How do you move?

I remember playing Contra, the original Nintendo game, for hours when I was young. Blasting my way through characters running at me with a six-shot spread of fireballs. O yea! It felt good to breeze through levels demolishing my opponents. But when things went wrong in Contra, they went wrong in life. I would become terribly frustrated, nervous, sweaty, and all-out emotional. Damn Contra! 90 minutes of pleasure and 5 minutes of pain that would would twist my whole world up. It even gave me nightmares. Now, I know that is a bit extreme, but I really should have just said, “Fuck It. This frustrates the hell out of me. I’m done.” Instead, I fought through it. Eventually winning, with a false sense of accomplishment, because, in the end, all I did was beat a video game. Who cares after all?

“Mom! I beat Contra!”
“Thats nice hunny. I’m glad your done though. That game was too much.”

In hindsight, it definitely was overkill. I wonder how many people accomplish huge things, way cooler than beating Contra, and think, that wasn’t really worth it.  Thing is, everyone overvalues the benefits of success, as if all of a sudden all of their problems would disappear. “If I had this…” Definitely goes through everyone’s head more often than it should.  So I say, “Stop, please. Your need to get (fill in a pointless objective) really just keeps you from seeing what is really preventing you from being happy.”

While self-help books seem to be filled with concentrating on the process of something, which is most certainly healthier than objective based thinking, they don’t let on that the process could be just as big a distraction as the objective.  You can’t have a process without a goal. You can’t have a goal without a process. So give up the whole structure and focus on the blocks which build these structures.

These blocks are comprised of the enjoyment of how you do things like learning, meeting people, and sharing experiences.  Once a process infringes upon the new, and you reach the repeat step of the rinse-wash-repeat cycle, take a step back, and ask yourself, is this really going anywhere? Am I becoming happier as this evolves?

For me, Contra wasn’t worth it. After the tenth time I restarted the Nintendo, I should have put the controller down and left it alone. Beating a videogame isn’t worth losing sleep over. I didn’t care much about beating Contra nearly as much as I just liked playing it, but still, 5% of the time it was getting in the way of what I really wanted - a stimulating, engaging, escape that I enjoyed. One hundred years ago I would have read a book, or played an instrument, possibly getting just as frustrated. Probably not losing as much sleep though. Point being, pleasures, and struggles, are the same as they have always been.  We just have new stuff that help cause them. I don’t want to be an angry, frustrated person, so I don’t bother with things that cause me to be that person. Focus on your hustle/swagger/style because in the end it is all you have control over.

We have to take the world around us and make it edible for our brain to digest. Taking in all of the complexity, and somehow deducing it into a form that is relevant, memorable, and actionable is the ultimate task for all people, especially marketers. In order to relate to someone else, we have to draw simple terms into a more complex scenario in order to create bridges in consciousness. For example:

Treat others as you would like to be treated, and simple golden rules like these have been derived from complex life situations. Yea! Great rule of thumb, but how come it doesn’t stand alone? If I riddle off a saying to someone they may think it is cool, but they rarely stick, and even then it rarely changes an action. But saying a golden rule in a story thousands of different ways allows people to capture the essence of the rule.

This begets the cycle of taking in cues from the complex world around us, defining it, summarizing it, and then retranslating it in order to pass on the knowledge. Each person looks at the world around them differently. As marketers, we need to describe the apple in the terms of whoever it is we want to buy the apple.

Marketers are the translators of a product or service’s reality. Marketers need to be birealistic. (bilingual would be a subset) What this means is that we need not only to be able to define what we are selling in one sentence, but we also have to translate what it means to each person.

As an aside: If  you do not translate honestly, they will catch on eventually.

Marketing, and companies themselves, have this problem. The problem is their fear to alienate anyone.  Me? I have no problem alienating people at all. As a matter of fact, I’ve been told by many people that I’m an intense person to meet. Soon after first contact, I chill out. My closest friends think it is an unconscious test of sorts. If someone thinks I’m weird, or I sense their discomfort, I tune them out, or even pique on them. It’s my way of finding new friends I know are laid back and can handle whatever is thrown at them. I don’t see why businesses should be any different.

If a company is afraid to lose people, it is trying too hard to be nice, and to cater to everyone. This means, your appeal is decreased amongst your core target audience. One of my marketing professors used to reiterate, “It is better to be loved by few and hated by many, than liked by all.” I don’t know if he originally coined that, but it’s true.

Think of it this way, have you ever tried to pursue multiple dates at once, and have been afraid to lose them? No. Well, there is a reason for that. Most of us don’t want to be in a polygamous relationship. One partner is more than enough.  You have to build the relationship, devote large amounts of time, and learn to trust one another. Same goes for your customers. If you know who you want, pursue them the hardest, and forget the rest.

While it isn’t necessary to tell your partner absolutely everything, they would prefer the most real side you can show, your emotions, your thoughts, the whole kitten kaboodle. It isn’t necessary to disclose these more private aspects to everyone, obviously! But if someone is trying to find out who you are, what is the point of faking it?

The biggest thing that holds people back from being transparent is their insecurities of alienating or being alienated.  Instead of letting fear dictate what is disclosed, use that energy to instead seek out more like-minded people. Everyone has their niche, you just need to find it.

The entertainment industry was, and still is, the most affected by the march to online.  Whenever a new medium is created, it starts with intellectual curiosity, devolves into the hedonic aspects of human nature, the dust settles, and practical application ensues.  The videogame industry is a perfect example of this evolution. It started with people doing math on computers, then playing tic-tac-toe, and now they are used to train our soldiers.

Today, business people are finally using the internet to learn about other businesses and help grow their own. In this discovery, they are also finding that they aren’t unique.  Someone in China is doing the same thing for a fraction the price.  It’s the same thing Metallica saw with Napster.  Pirates weren’t just stealing their music, they were discovering all the other Metallicas too.  What a humbling experience this must have been.

The internet has helped companies realize that they can’t look like everyone else, even if they act like everyone else.  Designers are being contracted through the roof.  I don’t think creatives could have imagined the demand for an original idea during an economic slump.  Business people are realizing the value in looking different from the rest of the crowd. Great. This is the hedonic part of the curve and practical application is still yet to be seen by most of the businesses out there.

What most people are failing to see is how other companies are using the net beyond aesthetics, simply because the execs don’t use the net for anything practical besides research, purchasing, and e-mail. So when someone tells you to start embracing the net, take heed. The net isn’t about what you do, as much as it is about what you can do. Now, start thinking.

Even though taking in knowledge makes you smarter on some level, it isn’t actually productive. Reading RSS feeds will not help you with a thing, if all you are looking for is a new idea. Every person you know can offer a new idea. So if you are getting new ideas from RSS feeds, and that is your single goal, you are missing out on the relationship building that is actually supposed to occur during an idea exchange.

RSS reading alone, is actually anti-productive and will keep you from achieving the same status of the authors who content you waste so much time sucking in. It really doesn’t take much brains to make a ton of money or get a lot of attention. There are a ton of dumb ass execs, artist types, and publicity hunters everywhere making bank, with half-a-brain. Most every blogger you read isn’t smarter than you, they just produced more. Reading RSS feeds has the guise of productivity, but it is actually the opposite. Instead you are spending more and more time, doing nothing of any value to anyone else.

With that said, recently, I’ve changed my reading habits. I only read RSS feeds to find things worth sharing. It’s actually made my reading more enjoyable, because now I can filter out a ton of crap, and read from a well defined perspective. The most effective way to filter out noise is to know why you are reading in the first place. My new goal is to be a knowledge translator and relayer, and leave it to the computers to suck in information.

Lesson: Reading alone isn’t conducive to learning and productivity.

1. There are at least twenty more people like you online, all you can do to be better is to raise the quality of whatever it is you are sharing, or share more.
2. No one cares if you are going to the bathroom, they will not care on twitter either. Use twitter to share quick notes of knowledge and links.
3. I am addicted to Google Reader. Acquiring knowledge makes you feel knowledgeable. On that note, your knowledge doesn’t do anything if it isn’t accessible to anyone else. Use Google Reader to find interesting things to share. Otherwise, you might as well be watching a soap opera.
4. There are good days at work, and there are bad days at work. Both will influence how you write. Drink a beer, blast some music, and let the emotion poor out. Blogging isn’t a scientific journal. Missteps not only get more attention, but they make people realize that you are a person to.  Let yourself mess up.
5. Get off topic, once a month.
6. Your not really that smart. Even if you are, people care more about your approach.
7. Get everything noted online, somehow. (I suck at this)
8. Online things are cool, real life is always cooler. Get out and enjoy life. Then come back to the screen and talk about it.
9. Things that change your mental state, makes for really interesting writing. Things that are interesting to write does not necessarily translate into interesting reading. You may idolize Hunter S. Thompson but you will never be as awesome.
10. You’ve had many cool experiences. Only 5% are worth noting. Learn to be a better story teller and everything will be a little more interesting.
11. Laugh at yourself, in the mirror in the morning, at lunch when you are pissed at your boss, and before you go to sleep. Embrace your insignificance.
12. Over-tiredness can lead to some crazy thinking. Just go to sleep or read something instead of writing. The worst time to blog is when overtired. The best time is right after waking up.
13. The web is an overwhelming place to dwell. But good friends allow you to ignore the chaos. Remember what the real purpose of this place is: to bring us together from distances. Don’t allow the web to further isolate you.
14. Smile, and have fun. I don’t need to remind you of your impermanence.

Not everyone is tuned into these channels of communication yet, but you can imagine what it will be like when they do.  The more people tune into this, the more it will enhance the disparities.  The people who are on twitter now are there for all the right reasons.  They want to learn, expand their reach, and give back to the community, and maybe they will become popular in the process.  The problem is that these A-Listers are also much more altruistic than the normal Joe.

In history, every time someone has come to land they have had high hopes.  As society grew, the constitutional government expanded its reach much farther than the authors had ever imagined.  Due to the needs of the masses for protection, infrastructure, and other macrosocietal needs, the individuals gave up parts of their freedom to allow the larger government to run efficiently.  Long story short, the more people involved in a group, the more power a select few who lead the group get.  The leaders gain from the masses and the masses find comfort in having a leader.  This only leads to more and more consolidation of power. The original plan for the Constitution may have been amazing when it was drafted but no one could have imagined then, what the government has developed into now.

We need to be a step ahead of the curve and learn to go it alone online.  Otherwise, your an A-List Cronie contributing to another massive centralization of power. The decentralization of the chatroom through Twitter only served to further centralize, the A-Listers.  This doesn’t have to happen online.  Bloggers need to become more comfortable in their own element, and not cling to these front runners seeking help and advice.

The good news is that everyone is still learning and you can still be a loner and make it to the top, like the guy at the stuffwhitepeoplelike.com blog. But by our involvement with those who already on top, we strengthen the disparity between the centralized and the decentralized.  Who knows where that is going to lead?

Memes, were the first way these bloggers gained steam.  People linked to stories and wrote about the topic themselves at their own blog.  The weakness in this scheme is that their are meme starters and meme followers.  The meme followers don’t get much attention since they are only further centralizing the original post.  If a computer program could piecemeal these memes into a coherent, meaningful essay, it would decentralize the central story and combine it with the weaker memes that ensue. Granted, since they push so much content out onto the web they would still show up, but they would be equally represented with the other authors of less mainstream content.

Currently, there is nothing that can pull together information for seperate sources and compile them relevantly.  The decentralization of information from the bounds of their own original web pages will be what these top bloggers fight.  The search will look something like this: You go to Google, you type a search in and you get back a written result story, videos, and all other relevant information compiled into a cohesive essay, tailored to exactly what you searched for.  The software will automatically formulate a meme to a search query.  Now, it is not just search results (which are exact copies of sites), but a fully customized Wikipedia entry, drawn from the collective knowledge of everyone. Instead of an essay being a meme from an individual, it will be a meme from a software program.  When this happens all of the A-Listers will be up in arms.  It will essentially level the playing field by quoting them along with other much more obscure references, both parts being just as relevant to the query. A-List bloggers do not mind when an individual, creates a meme from their work, but we’ll see if they are as comfortable with computers doing it.

It is the same as a chatroom from a communication standpoint.  There is one difference though, there is no room in the chatroom, it is decentralized conversation.  Instead of communicating by visiting a confined space, you are just saying it into the open.  Whoever is tuned into you, hears it.  Which is why famous bloggers love it so much.  They get to make more noise, and the more people tune in, the more people hear them.  In Twitter, the room is gone and all that is left is an ego, craving popularity. The more people who hear them, the more people link to them.  In turn, many organic inbound links come in from those who have heard, optimizing the A-List Bloggers’ SEO.

So you say ah? Yea, what your saying is obvious.

And my retort, maybe it is now that I said that, but droves of people are drinking the Social Media Kool-Aid.  What is actually happening would better be referred to as social media littering.  These A-List bloggers are leaving such big footprints online, that it tunes out the millions of smaller murmurs.   It is not that they do this from ill motivation, but from surviving off of being heard. (Which is also why they are probably more prone to depression. If you job is being heard, and you aren’t, things can unravel quickly.)

In a tidal wave, to an onlooker, it looks like one solid wall of water coming at them.  But from the standpoint of a humming bird, it could see that each particle of water was creating its own ripples on the wave.  To the humming bird, it wouldn’t be a wave, but instead a whole different ocean.  We are the ripples upon waves, we have an effect, but it is only visible from a certain, probably more personal, perspective.  But the waves are gaining momentum and the ripples are getting dragged along for the ride.  We aren’t being noticed at all anymore.

Part of the beauty of the web is that it is a fringe, separate from normal society, and most of all, democratic.  It is interesting to see how quickly people re-aggregate, work together, and prosper in another world.  It is also interesting to see how quickly, human nature kicks in and people return to casts of normal society.  I’ve heard before, “The more something changes, the more it becomes the same” It applies best to the net.

It was different, it was fringe, it was a democracy.  Now, it is an amplification of normal society.  People are hyper popular, and hyper last week.  You don’t just get to see Britney’s snizz, you see it, when it happens. I have heard before that the Internet levels the playing field of economics and society.  I want to be on record saying it will not level the playing field, it will only further all the disparities that exist in normal society.

Twitter and the hyperpopular bloggers of today, are the best example we have to date of just how quickly we become the same.  We are falling in line with what is popular, the next big trend, and hanging on the words of what the popular say.  I’ve heard this story before.  Where was it? I got it, it is called high school.  You can almost picture which A-listers would have been as a stereotypical high school role.  Now in order to get elevated to their ranks, you have to have an older brother who knew them, or they have to be your friends.

Online, I see so many me too sites.  Company’s all have the same mantra, “We have huge clients, lots of money, and offices and examples. My client is bigger than your client.”  To put the cherry on top, they say things like “We are unique, creative, and we can appeal to niche markets like minorities.”  Seriously?

Unbelievable the shit these people spew, then proceed to log onto AOL mail, watch Sportscenter, and bitch about a windows bug that has popped up since they bought it.  These people suck the life out of every orifice of my body. You really aren’t that different if you could so easily tune out the things that suck about your life. Mainstream people are really good about not looking for change but instead having it be so in there face, it isn’t really a change at all.  If you aren’t willing to do a couple clicks to improve your life, what are you willing to do to make a change and be different?  I can guarantee at those companies where people are different and have huge clients, that all their top level execs don’t have even an inclination of what being different is.

Things that you can say that will guarantee you permanent purgatory in the “not different” category, also known as the Dateline (or other-mainstream-news) mentioned this in a special last night and now I know it category:

• “This damn popup comes up every time I start my computer!” - Google it
• “[fill in the blank] doesn’t work, why doesn’t this work?” - Google it
• “I found this awesome [fill in the blank] in the Yellow Pages.”
• “[fill in the minority] would love this.”
• “We need a viral video.”
• “Kids love [blank].”
• “Why txt message when I can just call you?”
• “I just worked a 90 hour week.” - get a life
• “We need a blogger to talk about our [fill in the product or service]“
• “Young people know computers, we didn’t have computers growing up” - This applies to all electronics too
• “We need to make an impression.” - How? What makes impressions.
• “Think outside of the box.”
• “I didn’t know that was possible on computers.”
• etc.

To avoid being this mainstream asshole here are some tips:

• Google first, ask questions later
• Don’t overgeneralize populations of people
• Realize you cannot just turn on web understanding, like you can just turn on your browser
• Those aren’t just webpages, they are people
• Get out of your house and turn off the TV
• Seek trends and seek to understand why they are occurring
• You don’t create trends, you just start being different
• Don’t use lame business jargon, ever
• The tech guy already thinks you are an idiot, prove him wrong
• Understand that different channels of communication begets different communication, I say different things, in different ways, depending on what I am using

Stop talking about your big client, and start talking about who you are and what you stand for, otherwise you are still exactly like everyone else.  Follow this and save my sanity. Please, I beg you.

No one really reads this blog, despite its random hits from Greece and other awesome places around the globe.  They aren’t readers, they are just checking the website out.

I’m not knocking myself I’m just saying I realize this blog lacks alot of what it would need to gather a sustainable readership.  My improvement upon this will come no sooner than Now.

There is so much bullshit on the web and somehow people are becoming successful.  I sit behind my computer, no different from the next schmuck behind a screen, thinking their opinion matters.  What evoked this realization is that this question: “What do I have to add to the web?”

The answer: “Not a damn thing”

My mere participation in the bullshit conversation we call Web 2.0 somehow adds to it richness.  Somehow, if my own personality shines through, maybe some talent too, a couple poor suckers will even read this post.  I’m a poor sucker too.  I feed into the bullshit all the time.  As time goes, more and more people will start watching the same station as me.  Viewers will grow, and maybe I’ll have hopped aboard at just the right time, in just the right current.  Some people will be caught in the same drift, and I will be heard.

All I know is that silence never leads to anywhere fast.  Talking may not get me anywhere quicker, but it has better odds.  On the web, there is only one way to screw things up, and a million ways to do it right.

For some reason, it’s easy for me to write about the negative aspects of business.  I almost wrote an article discussing how Microsoft is a monopoly, upon which we are dependant.  Obviously! Negative things stick out in the mind.  They are easy to spot.  Negatives stick out like red flashing lights.  Screw them.  It takes just slightly more thought to see the good beyond.

To this I cheers, and to this I will write about solutions to problems instead.  To get them off of my chest, I will write a list the things I hate, and their solutions:

• Fax - E-mail, E-Fax
• Application dependant data - Open source programs that support open standards
• Microsoft - Linux
• Strange formatting - simple formatting
• Flashy websites - PHP
• People who don’t want to change - instill motivation; instill fear
• Apple - harness strong desire to be different and education on DRM
• Bragging of New York and LA - Liking anywhere else in the world
• Alternative style - wear something truly different
• Business-as-usual - same as people who don’t want to change
• Old hardware - money
• Pop tech - understanding what is really useful and the best way to utilize it

That’s it.  I feel better now.

At McCulloch, I’ve been working on moving their workspace, office apps and everything, to a remote server.  This move is primarily due to the fact that applications are dependent upon the desktops on which they run, but browser apps are universal.  The added perk of a remote server is that the information is then accessible anywhere, but this isn’t saying much since people can still connect to desktops remotely.  Remote desktop connections, to me, are like using a pipe to connect two buildings instead of using the infrastructure of the city to get anywhere.

The real advantages of moving your office from a single desktop to a remote server are:

• Reducing the risks associated with hardware failure
• Reducing the risk of software failure
• Reducing dependence on the desktop interface
• Increasing compatibility across platforms
• Hypertext and sharing capabilities
• Online collaboration
• Transition and acceptance of data in universal standards

The cons:

• There isn’t a guarantee for your data preservation, but, is there ever?
• It’s still a growing area so longevity of specific site is uncertain
• Again, it’s a growing area so the businesses are fledgling
• Our networks still have a ways to go before they are no longer the bottleneck in speed
• Transitions are never easy

When the dust settles where would you rather be?  You can be adventurous, supporting new technologies that are most certainly the future, or coddling at the nipple of Microsoft and Apple.  By the looks of Vista, even Microsoft has put their money on the death of desktops.

Let me first explain the idea. Instead of the barcode serving as a tool for supply chain management and inventory, it will assist search indexing engines in tagging the picture. For example, I’m wearing a Prada shirt which has the invisible barcode built into the design of the shirt, invisible to any person. I go out for a night on the town and my friend takes a digital picture of me that they upload onto the web. When Google indexes the picture, an algorithm recognizes the built in barcode on the shirt and automatically tags the picture with a keyword. A world away, someone searches Prada in Google Images and the picture of me and my friends shows up in the results.

The problem: First, while the barcode would serve to better organize information on the web, does it bring any advantages to the wearer of the barcode that outweigh the inherent loss in privacy. Second, do customers want to advertise through personal digitial pictures by default? The same argument applies for embedded RFID chips in your skin, location-aware marketing, and web tracking through cookies. While arguments can be made for these technologies as benefiting consumers such as: consumers receive much more pertinent marketing and easier access to buying things they want. The benefits to consumers only go so far. Companies have much more to gain from the shrinking gap between potential customers and the action of purchasing.

The Question

How is a company supposed to know how far to push their businesses’ potential relationship with customers?

In a nutshell realize you’re appearing at a party uninvited. Companies seem to be fixated on finding the characteristics that exemplify their target customer. These characteristics are often based around location, pay, and other demographics. This is the equivalent to a stranger, walking up to you at a huge party and assuming you have a connection because you’re dressed similarly. This approach may work in a smaller setting, but in reality, not only are they uninvited, but you are standing next to millions of other people who are uninvited and doing the same thing. In the end you just want to have fun with your friends.

There is a better way to meet people. At a party, have your own fun. If someone is engaging others about you, or they are outright engaging you, you participate. Anything more is a nuisance and too intrusive which will lead to people tuning you out, or worse, getting downright angry.

New Technologies

This may be a ‘duh!’ moment. Saying consumers decide how far a technology and products will go is pretty obvious. For some reason, marketers do not seem to get it. Every time a new technology is introduced, the same discussion pops up - how do we take advantage of this?

New technologies are like the small party. Marketers can make a much larger impact on the target market, but the effects will be negative if they are looking to take advantage. Marketers may even be able to provide the drinks and music, but if they don’t blend in to the party, they will be ostracized, dilute their image, leave a negative impression, and also negatively impact the progression of the party into the future. In a nutshell, blend in, the exact opposite approach from the big party. Otherwise, if you influence the party to much, you’ll loose your target market in the mix.

My deconstruction of the digital barcode made me realize, new free technologies will have to be introduced through a grassroots interest in the abilities they offer. Those who seek, create, and use new technologies are more likely than mainstream consumers, to pay for the service. Pioneers are willing to invest more in order to keep new tech services independent, exclusive, and ad-free. Marketing supported technologies, such as GPS paid for by ads, would have to be demanded by, and deployed to, a very large mass of people to reach a break-even point.

The ‘freeness’ of services on the net serves to attract the masses but it doesn’t work well in a tech-push scenario. For ‘free’ to work a massive pull from the market must already exist. Unfortunately, there isn’t time to wait around on the net. The creators of the new technologies must try to predict future demands, despite only a glimmer of present demand.

I’m curious to see what all these internet start-up companies are projecting as break-even points, or better yet, what is the critical mass they are trying to achieve. Something tells me there will be a lot of marketers leaving the party with their heads down in the next couple years.

“I’m not sure whether or not we want to build right now. I’m afraid, if we hire a contractor, they would be more likely to cut corners to save money. Not only would the management look for ways to save but so would the individuals involved with building the house.”

For the past three weeks, I’ve been searching for work in the Atlanta area. I have many reasons for making the plunge from the comfort of my home in Cleveland down to Atlanta. More than anything, I need a place that offers more opportunity. Unfortunately, my timing seems a bit off. In leaving one of the hardest hit areas of the sub-prime loan crisis and real-estate bubble, I’ve come to realize the psychological shock wave has spread much further. Even in markets with some of the highest growth in the country, management has an uneasiness in their gut from what they are reading in the news, hearing on the radio, and watching on television.

Everyone seems to be insecure at the moment. More specifically, they are concerned about the future outcome of investments. Not such a good area for a recent college grad, seeking entry-level employment to be caught in. I am one of the most insecure investments a company can make. Management uses time and resources, which means money, on a person that has no guarantee of yielding any present or future benefits.

The downward spiral, through my eyes, looks something like this:

• Consumers hold onto money because they are not sure their investment is optimal.
• Management can see areas of decreased sales, or merely forecast that a decrease will occur because of more uncertainty of growth.
• Hiring is tapered back, if not put on hold. Or worse, layoffs, possibly all-out cutbacks occur.
• Unemployment rises.
• People hold onto money even more.
• Inflation occurs at every step of the game because people view the things they have as more valuable than the money being offered.

I’m not arguing economics, I don’t know economics very well. To confirm my ignorance I will ask two economics majors to critique this argument in the comments. I’m trying to argue psychology.

Its easy to see who the major players are in building and loosing confidence are; the government, the media, and your social networks are probably heavy hitters. But there is a more subtle variable that has has a direct, immediate effect on how you think of your money. Cheap prices.

Right now the best thing businesses can do to restore consumer confidence is to drop prices. The last step of my spiral is the most important to ending the cycle. Businesses need, more than anything, to slash prices and to adjust their processes while they still have a buffer. The buffer between now and when prices are forced to adjust by the market will allow companies some elbow room for testing different pricing schemes. It will also give them time to streamline inefficiencies, draft up new plans, and apply other practices that have been sitting in archives and business books for rainy days.

Nothing makes consumers more confident than when they feel rich because their money can go far. Companies cannot afford to wait for better governance, media optimism, or people to just feel good without anything having changed. What needs to change is business. Pull money away from all forms of marketing but research and use the savings to compensate for the adjustment. Maybe its a good thing I haven’t found work yet. It’s probably occurring already, but I haven’t noticed…

yet.

Though Facebook started off as a social networking site, I don’t think they are really helping me network better than anyone in the past if they don’t have a plan that can last beyond the next fad website. Monetization is turning out to be quite the task for these social networks. In realizing they have a need to generate revenue, social networks that started out with the goal of designing a friendly user interface to allow users to connect and share with other users in new ways, have lost their core value that drove people to their site in the first place. The need to monetize is obvious to anyone who likes to eat, but hoarding information and users doesn’t help social networks achieve this goal better than pushing connectivity further. For example, users have to go to Facebook.com to connect to one another. I put profile information in, for the hundredth time, and start reconnecting with and making new friends, which is what I did on AIM ten years ago and have continued to do for every new social networking site since then.

So how about social networking sites giving us control over our friends, our profile, and they can just HOST MY NETWORK, instead of insisting that it is THEIR network? Facebook and others aren’t helping me connect to anything beyond their website and the widgets that they monetize through monopolizing code. While widgets allow smaller companies to put their stakes in a larger company’s soil, it isn’t opening up new connectivity for users. It is just giving other companies more connectivity to TAKE your information.

I want my friends to be with me everywhere I go online. I want a detailed profile that I can choose to GIVE to various websites I visit. After all, these are my friends, with loyalty to ME, not the likes of Facebook. They go where I go and if Facebook loses me, my friends will follow. Not because I said so, but because Facebook made them believe they were connecting people, not just now, but into the future as well. I’m sick of filling out profiles, I’m sick of making the same friends over and over. All these sites need to do is standardize my friends as a hosted OPML file that acts as a permanent address book, HOST my resume, HOST my RSS OPML file, HOST my personal information. I want to sign onto any service and start communicating with the same friends that I have on LinkedIn and Doostang. I do not want to have to enter my age, address, phone number, and credit card info ever again. It is possible for Facebook to do this with the position they are in, but instead, they are busy conjuring up new ways of taking my information for money. I used to believe Facebook was a pioneer in networking, helping me to find friends, but I learned they don’t help me KEEP them. Until Facebook sets industry standards for HOSTING (not owning) my life, I don’t believe they will be around much longer.

There are millions of websites and articles found around the internet that discuss the new style of marketing and describe peers more in depth. They do it much better than I can. I don’t even want to provide the links to the articles, not because of laziness, but because you need to live on the internet to understand it. The internet is like a new world that needs to be experienced and traveled before you understand the people, culture, and language. Articles describing the changes and new practices will only help you to better summarize your experience. Without an online experience, the words do not mean much. New rules may not seem to apply since old school marketing still works for consumers, but in the long-term, you will loose to those who understand peers. I am not creating a new way of business interaction on the internet, nor am I involved in any current revolutionary process. I am simply following the cues of others and taking their word for it. My expertise comes from the fact that I am a peer (enlightened consumer) and I know what works for me.

Consumer 2 Business will serve to help you understand the paradigm shift that is taking place through the eyes of a peer. If I accomplish my goals, you will gain a deeper understanding of your current marketing and learn how to develop long term relationships with peers.

1. Be silly and enjoy the unnecessary - GTD and other approaches to work are great for a portion of the day. The rest of the day you shouldn’t have to be as concerned about being so efficient. We aren’t machines. Read your daily horoscope, apply your life to a poem, or simply play some ridiculous music loudly. The horoscope isn’t true, the poem is too deep, and loud music doesn’t make a difference after all, right?
2. Researching is fun - Or at least it should be. As marketers we have an obligation to be constantly in touch. I don’t mean double checking your Tréo. I mean we need to be in touch with the world beyond ourselves. While our greatest source of information is within those around us, our second greatest source is beyond our social networks. Take time everyday to learn something new from people completely separate from your life. This little extra could be what gives you an edge in your job.
3. Change a habit every couple weeks - While people are creatures of comfort, marketers do not have that luxury. The more habits we are locked into, whatever they may be, somehow prevent you from doing something different. The more locked in we are to physical habits, the more removed we are from the mental stimulation of change. We need to always be on our toes. You think cycling is a good habit? There are at least 20 more activities with the same benefits. Seek constant change or your marketing will become stale.
4. Take a moment every day to reflect on your core - What makes you happy in your job? Pursue altruistic goals. This doesn’t apply only to yourself but also to the people around you. Know what makes your friends, coworkers, and family happy. Finally, figure out the best way to balance these goals. Put yourself first and move down the latter. Read your personal mission every day before you start work. This way, every moment of the day, you will know why you are doing, what you are doing (it may also make you reconsider whether a task is worth it or not).

The best marketers are also the best at targeting. They target core emotions, beliefs, and wants. We can achieve this through being more in touch with our own and by shedding those that weigh us down. Reflect, know why, learn, experiment, and be ridiculous. There are many ways to the end, but it always helps to be told that one extra time to, “Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” - Henry David Thoreau

I use Verizon’s VZ Navigator on my phone almost religiously, and it costs roughly $10/month. I assume most people who read blogs are also aware of how GPS navigation systems work and their common features. A feature I use often is category search. For example, if I want to find the nearest café, I can search restaurants -> cafés, and it will list the nearest café. To track how often I search in a category should be an easy piece of programming. Recognized search trends can be databased by Verizon.

With the information of a user’s GPS search preferences, Verizon’s software can create a personal profile and display businesses within their proximity that the GPS users are most likely to use. For instance, a business person is going to see a client and, along their route, in a section on the GPS, advertisement banners show up when the potential customer is within a certain proximity. The person becomes interested, and, by clicking on a picture of a business offer, they receive the quickest directions to that place, phone number included.

Navigation systems can become completely free, paid for by advertisers. The businesses pay Verizon to have their ad appear. A pay scale based on location, relevance to profile, and size of the proximity, would determine the cost of the advertisement. Businesses benefit because their targeted consumers receive an advertisement during critical marketing situations, capitalizing on the consumers location. Consumers benefit because the free navigation allowing them to receive information specific to their lifestyle is available. No longer will GPS systems be simply a navigation tool but a perfect link between consumers and businesses.

Do you think your business is GPS ready?

Facebook still has options for raising revenue other than venture funding. One of these options is product tagging in pictures. Product tagging in Facebook pictures could offer Facebook some financial independence and expand their web 2.0 offerings.

Product Tagging In Facebook Pictures

When users upload a picture on Facebook, they can also add tags to a frame and describe the content within the picture. If a user’s Facebook friend is tagged in a picture, the tag becomes a hyperlink, allowing easy navigation to the tagged friend’s profile. Facebook should expand upon this feature by allowing businesses to create profiles. If a user decides to tag a product, brand, or place, then it can become a hyperlink listed below the pictures. A business could help facilitate the laborious task of picture tagging by giving special promotions and offerings to the Facebook users who tag their products in pictures. By implementing product tagging, your friends’ pictures would become a personal interactive billboard.

Example: A bar that my friend took her picture in looks cool. I click the bar’s tag that was automatically generated by the picture’s GPS metadata (the GPS feature on cameras isn’t yet widespread but it will be soon). By clicking the tag, I’m taken to a bar’s Facebook profile containing it’s GPS location data. The profile also has the link to the bar’s homepage, personal notes its been mentioned in, videos people took there, other people’s pictures who have the location tagged. In turn, I get a much clearer idea of the crowd the place attracts through the friends of the business. Users notes allow me to read peoples’ memories, opinions, and experiences relating to the place. Through pictures, I can see it from almost every angle. These features are all centrally located on the bar’s profile. The same concept applies to products. I can see how people are using a product and what kind of people are attracted to the product, etc.

The implementation of product tagging would give everyone something to gain:

Businesses pay to create a profile receiving a torrent of data allowing them to see how their business is being portrayed by Facebook users. To make information more presentable, they could also add an analytics application, like Google’s Analytics, that allows them to track trends and quantitative data, adding to the richness of the information they receive. A business is also able to position their products amongst the friends of Facebookers in a non-obtrusive way. I can’t even begin to imagine how much more effective a selling tool a friends picture would be as compared to an online banner.

Facebook generates a whole ton of revenue because the marketing is so effective businesses are willing to pay extravagant prices to have a profile.

The users benefit the most. We get deals for tagging things we already use, access to our friends things (example: that shirt looks cute, I wonder where she got it?) and every piece of information becomes subtly incorporated into our lives. Businesses that we have developed a bond with can now be considered our friends. We are allowed a whole new level of connectivity with the businesses that impact our lives.

If this hasn’t been done already, it will be soon. I just hope Facebook is the social network platform that offers it (or re-offers it).

Privacy Concerns

This idea will meet with some resistance by those who yell, “What about privacy?” Times are changing and that should go without saying. My generation has become conditioned to being tracked, and this has made us much more comfortable with divulging things that are revered as private by other people. We have been held more accountable for our actions from a younger age, and we’re viewed through a much more observing lens. After all, my thirteen year old brother has a cellphone that can be traced on a map and connected to a GPS navigator with a Verizon application. He’ll also have taken around 10 standardized tests that have traced his academic progress by the time he reaches college.

As we move into the future, our children will be exposed to even more personal tracking and exposure. Transparency is a trend that is going to accelerate as connectivity becomes easier. I don’t believe in fighting the trend. So, I work with it, and participate in the more positive aspects of growing transparency. If you are still uncomfortable, Facebook offers an extensive list of privacy options that can make you disappear off the Facebook grid.

The Impact

There are obvious downsides to businesses using this approach, as well. A business who uses the product tagging approach is exposing themselves in ways they can’t control. Sometimes, a business’ impact on a consumer is not a positive one. If they screw up, the negative reaction would be amplified under this system. Businesses participating in this system are putting a lot of trust into the hands of their customers, to help maintain a positive image in the public eye. If they don’t think they can develop this trust, or that this trust does not exist, it isn’t a problem with product tagging’s exposure, it’s a problem with the businesses’ image. Everything a business does will become that transparent eventually. Maybe a new criteria will evolve, “Is your business Facebook ready?”

While other major groups around the world are trying to milk every last cent they can from their dwindling overall sales of records, Radiohead has gone ahead and said, “Our fans come first, and the money will follow.” Now, I can listen to the music and decide how much it is worth to me before purchasing, and not liking, the other half of the CD I haven’t heard on the radio, legally and free. Personally, I’m going to spend $30 on the download and also by the box set for $40 that will be available in January of 2008, just to show my support.

This is all a much bigger deal than what is at the surface and the answer to making money isn’t as straight forward as charge $15 and profit 15¢. Radiohead trusts in their fans to support them. They are putting so much confidence in their product that they know people will give them money, even though they don’t have to.

The Larger Picture

Seriously, if you are unaware of the current situation, please research it further to protect yourself from legal action.

Millions of music listeners are “sharing” their music online. Nielson SoundScan has found that CD and download sales combined are shrinking, and media agencies claim it is a result of this digital piracy. This digital piracy has been estimated to “cost” the industry billions of dollars. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) are waging a full scale war on piracy to help protect artists consumers, the equivalent of, a union for a dwindling service industry. Downloaders are being sued for hundreds of thousands, media companies are being sued back for sabotaging servers and setting up fake websites as pirating mousetraps, and very angry consumers are caught in the middle with piracy as their only voice of protest with artists who are joining in the fight on the side of the consumers. Radiohead has joined the crusade with their upcoming release.

The Vegetable Grocer

In my frontyard is a chain grocery store where I go to buy vegetables. I have two choices, my first choice is to buy an assorted mix of “enhanced” vegetables for $15, that I can purchase knowing I won’t like, or eat(CD). My other choice is to buy the individual vegetables, that I personally choose, for an increased price per unit, since I’m not buying in bulk (iTunes).

There is also a third choice (piracy). In my backyard is a farmers market. There isn’t much protection there. No flashy storefront, workers telling me where to go and what to buy. The guy who sells the (organic and “enhanced”) vegetables is a little shady and I don’t know if I can trust how good his vegetables will be. The price is hard to beat though. He gives his vegetables away for free, and if they are good, they are exactly what I want. Sometimes shady backyard seller guy steals them from the store, and other times they were legally obtained from local farmers. That shady guy could be me, a family member, and a friend.

The person in your backyard, and whoever grew that fruit, doesn’t make a dime. They are sharing the vegetables because they want them to be accessible to everyone, to spread the vegetables they enjoy. Meanwhile, the store front that only offers “enhanced” vegetables makes a majority of the money, very little profit trickles down to the farmer, and consumers have limited buying options.

War

In the last few years, the shady backyard market upgraded (Bit Torrent). More people went to the market. In turn, the market became less shady. Farmers started to show up at the market endorsing their own organic and “enhanced” vegetables. Inherently, more people also started to steal from that frontyard grocery store, and they brought them into the backyard. They also stole from the back of the store, where the freshest vegetables were contained. People could steal the vegetables before they could even be bought legally in the store.

The store owners became angry at how the free market was becoming successful. Meanwhile, the “enhanced” vegetable market was struggling. To combat the free market, the store owners started to make fake market shops in the back yard. When someone went to the shop, they thought they were going to get some vegetables like usual. Instead, she left with a $220,000 lawsuit charging for the vegetables she wanted and every vegetable she had ever eaten, even though they were digested and long gone. People also noticed that the tents (websites like piratebay) were more rundown than usual because vandals, hired by the frontyard grocery store, were trying to take it down at night. Speed-bumps were put around the open market by the grocery store and a satellite hovered over it 24 hours a day watching everyone. Meanwhile, the frontyard grocery store stayed the same.

There was a time when the frontyard grocery store could have downgraded, rewritten the business plan, and figured out new ways to attract customers and keep them. Instead, they became evil, single-minded and vengeful against the consumers. They weren’t concerned with finding new farmers, offering a more diverse vegetable line, and pushing the vegetables to consumers in new ways. As the market evolved, the frontyard store stayed the same. The frontyard grocery store didn’t want things to change, but the market had been changing all along, and they couldn’t do anything about it. As a result, many more people went to the backyard market, people who never even shopped at the frontyard grocery store. The store didn’t know what else to do besides flex power (hire lawyers, slap lawsuits on POTENTIAL consumers, and devise plans to make people fear not shopping with them). The business was lost.

Potential customers became the grocery store’s enemy, farmers felt pushed around, used, and processed, and the grocery store couldn’t see beyond their own dwindling profit margins.

In Steps Radiohead

Radiohead has joined the backyard consumers. They are a true Anti-Metallica, sitting in the open market, amongst other grassroots artists, with a psychedelic colored storefront, asking people gently for donation if you want to support them.

A humbling moment for the major record label artists. Here is one of the top groups in the world, top groups in my time, using the same grassroots strategy as other artists who are growing their fan base. Not griping that they need more money, everyone knows they obviously do not. They’ll be selling out shows for years to come. They are set for life. Why not spread our gift to everyone who can enjoy it?

Music has never been about major record labels. Its been about the artists reaching the mind and emotions of its listeners. The major record labels aren’t necessary for distribution to the masses anymore. The artists can market and distribute themselves now. The major record industry, we knew, is a fossil of the past, gasping on their last breathe of air. There is a better system now that connects me to artists for free. Consumers obviously don’t think major record labels are worth a dime anymore otherwise they would pay for it. Now, the record labels are choking on capitalism. They are a living fossil of the past.

Artists concerned about the money before the good of their fans, aren’t artists anymore. They are a business formerly known as an artist. Real artists have real fans that will support them with the money they need. Radiohead knows they have dedicated fans. All they need to do, is ask for money. The free market will decide what they are worth. Radiohead is the proud new sponsor of grassroots artists.

Radiohead is taking a revolutionary step in marketing. They aren’t talking trash about record labels, but they are definitely making them look silly and unnecessary. Today, anyone can have a website, produce their own music, have their music hosted on another website, and spread themselves virally on the net. Radiohead is positioning themselves, as a band that is still trying to grow their fan base. Even though they are already huge, they still want to appeal to even more people. They knew their music would be pirated, so they are providing their fans with even more value. They are exclaiming that people downloading aren’t just pirates. Downloaders are also fans. You don’t need to be in the shady market anymore. Radiohead gives us a nicely decorated storefront for all to see and hear their music.

In return, Radiohead, I’ll share your music. I’m going to tell all my friends about the new free CD. I’m your biggest fan because I know you’re on my side. And, by the way, I’m going to give you my money because you can relate to me. You’re treating me like a fan, not a criminal.

Thank you.

The internet has offered reflections on marketing from every angle. Just Google ‘death of marketing’. It yields hundreds of results that showcase a trend in redefining marketing. This is a result of a paradigm shift in businesses realizing marketing encompasses a much broader spectrum than ever before. The argument is the same in every other expanding genre, too, like when musicians sing about the death of hip-hop and rock & roll. Both marketing and music have grown and resulted in many new niches. The game has evolved. Since ‘marketing’ has taken on many new avenues in recent years, thanks to the internet and other enabling technologies, we aren’t sure how to categorize all the new business practices. Questions pop up like: Where does marketing stop and public relations begin? Or, should we ditch marketing all together, since consumer/customer relations seems more appropriate?

I don’t know the answers to these questions. It’s all up to the businesses who are concerned with labeling. After reflection on the subject, I came to my personal definition:

Marketing - a business function responsible for facilitating relationships between brands and consumers.

The definition is broad, simplistic, and might not ring true for everyone, but it’s also hard to disregard. When I picture a marketing canvas, I see a huge blank slate between a business and its consumers. Marketing is the entire image. The image of the business from every consumers’ perspective, the businesses’ view of all its consumers, and the best practices to maximize connections between the two.

Like an artist, marketers are free to paint their own reality. We have countless options, countless realities to manifest. So, it doesn’t matter what you call marketing. Marketing will still remain the department of consumer relations in colleges; the majority of businesses will still be calling whatever “it” is marketing, and we’ll always have misconceptions on what people perceive as marketing.

For me, I ditch the lame jargon. Instead, I try to work on giving a tried and true field a better name. Marketing isn’t about what you call something, even though it technically is; time and time again, history has proven that actions speak louder than words. Deliver, make an impact, follow through on promises, and call your position whatever makes you feel best.

I’ll call “it” marketing.

Marketing, relationships, and technology make up the majority of my thought process. I’m starting this blog as a vent for all the steam that builds up in me. I’m not referring to the steam from anger, but instead, the steam of creativity. This creativity that builds inside will be my motivation for putting words in this space as often as possible.

I read far too many blogs, watch far too many commercials, and test too many new sites to remain a non-participant in the semantic web. This day marks a new beginning for me.

Hopefully, as I progress on this blog, I’ll acquire more quality in my grammar, more efficiency in my writing process, and more understanding for what people want to read. Up until this point, all I’ve known is what has interested me and the best ways in which to acquire those things. Now, I’ll be on the other side. So without much further ado, here I go….