A great talk by Seth Godin entitled 'All Marketers are Liars', the talk is about Permission Marketing, a concept Seth came up with. This was hosted by Google and is one of my favorite marketing videos on youtube. Some great concepts to challenge the classic marketing mindset.
As reference, I mentioned a personal Permission Marketing case in a previous post
There are limitations to making informed decisions regarding things too far into the future. It is limited by the fact that just too many variables, both known and unknown, play into the equation to make a well calculated prediction. Basically, the event is off the horizon, beyond sight and therefore impossible to predict accurately.
What makes me ramble on about this is a news item I recently read on Yahoo News regarding obsolete Gasoline Pumps in the US, the Y2K equivalent of mechanical machines.
here is an extract from the new item:
"Mom-and-pop service stations are running into a problem as gasoline marches toward $4 a gallon: Thousands of old-fashioned pumps can't register more than $3.99 on their spinning mechanical dials.
Many of the same pumps can only count up to $99.99 for the total sale, preventing owners of some SUVs, vans, trucks and tractor-trailers to fill their tanks all the way"
If you have a look at Gasoline prices, back in the 50's when most of these pumps were installed, no one could have predicted retails price of a gallon to cross $3.99. No one could have imagined a tank full of gasoline crossing the $99.99 mark. It wasn't short sightedness, or stupidity, but informed decisions made on available data (there was no OPEC, no Iran-Iraq conflict, no Iraq war, no Chinese economic boom).
If that can happen with Gas stations (over a span of 50 or so years), when it comes to technology, we play in a world of exponential change and insanely fast development. Which means, people who make 'informed decision' live to be proven wrong. Some are unlucky enough to have their intelligent guesses put on record.
for example,
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
Thomas Watson
Chairman, IBM
1943
“There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home.”
Ken Olsen
Founder, Digital Equipment Corp.
1977
Which brings us to the question of being able to predict not 50 years, but just 5 years down the road. So we question, had Google really set out to do, what they ended up doing? are Facebook and Linkedin visionaries or just plain lucky. And just how long will businesses in the tech world be able to stay on top.
If you step back and look at business valuation from the investor or share holder's point of view, you see how closely related these aspects of business really are.
Who better to explain investment than Mr. Warren Buffett himself.
This is a video of Warren Buffett's talk to the MBA class at University of Florida.
As with any transaction, you only make the payment when you feel the deal makes sense to you. The same goes for paying attention, you don’t go around making attention payments for something you don’t want. Enter Seth Godin and Permission Marketing.
A recent experience worth sharing on the success of permission marketing has to do with my involvement in setting up Pakistan.Alltop.com.
Here's how it went down...
Step 1:
I contacted Guy Kawasaki regarding Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo, thinking that would be great stuff to make a post about. It did make a great post.
Now lets keep in mind I contacted him, and not the other way around.
Step 2:
He replies, short and sweet, hence enhancing his brand equity. He also adds links to Alltop.com a new venture by his company.
Step 3:
I already know about Alltop, but this time Guy (or his standard signature) directs me there. Since I contacted him, I am clearly the target market
Step 4:
I revisit Alltop, notice the new GEO section, with a China.Alltop.com link. Now I want one for Pakistan.
Step 5:
I email Guy and ask for a Pakistan section on Alltop
Step 6:
Guys says sure, if you want one, build the feed list for me, and ill put it up
Step 7:
I comply
Step 8:
Alltop Pakistan goes live
Conclusion:
Win-Win. Alltop get a new section added, I get what I wanted. All thanks to brilliantly handled permission marketing. Was nice dealing with the Nononina team, other than the part where they got my spellings wrong on the acknowledgments section "Atif Kahn".
Would Spam from Alltop have had the same effect? I think not!
I did a post on Alltop and Web Content aggregation a while ago. With all the content on the Internet, most people don't knowing how and where to look for what they need. Google results brings in a whole lot of irrelevant results, at time further complicating matters. For the average browser aggregation could be a great solution.
I came across another such service called Social Rank, kind of a cross between Technorati and Alltop. What I found interesting was a rather aggressive take on the benefits of a aggregation site as apposed to good old fashioned searching (Google in this case). Have a look at their advertisement below, it actually makes sense. With blogs becoming an important source of information (and opinion), what does this mean for Search Engine?
Firefox 3 beta 5 (Get it)was released about 2 weeks ago, and I have been using it for the last 10 day or so. We all know Firefox is the best browser around, and seems like it will stay in the lead when it comes to developing 'must have' innovations.
Seth Godin recently made a post on 'Why downloading Firefox is like getting into college'. an interesting read!
Anyway, coming back to Firefox 3, it has a great new feature which I have wanted forever. I have a million bookmarks, which means I have to look for the saved link every time I want to access it. Shouldn't the address bar pick up your bookmarks, like it does your history? now it does! Mozilla has finally added this much belated feature to Firefox 3. Just like they did with tabbed browsing, spell checker integration, find (that actually works), live bookmarking, download manager, integrated search system with customizable search engines, and of course add-ons, Firefox again has set a standard for the industry.
A great feature, a great product, the only browser to use!
Dont be Evil, use Firefox!
in reference to a previous post 'Shift Happens' an interesting interview with Tarun Kharnna entitled 'Billions of Entrepreneurs in China and India' has been published on the Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge portal.
Most of what is discussed here applies to Pakistan and other developing economies, with China and India being the flagships, leading the way.
Seth Godin, happens to be someone who really understands marketing and has already stared to scare us old school brand managers about the times to come, the changes already happening, and where we are headed. He is leading voice changing marketing thinking. He also happens to be a great speaker, writes what is arguably the most popular blog in the entire world. A lot more can be said about him, but ill let you visit his site and find out for yourself.
For now, i'll stick to one of his recent posting Seth spoke about having too many choices, too little time and hence people making quick decisions and jumping to conclusions. this is as relevant to people as it is to products. It may be unfortunate, but that how it is, and therefore managing your personal brand becomes increasingly important.
The Internet adds a whole new dimension to personal branding. Increasingly employers 'Google' candidates and search profiles on Facebook (by the way, so does the police!). Try 'Googling' yourself, the result is what people may base their decision upon. Results may be inaccurate, irrelevant or worse, blank. It is your job to manage your brand, and the Google result may just be your advertisement.
Site Aggregation seems to be an increasingly popular way of accessing information online. Content can be customized for home pages like igoogle or my yahoo, where you can add in widgets and plug in feeds sources of your choice.
However, wouldn't it be great if someone did that for you. Well, someone already thought of that. In case you haven't tried one out, check out the oldest popurls.com or the newest one around Alltop.com
Alltop has a rather interesting layout, and great content. In my excitement of having been almost Kawsakied (Jenny, the blogess finds it disturbing that I am using the term so loosely), I asked Guy how I could have a Pakistan Alltop section created. Be careful what you wish for, because he replied by saying, sure you can have one, just compile the feed for me. This isn't as easy as it sounds. But thanks to Alexa.com, some great people at Synergy Advertisment and Rabia Gharib I was able to gather a credible list of top Pakistani sites. Remove sites without RSS Feeds, add some based on personal bias... and there you have it.
Alltop Pakistan has been submitted! lets see when we go live!
I was going to do an in depth study on the Microsoft and Yahoo talks, look into the market dynamics of such a large acquisition, its impact on the Internet and mind boggling consequences. Should Yahoo sell out to Microsoft??? Consider the organizational culture, the work values ... and so much more HR mumbo jumbo.
So.. I was wondering if the bid by Microsoft is fair, will Microsoft dare a hostile takeover, should Yahoo even consider selling at any price?
I could either do a full on analysis and come to a conclusion, or ask the man himself, Mr.Guy Kawasaki. Surely he would have some insights. plus if he wrote back, would make one hell of a blog post (way better than a Microsoft/Yahoo story).
It was worth the try, cuz the big Guy wrote back (well 4 words really).
our exchange:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Guy,
With the Microsoft & Yahoo buy out/hostile take over/merger/acquisition drama going on, how would you (if it wasn't for your "Bozosity") as CEO of Yahoo reacted?
Would you really be okay with selling off your company to Microsoft?
regards,
Atif Khan
Karachi, Pakistan
http://khanatif.blogspot.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
from Guy Kawasaki
to Atif Khan
date Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 8:15 PM
subject Re: What would CEO Kawasaki do?
mailed-by garage.com
For $46 billion? Absolutely.
Can I ask you to look at my new site? It’s an “online magazine rack” of popular topics such as politics, science, fashion, celebrities, Macintosh, etc. This one might be particularly interesting to you:
http://venturecapital.alltop.com/
http://smallbusiness.alltop.com/
http://startups.alltop.com/
All our topics are shown here:
http://alltop.com/
All the best to you,
Guy
-------------------------------------------------------------
Sure it was just 4 words (followed by a Alltop.com promo plug, cant blame him, he is a marketer)
But Guy Kawasaki wrote to me (I have almost been Kawasakied), and that makes one hell of a cool blog posting!
Conclusion: Sell Yahoo!
Last night I was watching BBC's techshow Click. They always manage to have something interesting on their show, though usually it isn't part of the webscape segment (seem to make it a point to find rather unimpressive sites.)
The last episode covered broadband usage trends, primarily the low penetration due to high costs in the US. According to the BBC "In Manhattan people pay about $30 (£15) a month for a download speed of 3 megabits per second (Mbps) via a DSL line." On the other hand "In Japan you can get 100 megabits for $35."
The USA is the largest and most developed economy in the world, home to Microsoft, Apple and Google, However when it comes to certain technologies, many Asian and European markets have left the US far behind. This reminded me of a presentation I once stumbled across. I have managed to 'Google' out for you guys. I don't necessarily agree with all the intended implications this slideshow makes, but a lot of it can not be easily ignored.
A recent event of such sort was the sudden media focus on Randy Pausch, a Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, who happens to be dying of Cancer. What really gets to you is the fact that this man is dyeing, and does not seem too upset about the whole deal. "If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you”, not too many of us can feel or act that way. Listen to his talk and you will figure out why he can.
A truly great talk with more food for thought than most of us may not be able to digest.
