Richs Blog

Is Google the next mighty company that could fail ?

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-14T09:19:43-07:00

In the last six months Apple and Google, once very good partners, have jousted over acquisitions, patents, directors, advisers and iPhone applications. ... Remember that not too long ago Mr Schmidt was a member of Apple's Board of Directors as well. While the latest discord between Apple and Google is in part philosophical and involves enormous financial stakes, the battle also has deeply personal overtones and echoes the ego-fueled fisticuffs that have long characterized technology industry feuds. ...One well-connected Silicon Valley investor, who did not want to be identified talking about the Google-Apple feud, says he is stunned by the level of rancor he’s witnessed. ...Google Buzz was launched and still has a long long way to go to beat Twitter or Facebook and Google still has a dominant market share in search even though Bing has cut a small piece of the pie for themselves. So are these moves good strategic business decisions or are they driven by ego and a desire to want to be all things to everyone ? Mr Collins argues that companies put themselves on the road to ruin by overdiversifying, that is moving into business in which they can't be leaders and growing beyond their management's capacity to execute effectively. What bothers me is that while Google's CEO was part of Apple's Board they were already planning to go head to head in competition with Apple. At the very least Mr Schmidt should have resigned from Apple's Board as soon as the decision was made to compete with Apple. So one has to wonder if this is a battle of ego's or a battle for the strategic future of the online and mobile Internet business. Mr Jobs has a right to be angry and a lot more people are starting to question Google's moves into seemingly every business that has to do with Internet access. Time will tell who the winner is but an out of check battle of ego's usually results in a lot more casualties than just the people who battle.

Consumer spending up, for a month anyway. What should marketers take away from the latest news ?

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-13T08:16:47-08:00

One economist, David Levy of the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center, warned this week that the United States was in a period of “contained depression,” a transitional stage of debt reduction and asset deflation that will last “at least several years and perhaps a decade." ...But while consumers are growing more willing to spend, economists expect the pressure of stagnant wages and mounds of debt to hold back the momentum in sales growth. At the end of 2009, total household debt in the U.S. was 122.5% of annual disposable income, down from a peak 130.6% in 2008. ... That indebtedness has prompted some consumers to save more of their income to pay down debt, while forcing many others to default on loans. Be it increased savings or tighter credit, the result is that many consumers are unable to keep spending at past levels. But with heavy consumer debt loads and a 9.7% unemployment rate, some economists say February's big gains could disappear as quickly as February snows. "If you look at the weak income growth we're seeing and the balance sheet issues, I don't see where the fuel is to sustain this level of spending," says Joshua Shapiro, an economist with research firm MFR Inc. ...There are two issues that are holding them back; first, the media is quick to paint of picture of gloom and doom which scares consumers and second, consumers are still concerned that their nest eggs, in the form of their homes, are not worth what they thought they might be worth and that coupled with job insecurity will hold back a full force recovery. Yesterday Apple reportedly sold over 50,000 of their new iPads to US consumers but most people who are purchasing this product are doing so because they believe it can help them be more productive in a wired 24/7 world. While 50,000 units at $500 a shot is a great start it still remains to be seen if this item is a "mass market" item. ...Retailers are going to keep inventory levels lower throughout the year which will put more focus on manufacturers to deliver goods when retailers ring their phones to place orders. ... They are going to indulge a little bit more because although they are scared they also want to escape the pressures of daily life and going out to eat or buying a new flat screen TV is a great way to "treat" yourself. ...With interest rates on credit cards at an all time high for a lot of consumers I expect that consumers are still going to be wary of taking out the plastic and asking themselves "do I really need this?"

Twitter user profile: Is your audience using Twitter ?

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-13T06:23:08-08:00

Although Twitter is growing at a rapid rate, a new study from Barracuda Networks claims a relatively small number of the social network's users are "True Twitter Users." Barracuda Networks defines a True Twitter User as a person who has at least 10 followers, follows 10 people, and has updated their status with at least 10 tweets. After analyzing more than 19 million Twitter accounts, it found that only 21% of the social network's users fell into that category. The remaining 79% lacked at least one of the three requirements. Before jumping into Twitter ask yourself "is my audience/customers using Twitter?" (click to enlarge) Now keep in mind that Twitter is a great tool for getting market information on you and your competitors but it doesn't require someone online 24/7/365 to get this information. A lot of companies are also finding that Twitter is a great tool for their customer service people who can answer questions from Twitter users in real time but again the key is to ensure that people can find you on Twitter and that they are interested in contacting you to ask a question. I'm sure, for example, that using Twitter as a customer service tool would make more sense for a maker of appliances than for a company that markets fruit or frozen dinners. Remember that a LOT of people friend brand to get discounts not because they want to be friends with your brand.

Marketers most important buzzword this year ? ROI

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-12T11:49:29-08:00

“Marketing ROI” became the most important marketing concept, surpassing “Customer Satisfaction” & “Customer Retention”; “Social Media” officially made the top-10 list for the first time this year. While “Social Media” is viewed as even more important now than last year, it also remains a point of frustration; one of the “buzz words marketers are most tired of hearing”. This year, marketing executives’ frustration with “Web 2.0” terms became more specific, focusing more on “Social Media” and specifically “Twitter”. ... Unfortunately a lot of executives who launch social media programs are going to be disappointed with the results and they are going to be scrambling to prove that social media has ROI. ..."The higher the price of a product, or the more thought that has to go into a product purchase a higher level of engagement is needed". ...Sure you could offer tips on how to get clothes really clean or how to spruce up salads but time is short for a lot of people. Can you really see someone accessing their smartphone for an application on how to remove a certain type of stain ? Marketers have always had a wealth if information about their customers at their fingertips but they usually don't have the time or talent to get people to provide insights into what the data means in terms of opportunities. Marketing linchpins know that social media can provide a wealth of information about consumer behavior and they also know that they have to act fast to leverage social media insights. By leveraging the data and learning everything they can about their customers they can better quantify engagement without having to hire social media monitoring services that see dollars in providing just more data that people have to interpret. I can see why marketers are getting tired of buzzwords like Twitter and Social Media but I can also see that a lot of marketers are clueless when it comes understanding that consumers have more power than them and don't want to be sold. Social media is NOT going to save a lot of brands and a lot of companies are going to waste a lot of money on social media when they just don't understand what they are measuring or, more importantly, why.

Why you should be testing all the time and why you need more than one homepage

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-11T09:32:27-08:00

One of the missions of marketing groups is to deliver engaging web experiences that motivate a visitor to take a desired action. ... That means as much as 97 percent of a site’s visitor traffic aren’t taking the desired action being measured. ...This means getting your website in front of users to see if they can find what they need and feel that the website is both easy to understand and navigate. ... If visitors can't find what they want on your website in 3-5 seconds they will leave resulting in a high bounce rate. Once you have a good site and have tested it most think the hard lifting is done but just the opposite is true. ... Put simply, multivariate testing is the process of experimenting with different combinations of factors on a web page to drive a user to take action. Multivariate testing allows marketers to test ideas with real site visitors, letting their actions determine what does, and what doesn’t, work. ...You could for example change the position of certain callouts that drive business objectives as well as try different messages to spur the desired action of visitors. ... Confuse them with too much information and they will leave, deliver irrelevant messages and they will go back to search. Marketers spend a lot of money on search and therefore it's likely that all the search words you're using don't apply to every segment you're targeting. ... Today there are microsegments and traditional segmentation is all but dead but you would never know this looking at most corporate websites. ...This means that you need links for Facebook and Twitter pages as well as 800# and or eMail links. You need to answer customer questions as fast as you can or else the consumer will become someone else's customer.

Why I won't be purchasing an Apple iPad

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-09T15:06:23-08:00

I really believe that OS X is the best operating system out there but as nice as the iPad looks I just don't need one and that is the KEY reason I won't be buying one. There are a number of issues with the iPad such as it's inability to multitask, no camera and it's cost but Apple has not made a case as to why I would need an iPad when I have an iPhone. ... The keyboard is clunky at best and I don't need to spent $500 for an e-reader. ...A lot of people feel that the iPad is going to be a success but I would ask "what do you define as success?" Apple will probably sell 2 million iPads in a year and that should take care of the Apple loyalists and early adapters who have money to burn but too many people today are now asking "do I really need this?". ...Right now I am using Firefox as my primary Internet browser and Entourage as my eMail program on my Mac because they are better than Safari and Apple's Mail program. ... There are so many plug-ins available for Firefox that it has everything a user could want or need. Mail is outdated and lacks key features and Apple has yet to acknowledge the problem with Mail connecting to POP servers and consistently requiring passwords (known issue for quite a while now). OS X is getting left behind because Apple is focused on mobile applications for the iPad and iPhone. The price gap between Mac's and PC's is getting wider and a lot of people are upset at Apple's handling of the problem with 27" iMac's around video issues. Apple first denied it and refused to take back iMac's then told customer service people to say there was not an issue only later to freely admit that there was an issue and fix it. Like I said I am an Apple person and swear by the brand but the problem with getting on top is that you have to fight to stay on top and it's hard to keep wowing people with new products. I hope Apple finds it's way again and that OS X is finally upgraded to reflect what Apple is capable of but right now if the best they have is an iPad than The Street is right; time to sell your Apple stock.

If you think consumers are going to go back to their free spending ways, think again

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-09T11:30:20-08:00

In case you thought that we are coming out of this recession and that consumers would return to their free spending ways consider the following; ...-It will take 11 million or more new jobs to get us back to where we were when the recession began. -People are upset because they are mired in economic distress and are losing faith that their elected representatives are looking out for their best interests. ...They know that the big banks that were bailed out by taxpayers can borrow money at an interest rate of near zero while at the same time charging credit- card holders usurious rates of 20 to 30 percent. -People know that the government that is supposed to be looking out for ordinary people — for working people and the poor — is not doing nearly enough about an employment crisis that is lowering standards of living and hollowing out the American dream. -A University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment in February found that 60 percent of American consumers expect to receive no income gains at all in the year ahead, the worst finding in that category in the history of the surveys. ...It means consumers are both frustrated and anxious and as long as they don't feel good about the economy they are not going to spend us out of this recession. As a result of the shifts in shopping behavior emerging from this recession, shoppers will take a more thoughtful approach to buying, leaning toward more pragmatic and practical purchases vs. rampant deal-seeking behaviors. ...Products that consumers view as necessities, like cellphones, will sell more on features and service than an inexpensive price. The new Sprint TV spot, with the CEO making the pitch, for all included coverage for one low price shows that they have misread the mobile market. Sprint is known for having horrible customer service and people are not going to trust a carrier that is almost impossible to reach via customer service. ...As long as the housing market remains challenging consumers are not going to go back to their free spending ways. They feel powerless and one of the ways to maintain some control of their lives is to save more and spend less while paying down debt.

Companies don't want Linchpins they want sheep

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-08T14:03:48-08:00

I walked away from a corporate job because the company was NOT interested in doing what was best for customers it was interested in doing what was best to protect the territory of others. Instead of open dialogue there were endless meetings, instead of asking "what if?" ... I tried to make a change but rather than be assimilated into the culture and have the position become another job I decided it was time to move on. ...I believe that there are a lot of people in the workplace who strive to be Linchpins but either they don't have the courage or they have been beaten down so many times that they are reluctant to raise their hands for anything. A very close friend of mine recently completed two series of interviews with a company on the East Coast including the a presentation on branding that she was asked to give. She was extremely qualified for the position and could have done a wonderful job but because one person of the dozen people she interviewed has a slight issue with her she was dropped from further consideration. This is the kind of bullshit that is just killing American companies today. They don't want people who are motivated and can make a difference they want people who can sit in a cube and do what they are told. Incompetent managers are deafly afraid of these people because these are the type of people who could show what frauds these managers really are and thus they find an excuse not to hire them. This is the hard reality of working in corporate America Seth. I follow a lot of very talented people on Twitter who could easily fit your definition of a Linchpin but most of them work for themselves doing consulting because hiring managers are afraid of these bright lights. Until corporate America starts to put talent ahead of connections companies will continue to hire those that follow instead of lead and thus another reason why some companies are losing their competitive spirits.

Still a lot of really bad marketing and advertising out there

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-07T06:24:09-08:00

Progressive Insurance- I recently spearheaded some market research for a media agency to get some insights on TV viewing habits of consumers. During the research we asked consumers to tell us which TV spots got them angry because they saw them too much and number one was Progressive Insurance. Everyone is promoting "low cost" auto insurance but there was a very good article recently via Nielsen that talked about "why lost cost is not always what consumers want". ...Free Credit Report.com- Another area that really bothered our consumer panel was the use of the word "free" only to require a trial enrollment that required someone to give their credit cards. Free credit report is just such a service and on top of that you can't cancel online you have to use the phone where an agent spends a lot of time trying to talk you into staying with free credit report. ...More wasted dollars that don't get people to switch to Geico because they don't give you a reason that goes to the heart of why people would want to switch. ...Microsoft Windows 7: For a company that is so dominant in operating systems and browsers how can they continue to put out so much really bad marketing ? ... Try going online for help with a Windows issue and navigating their website or call the toll free number to get to an endless phone tree. ...BMW Ultimate Driving Machine: In case you hadn't noticed BMW people have changed their buying behavior and the gap between luxury cars and other car brands is closing rapidly. ...Their burgers used to taste like "flame broiled" now they just taste like..well, an average burger that is really bad. Forget all the bullshit talk about engagement marketing and social media for a moment and focus one aspect of marketing that hasn't changed for the last 50 years and that is :what is the reason to believe ? ...Maybe there was a time when that was important to some people but now saving money and making sure I get a good deal is more important to me. There is a lot of really bad marketing out their because there are a lot of really bad marketers out.

Creative use of advertising gets editors upset

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-06T09:14:32-08:00

In the last few years, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal all began publishing ads on the lower parts of their front pages. ... In April, it published a front-page ad for the TV series “Southland” that was made to look like a news article, prompting harsh criticism from media critics and its own journalists. ...The “Alice in Wonderland” ad, which also wraps around the paper, introduces a new wrinkle, lending the name and work of The Times to an advertiser. For that reason, some Times journalists said they found it more troubling than the previous ads. But in general, it drew a more muted reaction in the newsroom than the “Southland” ad did, and some of the people interviewed noted that the paper received several hundred thousand dollars for such an ad. “People are worried about what it does with the brand, the paper’s name,” said one reporter who, like his colleagues, insisted on anonymity to speak critically of his employer. ...This ad doesn't diminish the LA Times brand it's a very creative way to advertise a new movie. If, on the other hand, there was a fake front page with an ad that was disguised to look like a news story than that could be a problem. ...Some journalists take themselves way too seriously and don't understand that people go to several news sources via the Web when it comes to getting the news. ...The overwhelming majority of Americans (92%) use multiple platforms to get news on a typical day, including national TV, local TV, the internet, local newspapers, radio, and national newspapers. Some 46% of Americans say they get news from four to six media platforms on a typical day. ...Six in ten Americans (59%) get news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day, and the internet is now the third most popular news platform, behind local television news and national television news. ...

Microsoft vs. Apple in the tablet wars: Who will win ?

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-06T06:35:12-08:00

As you can see from the above video the new Microsoft Tablet has some awesome features and compared to the iPad it seems it is more user friendly for business as it does not require a keyboard. ... To be sure Microsoft has been the butt of jokes with the trashing of Windows Vista and their Zune audio player but can they overcome this negative past to regain some momentum ? Well let's look at some facts: Windows is still the dominant operating system within the work place and Explorer is the dominant browser even though it has lost some share to Firefox & Google's Chrome. ... I use MS Office for the Mac and even though I am an Apple person my belief is that MS Office for the Mac is better than iWork (Apple's office suite) which is once again in need of some serious updating. ...Hell they are going to sell that just to early adapters and the Apple people who love to lay down their money for anything with an Apple logo on it. ... I could see someone going into a meeting with the MS tablet and taking notes but not with the iPad which requires a keyboard. ...Sony is rumored to be getting ready to introduce a tablet and now that know what feature the Apple iPad is going to have they can ensure that their product has more usability. ...A good friend that I follow on Twitter (brandexpert) recently said on his BLOG that Apple jumped the shark when they decided to sue a company for infringing on some of their patents for the iPhone. ...-the continued denial that new iMac's had issues with their screens and then last week finally admitting that they had "fixed" the issue. ...OS X is a very stable and reliable system but it is in desperate need of update especially applications like Mail and Safari which are losing their luster everyday. ...You and I will decide which format and brand becomes the market winner and it won't be because of a logo it will be because the product meets the user needs. Apple does not do any usability studies because "they know what we want" but if they have indeed jumped the shark then what we could be seeing is the first missteps by Apple a brand that had the spotlight for a long time.

Why agencies don't understand metrics and why creative people hate them

richardameyer@me.com — 2010-03-05T11:39:18-08:00

Creative people are the ones that wear jeans to business meetings, have great offices with all kinds of diversions and like to think that the people at agencies revolve around them. Now that the recession has forced them back down to earth marketers are saying "sure it's creative but does it make consumers want to purchase from us?" ...A lot of companies have not realized that the days of big share increases maybe over. Consumers are too skeptical of brands and marketers claims today and it doesn't take much to get them to switch brands. Still marketers are looking over and analyzing IRI reports while retailers are saying 'want to stay in my store? ...It's not creativity that leads to satisfying business objectives today it is flawless execution on all consumer touch points and knowing when to pull the plug on mass ads that provide little ROI. Budweiser has some great creative ads but they don't make me want to purchase their product. Geico ads are creative but to date they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on various campaigns which have yielded very little gain in market share. What advertisers need to do is to ensure that the clients house is in order before they drive people to the brand. There is nothing worse than a great campaign that fails to execute on a consumer touch point resulting in a lot of people leaving the brand in the cold. ...Advertisers for the most part have failed their clients by failing to see the changes coming in consumer behavior and looking out for their self-interests instead of their clients. They have to agree on what the objectives of the campaign is but, more importantly, they also need to come to agreement on how the campaign will be measured by everyone in the organization including senior level executives who have to explain the marketing expenditures. ...