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I miss a few things from my past: Three Rivers Stadium was a magical place. I miss when holiday break was called “Christmas vacation.” I miss my buddy’s 1960 Ford Fairlane.

Now, I really miss Business 2.0. The magazine was bought out and then went belly-up in Oct. 2007. (I still have that last copy. The front page story was: “How To Play The Real Estate Bounce-Back” by the way. They really were waaaaay ahead of their time.)

But besides some ill-timed stories, the magazine was a source of inspiration for me. It was always good to see what kinds of inventions and businesses were being spun out and to size up potential partners for my own ideas. Each new innovation, it seemed, allowed my to dream up dozens of my own variations.

There are some pretty good substitutes: Wired comes close. But I still like the original.

I wonder: there are some firms who specialize in re-establishing old brands. Maybe they would be interested in Business 2.0. If there’s any time that we need a forum for business ideas and innovations, it’s now!

Any publisher out there thinking Business 3.0 now?

Accelerating Technology, Business Strategy, Internet, Online Investing AI business, business 2, ecommerce, marketing, wired

One of the biggest changes to go along with technological advancement is a paradigm shift towards value creation. 50 years ago, the single goal of most companies was to sell as much as possible, of whatever it makes. The customer relationship started with a sale and ended with the sale.

Marketing became a very refined and effective tool for jamming as much crap down customers throats as possible. Magazines, television commercials, billboards and even movies became incredibly powerful tools for selling anything. And, once the sale was made, nobody cared about whether the customer was happy or not, or even if they could be sold to again!

Then one day, a very smart marketer started using the money back guarantee. This was the start of real value creation for the customer. If you’re not totally satisfied, as they say on the TV commercial, send it back and we’ll give you a full refund! This meant that the selling company was taking responsibility for your satisfaction, and if you’re not satisfied, you don’t have to keep the product.

This is a very powerful idea because it removes the risk for the consumer. The interesting thing is that the Internet has made this guarantee of value creation the standard. From Amazon’s quick and easy return process, to websites and software that you “try before you buy.” As technology improves, the guaranteed satisfaction to the consumer improves as well. How wonderful!

So here’s my question for you: as technology improves, more people buy everything on the Internet, and value creation increases, how will that affect the buying process? Where can we possibly go from “satisfaction guaranteed?”

Accelerating Technology, Business Strategy Accelerating Technology, billboards, commercials, marketing, sales, satisfaction guarantee, television, value creation

Dan Heath and Chip Heath might not know the answer to the perennial question, “Where’s the beef,” nor, do they explain how people can be lured into kidney-harvesting operations, but they do know why these marketing messages and urban legends have a viral appeal.

They know why these ideas “stick,” in other words. And they tell you how this stickiness can help you build your business, promote a cause, or become a better teacher.

In fact, they have identified the principles that make sticky ideas so… well… sticky.

The Heath brothers’ book, Made to Stick, outlines the six features of highly-sticky ideas:

• Simple–make your message quick and clear.
• Unexpected–add a twist.
• Concrete–keep it real.
• Credible–add veracity.
• Emotional–appeal to emotions.
• Stories–tell it in story form.

You don’t have to be a marketer or a would-be urban legend writer to benefit from these tips; almost anyone can learn how to make your messages stick. Everyone–from non-profit leaders to teachers to CEOs–can improve their ability to communicate by making their messages more interesting and more memorable.

The authors of Made to Stick also have a blog.

Give both a read and tell me what you think.

And make it stick.

Business Strategy, Great Books, Online Investing AI ideas, make it stick, marketing, rumors, urban legends

Seth Godin has introduced marketers to concepts from Purple Cows to Meatball Sundaes. He’s one of the pioneers who really gets online and viral marketing. He’s a marketing action hero.

But, someone needs to introduce Seth to the truth about exponential growth.

In a recent blog post, Seth frets about the Internet losing space and becoming clogged up. He claims that exponential growth will reach a limit. As he puts it:

Nothing can grow forever, and exponential growth is always short lived. We’re running out of disk space, so if you have something left to say, better hurry. Once it’s full, it’s full.

Not so fast, Seth. There are several technologies, including holographic storage and faster routers, that are advancing the ability to overcome this storage-capacity issue. Generally speaking, the approaching memory issue might be just a hurdle. Once it’s surmounted by innovation, it will open up new sources of exponential growth.

Ray! Call Seth!

Accelerating Technology, Great Books exponential growth, marketing, ray kurzweil, seth godin, singularity

There have been few product introductions as infamous as New Coke. Most people either remember or know about the story of New Coke. In the late 80s, Coca-Cola came out with a new version of its signature drink. What he didn’t count on (perhaps) is that people were very happy with the original version. After only 77 days on the market, there was so much pressure on Coca-Cola that they can canceled New Coke and brought back the original one!

Sergio Zyman takes credit for the idea. He worked in the marketing department of Coca-Cola when New Coke was introduced. In his book, The End of Marketing As We Know It, he says that New Coke was actually a success! How is that possible?

You might say that since he’s in marketing, it’s easy for him to spin anything. But I suggest to you that there’s more to it. Successful people are able to turn failures into successes.

Why does he say that New Coke was a success? Because the threat of losing their beloved beverage was enough to motivate millions of Americans to create massive awareness for Coca-Cola. The company could hardly have had anything better happen for it than massive public outcry for its signature product. Indeed, when Coke Classic was reintroduced to demand took off.

Another reason that Sergio says that new Coke was a success is that it shows that the marketing department was not afraid to admit to making a mistake. Successful people are more committed to achieving the desired results than to being right. It only took Coca-Cola 77 days to completely reverse course and bring back the product that they had just took off the market. This was a huge risk because it required the company and the people involved to admit that they had made a mistake. For a large company at that time to course correct in that timeframe was very rare.

But success is not about being right every time. If you think about it, you’ll notice that successful people fail just as much as unsuccessful people. No one is successful every time. The difference is that successful people try many more times, and accordingly actually fail many more times.

So here’s my question for you. Do you think New Coke was a success? Or, do you think Sergio is just trying to make himself look good after the fact?

Success Coca-Cola, Coke, marketing, new Coke, Sergio Zyman, the end of marketing as we know it

This is probably too early for a book review… because I’m not done reading it yet. But I’m already sold on the concept.

Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs, by Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott, is an outstanding read if you’re interested in turning your business into an innovative powerhouse.

Using case studies and the authors’ own experiences the book turns marketing and product development on their heads, where they deserve to be. While most marketing strategies follow the maxim: find people who will buy your product, this book asks you to look at it more subtly: create a product that solves people’s problems.

The rest is resonance. If your product resonates with people, in other words, if your product answers a need, the message spreads virally and you won’t need a series of billboards, or a fancy ad campaign, or a million-dollar Super Bowl campaign.

This actually gets to my own marketing philosophy: create a great story and tell it.

The book gives a six-step process of finding, fleshing out, and delivering this resonating story.

If you want a little background on the book, the authors are part of a group called, “Pragmatic Marketing.” (That name resonates with me!) You can read their blog here: Pragmatic Marketing Blog.

Here it is on Amazon.

Business Strategy, Great Books, Online Investing AI book review, books, innovation, invention, market, marketing, product, sales, tuned in