Monthly Archives: May 2008

The Mind of Dave Winer

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Dave Winer has a bad reputation. He’s got a reputation for challenging anyone who disagrees with him. He’s got a reputation for blocking people by default on Twitter.

Yeah. It’s the rule, not the exception.

See, blocking on Twitter is an acceptable action. I’ve blocked people that are so troll-like, I can’t deal with them. These are people who have indicated in the context of their tweets that Christianity is responsible for pedophilia, nearly all murder and bloodshed in the world, etc. While I won’t argue that Christianity has historically included bloodshed and murder in the name of Jesus and that there are sad cases of unacceptable sexual actions in the name of Jesus, that does not qualify for an ongoing, destructive attack on a religion that has done much good, has a significant number of followers, etc. Blocked.

I also have blocked people who belligerently disparage people unprovoked. But very few, and only after a long period of time where my tolerance level have been diminished.

Blocking is an acceptable action in some cases. Most people looking to filter noise simply don’t follow people in return and if it turns out that a person is creating too much noise, unfollowing is the socially acceptable thing to do. Blocking is an ultimate action that is usually only taken when there are no other options. See, Twitter is all about opt-in. I opt to see your updates and vica versa. It’s a “pull” technology, not a “push” technology. I cannot control who hears my messages, but with a block I can control who doesn’t.

Dave has opted to take the ultimate action on gads of people, and while that is within his right to do (the action is not necessarily in question), the perception is a different story. The perception is that he is silencing those who disagree with him. Like Stalin did. Like Mao Zedong did. Like Fidel Castro did. Like the government of Myanamar is currently doing.

Dave’s inability to tolerate those in opposition to him flies in the face of his political fantasies of inclusion for everyone. Here’s a tweet where, in broad strokes, he paints the Republican party as racists. Another one where he quantifies the use of “average white person” as meaning “racist” – more broad strokes from a guy who demonstrates his own inability to get along with people.

Here’s what Dave needs to understand. While he is, without prejudice, responsible for many of the technologies we use today – RSS and blogs – he is past his time, out of touch with reality, and quite possibly a lunatic. His inability to behave in socially acceptable ways pushes him to the fringe of, not only the social and new media space, but civilized society as a whole. His knack for building technologies that someone else has created and calling them his own innovations – whether explicitly or implicitly) his getting tiresome. See Dave’s Twitter uptime monitor of May 23, 2008 vs. Pingdom’s report from Dec 19, 2007. Also see Dave’s decentralizing Twitter “idea” from May 4, 2008 is something I talked about on Twitter quite a bit months before he came up with his groundbreaking idea.

So Dave, instead of building silly apps that do nothing particularly fancy and using Comcast bandwidth, why don’t you go re-inherit your seat at the table and write a whitepaper/spec for decentralized Twitter. Think of it as a protocol, much like email, and go from there. It should include SMS gateways, APIs for handing messages around. And for a business plan, make the open APIs accessible via a pay model. You might be on to something then and it will allow you to be productive as opposed to squashing dissent and blocking people for no apparent reason.

The difference between success and closing next year…

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The silver bullet for marketing a successful business”¦doesn’t exist. Sorry to disappoint you. There’s a world of difference between closing in six months and seeing year two come and go. A lot of it is hard work, timing, patience and the ability to adapt. I’m going to say this over and over again over the course of these posts so let me get it out of the way. Your marketing/brand materials are only one aspect of your business. Depending on your industry they could be a very big thing or the thing that keeps you fresh in your prospects minds.

When it comes to the marketing and design aspect of a successful business it comes down to three simple things:

  • A clear message
  • A consistent brand identity/message
  • The ability to see beyond what you like and into what your prospective customers

You have to simultaneously predict the future, correct the problems of the past and be able to change on a dime if the marketing shifts.

You don’t have to throw all of your money into your marketing materials, and I highly suggest you spend what you can afford, but make sure that you put your best possible marketing foot forward with each piece you put your companies brand on. The major corporations that you see on a daily basis put the same kind of care and effort into each marketing piece. You need a plan of action, a budget, a visions for your message, a target audience and reasonable sense of what you expect to receive; you’re return on investment (ROI). These things are established in your marketing plan. Rather than go over what’s all ready been done on Technosailor, take some time and read Steven Fisher’s Marketing Plan Series.

Let me put something into perspective for you. Coca-Cola historically has put close to forty percent of their profits back into the marketing of their business. They have 400 brands in over 200 countries and they have advertisements in every possible avenue of marketing. You can practically go anywhere in the world and people will know the Coca-Cola name. They are in almost every store, office vending machine and are a house hold name to people who don’t even drink the stuff. But if they are that well known why spend the money?

Because they want to be the only cola you think of”¦even when you’re not thinking about it. Because they know their competitors are working just as hard to get your attention. Because without you, and everyone else who drinks their product or who will ever try it, their company and product simply wouldn’t exist.

Do you think of marketing your company in the same way? Do you keep your competitors in mind when you’re working on your website, advertisement, elevator speech or whatever aspect of marketing you’re working on? Do you put a dedicated effort into making sure every piece of marketing you pay for supports each other while simultaneously keeping awareness of your product? Is it more than just a business card, a brochure, or a website to you? They are to Coca-Cola. They are to your competitors. They are to your customers and prospects. Your marketing materials are just one of the several crucial pieces of the puzzle that makes the difference between success and closing next year.

Effective Presence Marketing in Social Media

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“Presence Marketing” is a term that is being tossed around a lot more these days. Early Adopters (who remember, are useless) have known this for quite a bit now, and increasingly, we’re seeing later adopters catch that wave and jump on.

Presence Marketing is the recognition and exposure that a person or company gets simply by being there. Where is there? It is simply anywhere that people are.

In traditional advertising, it might be product placement in your favorite television show. An example of this is how Agent McGee uses the iPhone throughout NCIS. (It is unclear if this is actual Apple marketing or not – but any publicity is good publicity, in this case). Another example was the use of Cisco VoIP phones or Dell computers at CTU in 24.

In the online sense, it is nearly identical, but manifested differently. By being active on blogs, social networks or any other format that places a high dividend on visibility, companys and brands are engaging in Presence Marketing.

As an individual, you have more ability to be seen and engaged as any major brand anywhere in the world. In fact, due to Twitter, it is demonstrated repeatedly that simply being present and active on Twitter can create more brand recognition and marketing capital for individuals than companies engaging in the same space and not being “as present”.

Earlier in the year, I wrote about my friend Shashi Bellamkonda, who works for Network Solutions. NetSol, while they have a brand of their own and Shashi is providing tremendous credibility to their efforts, have a long way to go to eclipse, say, Chris Brogan, who has so much brand capital that we just call him The Broganâ„¢.

In another day, or another age, this would not be possible because traditional marketing skews toward those who have money, time or historical depth.

With Twitter, or Brightkite, for instance, little to no effort is required to be present and “seen”. An application like Twhirl can sit in the background and alert you only when there is a tweet requiring your attention. This allows for a small footprint on your time and personal bandwidth, yet provides an easy way to spend time engaging throughout the day or evening. You exist, you engage, you benefit – with little to no impact on the rest of your day. Brightkite and Twitter both can be used over text message, so you can be present throughout the day, even when out and about.

My point is this – companies can complain all day long about the investment of time that goes into using some of these tools. However, I just don’t buy it. As an individual, and someone who has developed a significant personal brand of my own, it is all about being present. If people see you – a lot – they are going to be more comfortable with you and comfortable with what you’re selling, doing or engaging in.

It is the lowest of the low hanging fruit in the marketing industry. Do you do it?

Valleywag is reporting that Robert Scoble is working on FastWork.tv with Revision 3. This will probably be another demonstration of a super long and boring video that takes too long to get to the point and then offers very little takeaway. Maybe Seagate will like it though. Imagine how much more time Scoble could spend on FriendFeed if he wasn't filming these insanely long videos that require too much time investment.

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Just like most Robert Scoble endeavors, the leadup takes forever and then there’s no content. [Source: Valleywag]

The Four Year Birthday Bash Was a Success!

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Last night we celebrated four years of Technosailor.com, courtesy of the Austin Grill, Livingston Communications and MyDropBin. I wanted to thank everyone who came out again, as well as acknoweldge the emails, tweets and phone calls congratulating me as well. Three of the four technosailor.com writers were present as well. Here’s a picture of us:

Technosailor.com Staff

Finally, Cayne Zimmerman took all the shots that are featured in my Flickr set. Cayne is a good friend and fantastic photographer. I’ve included a bunch of the photos here:

Animoto video as well.

It’s time to get Wicked”¦

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After much arm twisting, pleading, begging and bribing of Aaron, Technosailor himself, and Steven Fisher, of VentureFiles fame, I bring you the content whose focus is to help you get into the mindset of the visual side of marketing your business, product or self. Each week, I’m going to go over topics from what to look for, and expect from, a designer, the things you should think about for your marketing materials and most things marketing/design related for the new, or current, business owners.

Really the decision to create a blog that is geared not to designers, but people either in their first year of business or are just wanting to think about the visual branding of their company, all started over a couple cups of coffee. There was no real arm twister, or the like, but a general idea that this type of blog series might be worth while.

My name is Michael Dougherty and I’m bringing my years of experience to help be the translator between the business owner and the designer. Being of the rare breed of designers who balance well between print and web (there’s a world of difference between the two) that designs with a focus on sales and marketing my clients, I spend a lot of time finding creative solutions to help business owners, marketing managers and start up companies effectively understand why a visual brand is an extremely effective tool for their business that not only needs to be created, but maintained and nurtured.

To get it out of the way, the tone of this blog series will not be stuffy, terminology laden, or over your head. I understand that things like bleed, font weight, appropriate resolution for the medium and a wide variety of industry related terms may turn you off or confuse you. So relax. If those do pop up from time to time I’m going to find easily understandable comparisons to put them in plain speak for you. This series should feel like a conversation with someone over a cup of coffee.

So grab a cup of your favorite beverage, of course mine being coffee, and join me each week for a rare glimpse into the mindset, expectations and opinions of a professional graphic/web designer. I also look forward to hearing your horror stories, successes and thoughts on each topic.