocating the resources for their fulfillment.
Next time you are making hotel or dinner reservations let them know you will be celebrating and see if you too have a Ritz Carlton like experience.
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in Brand, Celebrate, Celebrating, Club Level, Communication Strategies, Communication Strategy, Customer Needs, Magic Words That Bring You Riches, Magic Words That Will Bring You Riches, Marketing, Marketing Communications, Ritz Carlton, Sarasota Ritz Carlton, Ted Nicholas, Wedding Anniversary, Weekend Getaway | Leave a Comment »
September 9, 2006
1. “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” Parkinson’s 1st Law
2. “If it weren’t for the last minute nothing would ever get done.”
3. “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.” Leonard Bernstein
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in Parkinson's 1st Law, Time Quotes | Leave a Comment »
September 9, 2006
Two men changed my thinking about problems.
Marty Chenard told me “all problems are the result of their system.”
Dan Pena shared a vignette with me about a CEO he knew who offered to pay his employees up to $250,000 for their biggest problem. When asked why, Dan said the CEO knew his employees problems also contained solutions to other problems his firm had already experienced or would experience at some point in the future.
What are the three biggest problems you have solved?
Can the solutions be applied elsewhere?
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in CEO, Creative Problem Solving, Dan Peña, Marty Chenard, Problem Solving, Solutions, Solving Problems | 1 Comment »
September 8, 2006
ID Magasin a UK based consumer behavior researcher has developed products for measuring which visual stimuli shoppers respond to during the buying cycle. According to Forbes writer Michael Freedman, founder Siemon Scamell-Katz says “fixation – the time when the eye is engaged by a visual stimulus – is typically from 50 milliseconds to 500 milliseconds.”
Scamell-Katz’s findings are consistent with what the most successful salesman have always known – “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in Anthropologist, Buying Behavior, Buying Cycle, Consumer Behavior, Consumer Research, Crack Code, Fixation, Forbes, ID Magasin, IDMagasin.com, Michael Freedman, Spyware, Visual Stimulus | Leave a Comment »
September 8, 2006
Jay Baldwin the designer of the Ford Econoline camper has created a new type of pickup camper. As expected, his Quickup Camper has met resistance in both the pickup camper and recreational vehicle markets. The ability of an industry to embrace innovation corresponds with its history of having innovated in the past.
This is both a blessing and a curse for the new product developer. On the one hand, industries which show little or no aptitude for creative and innovative thinking are by definition ripe for having their markets disrupted.
On the other hand in industries where creativity and innovation are required for survival each new product introduction can only hope to disrupt.
Product launches in either market have their challenges.
My recommendations for launching the Quickup Camper are as follows:
1. Change the name. The status quo will not willingly allow disruption of their market from within their market with their language. This rules out camper and recreational vehicle term mashups.
2. Clearly define the target market and buyer. Is the market for this product really the camper? If so, construct a new brand name from within their lexicon. Getting mature campers to embrace change sounds like an uphill battle to me. This leaves the 18 to 45 year old market. Since the product has a 21st century look, co-opt 21st century language to brand it. Campod, Pickupod or Popupod could get a lot of mileage.
3. Announce your new product to the media. Lead the audience to your website. Forward prospective buyer information to potential dealers to create your own distribution network.
Tags: Search Marketing
Posted in Camper, Campod, Econoline, Ford, Innovation, Keyword Mashups, Market Disruption, New Product Developer, New Product Introduction, New Product Launch, New Product Marketing, Pickup Trucks, Pickupod, Quickup Camper, Quickupcamper.com, Recreational Vehicle, Recreational Vehicles | 1 Comment »
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