As always, wise words from Jeffrey Gitomer sharing a creative perspective on how you could be growing instead of woeing your business. I count at least a dozen ideas in the video below that could be put into action this afternoon. How many do you count?

Labels: Inspiration, Rant

Inspiration struck and I setup a new store on CafePress.com with a shirt design honoring those who weren't allowed to make the Mix 97.1 to 97.1 The Fan transition.

Good-bye my beeyotches...
I'm gonna miss you guys!

Click here for a larger image of the imprint.

Labels: Rant

My friend @remerge sent me an email asking me my thoughts on Scoble's recent rant against Twitter's Direct Mesage feature. I started to type a reply, but then it turned into my own rant worthy of a blog entry... and here you are.

10 reasons why Scoble is wrong about Twitter DMs...

1. Scoble, your primary point appears to be that DMs should work like email. Everyone on earth already has more than enough email accounts. I don't need another one. DMs are fine the way they are -- private asides between mutual followers.

2. DMs are prioitized: most recent displayed first. DMs aren't meant as priority means of communication. If it was vitally important they would have called or emailed you or sent you a Fedex envelope.

3. IT'S NOT EMAIL! Perhaps you should simply make it know in your Twitter bio that you prefer to be contacted via email. Or use a custom Twitter background to indicate that you despise DMs and will never respond to them. Supplying useful info would be a welcome replacement for that tiled background of your smiling mug.

4. I've never looked at DMs as something to forward. It's a private comment. A whisper in the ear. If the sender wanted others to be privy to the info, would they have @replied? If I DID need to forward it to someone, I don't look at 140 characters as something too onerous to cut-n-paste into an email.

5. People still BCC? What happened to the gospel of openess and transparency? If you're out on a dinner date with one girl, is it still cool to flirt with a girl at another table as long as your date doesn't see you doing it? I no longer use BCCs. I am either open about including the person as a CC, or I forward in it's own message to a third party -- I don't hide someone in a closest to eavesdrop on my conversation. BCC addresses in email seems deceptive to me. (Oh, and DMs aren't email!!)

6. Questions that require more than 140-character replies. Brevity is the soul of wit. Either think of a way to respond within the character limits, or simply tell them they'll have to email their request to receive a proper reply. I doubt the sender asked their question with the intent to confound and frustrate you, but I could be wrong. I'm starting to consider sending a DM to you for just that purpose.

7. You can't respond to a DM unless they Follow you. DUDE! They can't even SEND you a DM unless you Follow each other! In my opinion, that's one of the beautiful things about DM -- no possibility of Spam. If you Follow me, and I check out your Twitter page and decide to Follow you in kind, I've given you permission for interaction (DMS included.) If I didn't find your topics interesting, I simply wouldn't have Followed you. If you're DMs are too frequent or annoying, I can always UN-Follow you (which will put a quick end to your DMs.) It's a two-way ability to contact. A person can't send you a DM unless you complete the circuit.

8. DM auto-responders. I don't know if there's a utility out there or not that enables auto-responses to DMs (if there isn't today, I'm sure someone will build one tomorrow.) But I know you auto-respond to people who Follow. Why not include your "DM hate propaganda" in that message instead? You can also include that sort of info in your Bio blurb and within a branded background (as mentioned above.) Hell, I'll design a free custom background for you if you just STFU about how much you hate DMs.

9. Did I mention DMs aren't email? If you want to CC people on a Direct Message, you can either choose to reply publicly with an @reply and include anyone you want in-the-know in an @ as well -- or -- computers have this really cool feature where you can select text and then hit CTRL+C to copy text. You can then open your much beloved email program and press CTRL+V to paste the text inside.

10. Moving DMs out of Twitter and into other systems (and by "systems" Scoble means EMAIL programs.) Good news, buddy! Since I first began using Twitter, you can sent the preferences to deliver DMs to your email. It delivers the message in it's entirety and you can then CC, Forward, BCC, Tag, File, Archive, and whatever to your heart's content. I saved this one for last, because I wouldn't have need all ten reasons to counter your own ten reasons -- this simple fact puts an end to 90% of your DM complaints (and realizing that DMs weren't designed to replace email should put an end to the remaining 10%.)

Making an attempt to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the tools you use will help prevent jumping to conclusions about what they can (and can't) do. It's like complaining that a hammer is only good for pounding nails and you hate it because it doesn't remove nails - but you never bothered to spin it around and use the claw to pry a nail out. Does the problem lie with the tool, or the user?

PS: Apparently I am not the only one who feels Scoble got it wrong. Fellow Twitterer @DamienBasile also voiced his take on the Scobleizer's strong feelings about DMs in this article.


---
NOTE:
I received a comment on Twitter that I was being a bit ridiculous in this response, in as much that Scoble's intent was to suggest additional features, while I was calling names. I don't fully agree with that assessment (IMHO Scoble's post went to critical, not the creative), and I feel my post was written in the same spirit. In so far that Scoble suggested improvements to the system, so did my own post suggest solutions for his dissatisfaction with the DM feature.

Was it sarcastic? Hell yeah.
That's what I do. Referring to him as a "Twit" in the headline was intended as a pun on the rant against Twitter, as well as a pretty accurate representation (according to dictionary.com) of what we were BOTH doing in our posts:
twit: to taunt, tease, ridicule, etc., with reference to anything embarrassing; gibe at.

Link-baiting? meh.
Will I complain if I get some extra traffic from using Scoble's name? Of course not. Did I rail against his opinion purely for Google juice? Hardly. If I agreed with him, there'd be nothing to write about. I wouldn't have bothered to post a glad-handed "me too" just to hopefully attract traffic. I could have posted a dissenting opinion in his original article, but I didn't. I used my own forum to share my side of the story and I don't disagree with anything I posted.

...Except that last line where I said he may have been "acting like a tool." I did remove that line, as I have no proof on whether or not he was indeed acting.

Labels: Rant

The best ass-kicking you'll get in 15-minutes.

Top takeaways...

• The personal brand is EVERYTHING
• Patience and Passion
• There is no reason in this day and age to be doing stuff you hate
  (...you can lose just as much money doing something you love.)
• Don't just "listen" to your users -- you gotta CARE about them
• Do what you LOVE every single day or your life and monetize it
• Hustle is the most important word EVER
• KILL IT!

There's some language that might be considered "strong." Deal with it. Strong ideas need to be delivered in a strong manner. Don't be shocked -- be in awe. And then use the information to get awesome.

Labels: Insight, Inspiration, Rant

Oh yeah, and it's an advertisement for OfficeMax.

If more attempts to promote products were more of the former and less of the latter, fewer people would TIVO past commercials or make fridge runs between programming breaks. Why don't those lame video web banners contain content like this? Why aren't video pre-rolls more entertaining than the content you're trying to access? Was there some class wannabe marketers took that told them advertisements had to look like advertisements?

Labels: Ideas, Innovation, Inspiration, Rant

Everyone has "that" question.
It's the same people asking the same question ...over and over and over and OVER again.

You make the answer to "that" question available by every means at your disposal -- You create an informational sheet and distribute it to everyone in the group. You create a document and post it in a Share drive accessible by everyone. You print out a copy and put it in a binder on your desk. You even create a keyword that sends info instantly via text message! BUT, people still come and ask you that damned question rather than using one of the (many!) ways of getting that information themselves.

I've long believed that innovation comes complete dissatisfaction with the way a particular thing is currently done, and from relieving pain. And believe me, that question has become a HUGE pain-in-my-youknowwhat!

Introducing the Dumball Machine!
The Dumball Machine is just like a gumball machine, except that instead of dispensing rock-hard sugary treats whose flavor evaporates after only a few seconds -- this machine dispenses the stock answer to "that" question (to which the answer apparently evaporates just as quickly.)

From this point forward, anyone bugging you with a question you've answered so many times that the words are like razor blades whenever you speak them, can now be directed toward the Dumball Machine. For the low price of 50-cents their question can be answered immediately! You can even include a free toy for that extra incentive needed to make them part with those two shiny quarters.



My Dumball Machine currently provides the answer to the standard sizes, shapes, and positions of web banners that can appear on our radio station websites. What information would YOUR Dumball Machine dispense? Add it to the comments below!

Note: You will soon be able to order your own custom Dumball Machine from www.DumballMachine.com!

Labels: Innovation, Rant

I don't even LIKE Paris Hilton -- but after seeing this rebuttal video to McCain's "Obama Celebrity" I just might have a little more respect for her sense of humor...

Labels: Rant

A recent "beerstorming" session with friends lead me to announce my prediction of a YouTube candidate. Not in this election, not in the next election, but sometime in the near future we will see the ultimate write-in candidate rise from one of the social networks.

The introduction of a "Social Media Party" candidate will be predicated upon the need for our current method of voting to evolve into the digital world. We need a reliable and accountable way for people to vote online instead of punching chads and visiting official voting locations. If I can do my banking, pay my bills, and file my taxes online -- I ought to be able to cast a vote online as well.

The video below gives you a taste of the future...



The YouTube Candidate.
Remember that you heard it here first.

Labels: Ideas, Rant

While ebook readers are nothing new, Amazon is trying to iPod-ize the process with their new wireless reading device, Kindle. While there does seem to be some updating to the old idea of an electronic reader, there also seem to be some missed opportunities.

The device could be so much more if only the Amazon Kindle would...

1. Lower the price point
Four hundred bucks? Really? An incredibly high price for a technology that nobody wanted in the past and flopped in the market, with more limitations than benefits in this new incarnation. (Really? $400??)

2. Fill the bucket
Why doesn't it come packed with content? Ideally, Amazon could include a gift card to be spent as the user sees fit -- but why not include a free magazine subscription or two? How about a hot best seller? Hell, I'd even settle for a few not-so best sellers.

3. Add Movies & Music
With Amazon hawking it's new Unbox movies and tv shows, along with their new MP3 downloads -- why isn't the Amazon-branded Kindle compatible with these other Amazon offerings? I see from the Kindle videos and photos that it has a headphone jack, am I to assume that's only for audio books?

4. Realize that blogs are free
A quick visit to the Kindle "blogs" sub-page and you'll see that Amazon intends to charge for access to blogs! This has GOT to be the dumbest offering I've seen yet. Amazon wants to charge between $.99 and $1.99 per month (PER BLOG!) for access to something you can already get for free via a half-dozen other devices.

And why can't I read blogs other than those on which you've put a virtual coin-slot? It's a wi-fi device with access to the internet -- provide some real value and allow it to act as my RSS aggregator of choice. Allow it to connect with blogs and podcasts (remember that audio jack?) of MY choosing and don't charge for access you greedy bastards.

When I buy a tv or computer it doesn't charge me for access to EVERYTHING (I can surf plenty of sites for free and watch DVDs I already own without picking my pocket.) Which brings me to...

5. Allow me to read books I already own
Hey, I get that you can't throw the doors wide and let me download every physical book I already own -- but how about letting me just download the ones I already bought from Amazon? I'd even understand if you put a cap on how far back I can go -- maybe purchases made in the last year? Six months? Okay... how about the last THREE months?

6. Stop pushing newspapers back to a subscription-based model
Just as daily newspapers are starting to finally realize they are better off with offering their content online at no cost and using an advertising-based model to generate revenue, Kindle brings back the bad-old days and wants to charge between $14.99 and $5.99 for monthly access to that which is (mostly) free online through every almost every other web-connected device.

7. Arrive at reasonable price points
Like it or not, iTunes is the defacto standard for digital content price points. If Amazon didn't agree, do you think they'd offer their music downloads for $.89 in an attempt to compete? Then why the heck are Kindle books $9.99 when I can buy an iTunes movie for the same price, and a tv show for only $1.99? Wouldn't this price structure dictate a retail price of $3.99 (or at most a $5.99) price point? Even the virtual titles available in paperback are priced higher than their real-world counterparts.

8. Let me loan books to a friend
My friends and I trade books all the time. Why not allow us to transfer books wirelessly between our readers? I'm not suggesting you allow duplication or copying -- let a utility "Move" the file from one reader to the other (let that DRM software work FOR you instead of against you) -- and Back-again (if desired) once the friend has finished reading it.

This was one thing the Microsoft Zune got sort-of right (maybe the ONLY thing), it allowed wi-fi sharing of songs for up to three days. Why not take the best ideas from other devices and incorporate them into your own?

9. Be a more compatible
Let me get this straight -- I can email my Kindle a document I already own/created, but Amazon is going to charge me a "toll" to process it into Kindle format so I can read it on the device for which I just paid $400 (really? $400??)

How about if you just make the damn thing compatible with Word docs and PDF files? I don't think that's asking for much -- I can already read those kinds of files on my PHONE. It should be a given that you can read digital files on something called a "DIGITAL READING DEVICE."

10. Add a touch-screen and stylus
The bookmarking feature of the Kindle is unremarkable. It allows you to dog-ear the corner of a virtual page -- but that's it. Why not allow the flagging of a specific paragraph?

Further, why not utilize a touch-screen interface (like 92% of other digital devices) and let me highlight text I deem important? Let the device collect all the underlined/highlighted passages into a summary list that can be accessed on-demand. No more searching for a Post-it note or faded yellow highliter in a physical book -- let my notes and notations become digital as well. (This would basically be a digital version of my Novel Ideas Bookmark.)

Why is Amazon making it so difficult to justify the purchase of one of these devices? It's like they've gone out of their way to recreate the idiocy of another single-purpose device -- the dreaded and debated HD Radio (don't even get me started...)

Here's the sad part-- I actually like the concept of the Kindle reader!
A book store that travels with me is almost too cool for words. I'm more than willing to pay a small premium (a large premium even!) for instant access to any title I desire, but there are too many other weaknesses in the overall vision of the product, and I find the execution lacking. I really want one of these things -- but I have to believe there will be corrections to these obviously flaws in a future version.

C'mon guys -- the last single-purpose device I ever purchased was a toaster. My video game plays DVDs and connects to the internet, my fridge makes ice and dispenses purified water, my mobile phone surfs the net, plays videos, and downloads music. And come to think of it -- even the lowly toaster has realized it better do more than burn bread to make it onto my crowded countertop. Have you seen the model that cooks an egg while it makes your toast?? (I think there's even one that fries bacon, but I couldn't find a link fast enough.)

Kindle is going to have to do the same if it's going to get added to my collection of gadgets and gizmos.

Click here to watch a video demo of Amazon Kindle.

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EDIT: In case you needed another reason to choose an iPhone over Kindle, someone just sent me a link regarding the fact you can read magazines for FREE on the iPhone. And not just crappy pubs. They got mags like Car & Driver, Men's Health, MacWorld (natch!), Kiplingers, Women's Day, Popular Mechanics, and Playboy.

Labels: Ideas, Innovation, Insight, Rant

In a brilliant act of confronting Apple with its own words (and then making them eat those words) a YouTube user with the screen name "KeeptheiPhoneFree" created a video mashup of all the third-party iPhone software that was effectively rendered useless when Apple released the firmware update 1.1.1.

The real act of brilliance was in using the audio from Apple's groundbreaking "Think Different" campaign. Listen to the narrator (who I think is Richard Dreyfuss) call out Apple's salute to "the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently." According to Apple's script they have no respect for the status quo -- yet that's just what Apple is trying to maintain by fighting the iPhone hack that allows for greater user ability by these self same "Crazy Ones."

So, according to Apple it is okay to Think Different -- just don't think TOO different from them.

Labels: Inspiration, Rant, ThinkLinks

My buddy (and fellow Marketing Geek) Jim Kukral wrote an excellent add-on piece to Steve Rubel's insight into the newly realized position of "Geek Marketer" in a recent AdAge column. Geek Marketer is as good a title as any (although I tend to prefer my long-running "Idea Guy" moniker.)

Jim agrees that the Marketing Geek role is in demand, but that most companies view rewarding this newly-minted marketing position with old ideas of remuneration. Jim says: "They [agencies] are expecting to pay this person an average salary. Guess what? We're way more valuable than that."

Jim makes a great point about most traditional businesses, agencies, marketing firms, etc. expecting to pay an 'average salary' for this above-average (and extremely valuable) new role. In some cases, this single individual can make a significant difference in the success or failure (distinction or extinction) of a company stuck in the rut of old-advertising mentality. BUT, it is my view that the true Geek Marketer isn't actually looking for a salary (average or otherwise) but is in constant search of the opportunity to work with cool people on cool projects. Never before has the cliche of "do what you love and the money will follow" been more true.

By combining the artist's innate love of "The Cool Project" with the savvy of a marketing guru, you end up with a Marketing Geek who understands the value of the expertise they bring to the table. They don't necessarily need to be paid a salary so much as rewarded in accordance to the value of the ideas and concepts they bring to the table -- as well as their ability to execute and implement those concepts in a successful (and profitable) manner.

The Marketing Geek isn't going to look upon a 'salary' as the thing that binds them to a company. It's more like the minimum retainer required for first access to their ideas. The real reward needs to be connected to the profit and challenge in making those ideas a reality. By all means, provide a salary (average or otherwise) when attempting to entice a Marketing Geek to work within the walls of your company (we've all got rent and car payments to make in between those world-changing ideas), but keep in mind money is not the true motivator that will ultimately keep them working for you (with you.) There needs to be a connection to the profit in the end value of their concepts, and the freedom to explore undefined and dark alleyways to find the light (and the profit) on the other side.

Labels: Insight, Rant

I accepted an invite to a new social networking site because it came from Hugh MacLeod -- turns out it was all a scam (to which he fell victim himself) and now I've helped perpetrate the problem.

If you just received an invite from me to join Quechup -- delete it. It wasn't from me. They sent email to everyone in my address book completely and totally without permission.

Scummy bastards.

Labels: Insight, Rant