Curiosity is not Enough
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 Posted in Business & Marketing | No Comments »Curiosity alone is not enough to get my attention. If you're spreading the word about something, marketing anything or just telling your friends—curiosity is not enough. Now I'll concede that some level of curiosity is always necessary. But if you're completely ...
Authors Without Web Sites
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 Posted in Books, Business & Marketing, Writing | 1 Comment »Earlier this week I singled out author Anne Lamott for not having a web site. But the sad fact is she's not alone. A number of noteworthy authors lack official web sites: Jonathan Franzen David Sedaris Sarah Vowell Alice Sebold Kathleen Norris Robert Pinsky Seamus Heaney David Rakoff Russell ...
You Can Change the World: Blank2Clothe.com
Monday, November 17th, 2008 Posted in Business & Marketing, Society | 1 Comment »Last week I yo-yoed and clothed a homeless teen. Here's how it works: Virgin Mobile set up Blank2Clothe.com where anyone can submit a video*. They approve the video and donate one article of clothing to one of the millions of homeless ...
I Picked a Fight with Guy Kawasaki
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 Posted in Business & Marketing, Technology | 41 Comments »Last night I picked a fight with Guy Kawasaki on Twitter. For those who don't know, Kawasaki is a marketing genius, former brand evangelist for Apple and current venture capitalist. He's a big name. One of his current projects is ...
Election Marketing Sucks
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 Posted in Business & Marketing, Politics | 6 Comments »I've complained before about crappy campaign web sites, but this year I think election marketing in general sucks, from robocalls to direct mail to those darned web sites. And I'm not the only one: Marketing guru Seth Godin offers marketing ...
How Not to Market the Ford Flex
Saturday, August 16th, 2008 Posted in Business & Marketing, Transportation | 2 Comments »Business Week has an interesting article about Ford's new marketing czar, Jim Farley. Ford has effectively been having an identity crisis the past few years, struggling to sell cars while it has a reputation for selling trucks and SUVs. The ...
Director of Marketing Insults Journalists
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 Posted in Business & Marketing, Twin Cities | 2 Comments »Heard a story on NPR today about St. Paul being in the spotlight for the Republican National Convention. The part of the story that stuck out to me was when Erin Dady, director of marketing for the City of St. ...
How Confident Are You About Your Business Direction?
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 Posted in Business & Marketing | No Comments »Those clever, creative and confident folks at Personality™ have put together a Confidence Evaluation that can help you, well, evaluate the confidence of your business or organization. It's really about figuring out if your organization knows itself well enough to ...
Youngstown, Ohio, Embraces Shrinkage
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 Posted in Business & Marketing | 2 Comments »I love this story of Youngstown, Ohio, embracing their dwindling population and lack of growth: Youngstown, Ohio, has seen its population shrink by more than half over the past 40 years, leaving behind huge swaths of empty homes, streets and neighborhoods. Now, ...
Sometimes Business Growth is Business Greed
Thursday, April 17th, 2008 Posted in Business & Marketing | No Comments »I'm always harping on the idea that businesses don't have to grow. The U.S. economy doesn't have to be growing by leaps and bounds to be healthy. Sometimes things shrink. It might be painful, but it's not the end of ...
