From Steve Blank‘s Four Steps to the Epiphany: The difference between winners and losers is simple. Products developed with senior management out in front of customers early and often – win. Products handed off to a sales and marketing organization that has only been tangentially involved in the new Product Development process lose. It’s that […]
Category: Marketing
Dangers Related to Upgrading Customers
…from a business perspective, account limits like Basecamp has for the number of active projects can be a double-edged sword. On one hand it’s an opportunity to upgrade customers and have them pay you more money each month. On the other hand, it forces customers to revise their position, and if you’re not doing a […]
Gently Introduce the Product
Respect your customers, but gently introduce them to a better product: Oskar’s didn’t just bring in its own selection of hand-crafted brews, though; the tap line includes draughts from competitors, such as Left Hand and New Belgium. “We’re all about promoting great beer in general,” Gray said. “Introducing craft beer to the consumer is so […]
Steve Jobs on Marketing the iPod Touch
It makes me feel better about my own marketing efforts to read that Steve Jobs and Apple had trouble with the initial marketing of the iPod Touch: “Originally, we weren’t exactly sure how to market the Touch. Was it an iPhone without the phone? Was it a pocket computer? What happened was, what customers told […]
How Do You Prefer Web Startups Communicate?
I’m in the process of launching a new product and with a clean slate I’ve started to re-examine all my processes. One communication aspect I feel the need to visit is how users of a service prefer to stay informed about developments and news. Specifically, I’m talking about new features and updates. While there are […]
Bad Email Marketing from Priceline
This is one of the worst marketing emails I’ve seen in a while: Priceline.com wants me to fill out a survey for a recent car rental I made through their site. Simple and innocent enough at first glance. What really bothers me with this email is their reason why I should fill out the survey. […]
Corporate Twitter usage for marketing
I’ve praised Twitter many times already, but we’re starting to see more companies use the service effectively for marketing and customer support. Silicon Alley Insider posts a list of the top corporate Twitters worth following. At the top of their list are @comcastcares, @zappos, @jetblue, and @southwestair While many bloggers have praised Comcast for its […]
Changing the name of your company
Pat Matthews writes about changing the name of Webmail.us to Mailtrust: “The first challenge in the naming process was coming to the realization that we needed to change our name. Even though we knew our name was flawed, we spent a lot of time, money, and energy building our brand over the years. And all […]
Don't send me calendars when all I want is respect
I was doing some cleanup around the house this weekend and finally got around to a large pile of junk mail sitting on the counter (you know you have one too). One of the items sitting there was a set of calendars and a form letter from the sales agent of the builder of my […]
Customer experience in retail
I read that Circuit City, despite its troubles, was continuing its multi-quarter turnaround plan. Here’s my free advice to Circuit City – copy Best Buy. Yes, it’s quite simple advice. Just hang out at your local Best Buy (Circuit City management you may have noticed they’re everywhere now) and start taking notes. The last time […]