Archive for the 'Blog' Category



Lead Generation

We all need leads.

Qualified prospects whom we can do business with.

Consumers also need leads, leads to valuable, reputable and passionate companies.

The question is how can you put yourself within this wedge and help both parties.

If you have an answer to that in your niche chances are you have a business in the waiting.

February 26th, 2009

Deliver Insane Value

Do not just suffice with communicating good value for money.

You need to communicate INSANE value.

Where your customers go this is crazy how can they offer that? Now i’m not saying inflate values with ponzi values, offer genuine value.

If you can offer insane value each and every month your customers will never leave.

February 25th, 2009

Making a living off all of this stuff? Twitter, Blogging..

One of the number one questions I get is:

1) What do you do?

2) How do you earn money?

Since #1 almost requires an essay i’m going to answer #2.  

Actually no I’m not as that would require answering #1 which neither of us have time for (save that for another day).

The real question is how do you make a return off social media?

It is all about frame of reference.

Some Tv Ads are all framed around awareness, such that when you are making a purchasing decision you choose one brand over another.

Social Media works on a similar wavelength, that is by turning up and participating, you are putting yourself (and your products/services) in the frame of reference of those that also read / participate.  

Then once they in turn have a conversation or are making a purchasing decision their experience with you floats to the top of their minds.  

Why? Because they have had a real experience with you, whether it was some Marketing Advice or some chit chat about your favourite podcasts.  In such a fragmented world this is where the real value is derived.

Is this directly measureable? No but neither is word of mouth (unless you engage in just one tactic) but it is rewarding.

How about trends? Return is not straightforward, you need to look over the long term, over 6 months how are we trending.

So when you find yourself doubting social media, remember:

1) You are engaging with people.

2) They may not need you now but are likely to sometime in the future.

3) Once you have a relationship.  No one can compete.

February 24th, 2009

The root of the problem

I tweeted this the other day:

“The real problem 99% of the time is people aren’t willing to do what they know they ought to do.”

Tom Peters also iterated this last week, stating that he wasn’t there to introduce something new he was there to remind us of what we already knew when we started out in entrepreneurship but had lost sight of in the heat of the moment.

It’s more true that you first realise.

February 23rd, 2009

Accountability and Driving

I want to share a brief story from my uni days:

“I was heading back from the airport on the motorway, and a car in the lane beside us suddenly jerked to the left, forcing itself into our lane, nearly forcing us off the road.  Argh!! Five minutes later this same car missed the offramp so swerved across two lanes nearly missing us again.  I jotted down its number plate.  Later that day I wandered into uni, only to be very nearly swiped off the road by a lunatic driver.  The very same driver that had already just about wiped me out.  Three times, one day, same driver.”

The issue here is accountability.

Sure I can report the dangerous driving to the Police who may send a warning letter BUT what difference is that going to make.

Altering the general attitude on the road is almost a culture change.

Particularly in Auckland where I live.  Drivers are frequently rude, cut in, swerve, drive with no care for others.  As there is virtually zero accountability such people continue.  This continues on a downward spiral as it becomes more acceptable.

How could you solve this? Make everyone accountable to their number plate.  Register each number plate online where people can put feedback on your driving.  In fairness for each negative response you should have to upload a positive response for someone who was nice to you.

It would be a gold mine of activity, huge opportunity for novel stories to be shared and create accountability.

Benefits:

  • Suddenly a cars value could depend on its driver.
  • Accountability
  • Dangerous drivers are quickly identified
  • Culture change in driving attitudes

It would be nice to implement.  However could you really do this? I fear (like the recording industry) their would be a huge uproar and the dangerous few wouldn’t let it through.  

Thoughts? Do you think there is a better way? Or more importantly has a model been proven but in a different scenario?

February 22nd, 2009

Small Matters

Small matters.

Enough said.

In my wind down from Tom Peters yesterday, the underlying theme was that small matters, it matters more now than ever before.

Focus on small things that result in behavioural differences.

For example he gave the case of:

“Docs, nurses make own checklists on whatever process-procedure they choose, Within weeks, average stay in ICU down 50%.  Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07)”. (from Slide 74, download below)”

The next five years are going to be our defining legacy.  It is what we did during this time that we will remember.  

Download the slides from the Tom Peters blog, dig through them, print them out, there are lots of gems in there.

February 19th, 2009

Liveblogging from Tom Peters workshop

Today I have the privilege to be live blogging from a Tom Peters Workshop, I shall be updating on the Results blog.

Check throughout the day and on my twitter at @bwagy

If you have any questions for Tom post them here I hopefully will have an interview with the man himself this afternoon.  I shall post a summary on friday of the day.

And off we go.

February 18th, 2009

You know what I love about the world today?

You can come from anything anywhere and be what you want to be, which is you.

If you put the hard work in you can pull yourself out of any situation and get there.

The opportunities are there, the funds are there, you can just nail it and do it.

This is a bit obscure.  But really…

Equality is getting closer and closer, the internet is only flattening hierarchies,  I am fortunate enough to be born in New Zealand where it truly is a case of if you want it you can get it (believe me I know).

Just a riff about the world we live in today and in admidst the turmoil it is getting better.

February 18th, 2009

Fight or Flight & Time Perception

I am a bit of a Physics buff so always keen to read up on the latest experiments taking place.

One I saw late last year was on our perception of time.

As part of fight or flight response to a stimulus our body will shut off certain functions to divert energy and focus to other vital functions.

This most commonly occurs as flow or tunnel vision, where you hold a lot of focus on a task such that you lose track of time.

This particular experiment had a guy dropped from a large height onto a big net.  On his wrist he had a watch like device that was flashing a number at a high frequency that you cannot normally view it.

As he fell the idea was to see if he could see the number.

And he could everytime.  That is during a heightened response his ability to perceive his surroundings was much better than normal.

In fact you can watch the video here: Free Fall Experiment

I thought this was pretty neat especially in how it ties into Marketing and in particular usability. 

If you can change your customers perception of time through stimulating flow or enjoyment you create a strong customer relationship with your product & service.

(Extras for experts read my research on Live Search’s inability to create a compelling experience. )

February 17th, 2009

It's Friday!

Actually I fib, it’s Tuesday.

TGIF

People look forward to fridays, end of the week, the weekend is looming.

We also regret Mondays.

This can be good or bad depending on your perspective. I say flip it.

How can you make your employees long for Monday to get stuck into their project and begret fridays? What does it say about your workplace?

February 16th, 2009

Unlocking the flesh in Online Advertising

Tonnes of businesses unlock the flesh in a market, Google Adsense unlocked the flesh in the online advertising market, Ebay in secondhand goods, Skype in phone calls.

By reducing the flesh consumers benefit from a competitive marketplace.

Although there is a lot of competition in online advertising I still think there is a lot more flesh that can be unlocked.

Companies like Google Adsense, Kontera, Commission Junction will have millions on their books from the earnings of users who do not reach the payment threshold (which is a reasonably common occurrence).  

Their terms usually dictate they hold onto the cash till you cash out or your forfeit it within a certain amount of time.  You are never likely to recover those earnings.

My idea is for a charity or potentially Kiva to setup a programme whereby users donate their past earnings for these programmes.  

They then group these together and cash them out.  Alternativelly it could be a business opportunity, similar to the tax refund model, give us your account details we will get your earnings out and take a 25% cut, as hey if you didn’t do it you get nothing otherwise.

However I think companies are more likely to co-operate with a charity, great pr move for them, users feel great AND charity benefits. Win/Win/Win.

February 15th, 2009

What are you excited about?

What would you like your customers to be excited about?

Are they?

Why not?

I got an impatient email “When is the book coming out Ben?”.

I explained the hold ups but if you step back a second.

How neat is that that someone is excited enough about it to send me an email about it?

Think about the passion Apple fans have for their product do you have that? It is a worthy goal.

How can you improve yoru communications such that your customers can’t wait for your latest revision?

February 12th, 2009

The worst that could happen

You have an idea but are afraid to pursue it.

What’s the worst that could happen?

The worst is never as bad as you think.

February 11th, 2009

Marketrepreneur

Today I coin a new word.  A breed of new entrepreneurs.  
The Marketrepreneur.

Sure you can already think of a handful, Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Robert Scoleliser, Seth Godin, Steve Jobs.

Marketrepreneurs are astute entrepreneurs who understand marketing begins at day zero and build it into EVERY part of the organisation.

Being innovative isn’t enough.  Especially if no one knows about it.

February 10th, 2009

The Benefit of Local

The world is seemingly getting bigger and bigger every day.

This leads us to think we should start our businesses going global day dot.

Yes you should.

But remember to get off the ground you need cashflow, and local business is the best business to get for a startup, you hold a location advantage over your competitor, which is gold especially for a new business with unproven success.

So exploit the local opportunity then use this core base of users to then go global.

Remember that:  go local, think global.

February 9th, 2009

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