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The Story of Success from a thought-provoking writer like Malcolm Gladwell is always something to watch out for. His previous books, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, both captured important aspects of the online world.  His latest book, Outliers: The Story of Success, is a reflection on the more tangible world of human society.  Again he is pointing out what should have been obvious, but what you may have missed.

You can read more about the book’s content on Gladwell’s own website.  In particular he summarizes what you may get from the book:

What do you want people to take away from Outliers?

I think this is the way in which Outliers is a lot like Blink and Tipping Point. They are all attempts to make us think about the world a little differently. The hope with Tipping Point was it would help the reader understand that real change was possible. With Blink, I wanted to get people to take the enormous power of their intuition seriously.

My wish with Outliers is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is. When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It’s because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances— and that means that we, as a society, have more control about who succeeds—and how many of us succeed—than we think. That’s an amazingly hopeful and uplifting idea.

If you are wondering whether Outliers has something to do with Chris Anderson’s Long Tail, then you’re on the wrong track. Anderson was pointing out that we are all different in so many ways.  Gladwell on the other hand is focusing on the really far out extremes.  What can we learn from those who are successful and who seem to be very different from the rest of us.  Think of someone like Bill Gates for example.

If Gladwell’s latest book is not for you, there are two others that seem very popular at the moment.  If you want to drop a hint to your significant other on what might please you, here they are:

• Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School by Philip Delves Broughton
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

As the Vancouver Sun tells us this morning, Big Fish Games tests B.C. waters. It is a cute headline about a fast-growing U.S. video game company that is opening a studio in Yaletown in Vancouver.

Seattle-based Big Fish Games, one of the fastest-growing video game companies on the continent, has opened a Vancouver studio.  The Yaletown office has just four employees so far, but has room for almost 50.

Big Fish Games reported revenues of $8.6 million in 2005, $24.1 million in 2006 and $50.8 million in 2007, and employee numbers have grown from 35 to 310. .. The company has found a vast audience partly because it markets to groups not generally associated with video-game playing, including women and seniors.

As it happens, Big Fish Games in the clouds is a much more apt title.  Cloud computing is the current big battleground for the majors like Microsoft and Google.  It is all about SaaS, or Software as a Service if the acronym is new to you.  No longer do you need to download programs to your computer.  All you need is the cheapest of laptops or even a netbook to give you access to whatever programs your favorite supplier is willing to offer.

By coincidence another online game service is also making the news today.  That is Prize Room and this one gives you your online games completely free. 

PrizeRoom provides what other methods of Internet marketing are truly missing: a new way for consumers to actually interface with sponsors’ products.  In addition, all the in-game content can be branded, changed as often as desired and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  PrizeRoom gives users not only chances to play dynamic and entertaining games incentives, but also offers opportunities for them to qualify to win great prizes and earn valuable incentives from some of the top brands in the world!

It is free because the marketers would like you to spend some time in a place where they can send their messages to you.  That is the kind of Free that Chris Anderson promotes.  You are really paying for whatever you receive by giving them your time.  Perhaps that is the most valuable currency you can offer.

Be warned that the original title for this post was ‘Random Thoughts’.  So unless you intended to read something from me at random, then please click away.  The new title was created when, as always, I did a quick Google Search and Blogsearch, to verify that I wasn’t just regurgitating the same thoughts as everyone else.  You may feel that was a somewhat redundant exercise, but old habits die hard. 

In the list, I instantly saw - Guinness’ Most Random Records — 2009 Edition with some explanatory text:

Today is Guinness World Record Day, the annual event where people across the globe try to set records so their legacies can live forever in Guinness’ archival text.

In a post on random thoughts, the serendipity involved in such an item could not be lost so it hijacked the title.  If you were looking for the book, then click on Guinness: World Records 2009 (Guinness World Records).

Indeed it is amazing given the crowded Internet that so many people seem to want to pen their random thoughts. There are even whole websites dedicated to those who wish to just add their random thoughts.   Perhaps others visit such sites to read these random thoughts: the mind boggles.

Not surprisingly, given that elections have just taken place in both the USA and Canada, many are having random thoughts about political processes. That includes Some random bits scribbled by Jeremy Zawodny.  The title of the post was Post-Election Thoughts: Equal but Not. Apparently like many others he is not happy about the electoral college system.  However anachronistic it may seem, it seems unlikely to be changed by change.gov.

My random thoughts were not at all political.  I was thinking about the question of passwords for online sites and the security aspects involved.  Like many others, I should be using more complex ones and changing them frequently.  In searching around that topic, lo and behold I found a True Random Number Service. Not surprisingly it is located at Random.org.   If you need any encouragement to visit, here is what they offer:

What’s this fuss about true randomness?

Perhaps you have wondered how predictable machines like computers can generate randomness. In reality, most random numbers used in computer programs are pseudo-random, which means they are a generated in a predictable fashion using a mathematical formula. This is fine for many purposes, but it may not be random in the way you expect if you’re used to dice rolls and lottery draws.

RANDOM.ORG offers true random numbers to anyone on the Internet. The randomness comes from atmospheric noise, which for many purposes is better than the pseudo-random number algorithms typically used in computer programs. People use RANDOM.ORG for holding draws, lotteries and sweepstakes, to drive games and gambling sites, for scientific applications and for art and music. The service has existed since 1998 and was built and is being operated by Mads Haahr of the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland.

If you are someone who is attracted by randomness, it is well worth a visit. It is a fascinating place.  You can certainly get the most secure passwords possible by visiting. .. and now back to regular programming.

What do these three images have in common?  All three have been used by man as ‘watchmen’ or guardians. The sacred geese alerted the Romans when the invading Gauls were trying to sneak into the city.  Despite their size, the Tibetan lion dogs or Shih Tzu acted as watchdogs for the temples. .. and finally many main frame computers act as sentinels against unwanted intruders.

Standing on guard is a thankless and boring task.  Given the monotony, it can be difficult to stay alert.  Where the task can be delegated to a computer, it will be done much more efficiently.  Thankfully there are a number of programs now available that can monitor the Internet and signal when something unusual has happened..

Google Alerts is one such program.  It can provide e-mail messages whenever particular keywords, like the company name, are detected in new web pages.  It is an easy way of monitoring publicity efforts or competitive activity.

Many people are now Microblogging on Twitter.  Luckily it is possible now to get Twitter alerts. TweetBeep is like Google Alerts for Twitter! Put in a keyword or website, and get emails when others tweet it!

Monitoring how well a website is doing in search engine rankings would be another good area for SEO tools that would provide such alerts.  The problem with the search engines is that there is far too much data.  Expert SEO’s can spend the time involved in crunching all the numbers that describe how web pages are ranking with the search engines.  Now webmasters who have much less time can use a new program, Exact Factor, to provide alerts on how well web pages are ranking for particular keywords in different search engines.  Limited results are available without signing up, but registering for a free account gives access to all the services.

As with Google alerts or TweetBeep alerts, e-mail messages can be sent when particular results surface.  The following screenshots show some of the choices that are available in Exact Factor.  Results can be seen either on the screen or via e-mail alerts. The first is a simple choice of an alert for a particular keyword or keywords in a number of search engines.

Another possibility is to compare your own website against a competitor for particular keywords.

The next image shows just a small fraction of what is available after such an analysis is done. There is a good deal of flexibility in what is shown on the screen and results can also be downloaded. For example a weekly report can be produced that summarizes relative positions for a range of keywords.

The advantage of this process is that it can be made completely automatic. Expert SEO’s who are prepared to dive into complex analyses may well not find this an important advantage. However many other webmasters will find assurance in the continuing surveillance of their website so as to spot when results may be deteriorating. Such early warning systems give the best opportunity of identifying what may be the problems and correcting them promptly.

If you think cyberspace is already mind-blowing, then Cherise Fong of CNN has news for you.  She is looking forward to the day when we all will be Internetting every thing, everywhere, all the time.

Vint Cerf, the original Internet evangelist, on the official Google blog has written, "If we can imagine it, there’s a good chance it can be programmed.  The Internet of the future will be suffused with software, information, data archives, and populated with devices, appliances, and people who are interacting with and through this rich fabric."

This will all be possible through the magic of RFID (Radio Frequency Identity) technology, which allows things to be "read" by an NFC (Near Field Communication) scanner, bar-code-style, as well as to store information about themselves and their relationship with their environment, over time.  The reason why RFID is often called next-generation bar code is that the technology is more accurate, scanners can read more objects with less directional contact, and smaller chips can contain a larger quantity of information.

That CNN article is a very worth-while read. Just think of putting a small chip on almost everything and from then on knowing where it is and what has happened to it. As is said, the possibilities are endless.

Courtesy www.PeggyDuncan.com

This morning, I became acquainted with what Jay Deragon has been writing on social media and suddenly the light came on.  As he said:

There is Friendfeed, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and a host of other platforms and tools for social conversations and user generated content. To say the least the space is very confusing and crowded if not overwhelming for those just entering and trying to figure out what to do and how to do it. While all these conversations stir interest, few focus on the critical elements required to effectively leverage the art and science of social media for specific gains.

That passage is taken from his article, Is Social Media An Art?  He goes on to say that the four driving factors are:

1. Attention: Businesses and individuals are using the tools of the social web to garner attention from specific consumer markets of interest to the audience and the business.
2. Attraction: To keep people’s attention a focus on design, content and utility are the elements which create stickiness which indicates attractiveness.
3. Affinity: Content, design and community are the attributes of creating affinity to the proposition and the users of the online community. Unless the conversations related to the user’s needs or interest the attraction is lost because the users find little affinity to the conversations.
4. Audience: Once 1, 2 & 3 are accomplished then you have an audience to provide continuous value propositions in order to reinforce 1, 2 & 3.

He summarizes that in another article, Is SM ROI Really Important? which is when the light bulb moment occurred. 

The more business people I talk to about all this social stuff the consistent response I get is “Show me how to make money with it”.

Any good sales person will tell you their number one objective is building relationships over time. Yet few if any company bothers to measure the cost of building relationships rather they measure the results of relationships. Measuring the results doesn’t tell you “how to build effective relations” or “which methods create the best relations.”

Relationships come from human experiences, not corporate spin and hyped promises. Human relationships are measured by trust, sincerity and common values. If you want a return on social media, then focus on conversations that build lasting relationships based on value exchanged and create great experiences.

There you have the crux of the matter.  Your company should measure how well it is working with social media by evaluating the relationships the company is creating with its customers and its prospects.  Unless worthwhile relationships are created, then efforts in social media will be ineffective and may even be without value.

I think Pattie Simone has exactly the right message in her article about A Marketing Tool That’s Obvious, Overlooked and Cheap.  As she says, Use superior service as a thrifty and effective in-house marketing mechanism.

While many entrepreneurs are scrambling to attract new business, some have discovered one of the easiest (and least expensive) tools to keep their sales engines humming: holding on to current patrons through superb customer service.  When you weight the cost of attracting new clients vs. the cost of keeping the ones you have, superior customer service will beat most any ad campaign on ROI.

It was unfortunate that the article uses pop-ups like this:

These particular ones are cheap, very obvious and almost impossible to overlook.  Indeed for a few seconds you can only move them and not make them disappear.  Why do the marketers of Resource Nation use such push marketing, intrusive methods.  They will alienate most prospects and are hardly in tune with the spirit of this article.

If you think viral marketing is something of recent years, then just check out the following video.

That is from the 1970’s when Fabergé Organics was using this idea in promoting Honey & Wheat Germ Shampoo.  It was Fabergé and not Breck, as many people think, that was responsible for that famous phrase, "she told two friends".

I strongly believe that it is better to call this type of marketing exponential marketing rather than viral marketing.  That is the approach that eWORDofMOUTH offers to its customers in claiming that Word of Mouth Marketing Meets the Power of the Internet.  They claim to do this by combining Customer Referral Programs with Viral Email Marketing to grow the Customer Base EXPONENTIALLY (their capitals rather than mine).  However I believe their approach is sound.

Social media are clearly powerful vehicles for such exponential marketing.  You will often see the share icon shown at the left at the foot of a blog post or a video.  As the Share Icon Project web page suggests:
The Share Icon is becoming the de facto standard visual representation for sharing content from any source to multiple destinations: over email, to bookmark or memetracker sites, to your friends on social networks, and more every day.

It is certainly encouraging to see its wide acceptance.  Visually it reminds you to pass it to two people rather than just passing it to a single friend.  However I think they were perhaps too influenced by Fabergé.

Remember we are talking exponential marketing here.  Exponential marketing can have explosive results if you do it right.  You may have forgotten about the power of the exponent from your school days but this little table may remind you.

This shows the number of friends who get the message if it has been passed on five times and each friend tells it to 2, 3, 4 or 5 friends in every case.  Of course not everyone will tell the maximum number but the results will be proportionate.  In other words if you encourage everyone to tell 5 friends, the message will reach almost 100 times more people than if you told them to pass it on to 2 friends.

I think everyone should be encouraged to pass on good news to more than two friends and perhaps the icon at the left is a better reminder.  Of course it cannot be called the share icon since that is already taken. Perhaps a better name would be the buzz icon.  I encourage you to use it on your posts and videos. Below you will find smaller versions of the image so you can use whichever is most appropriate.

If you do find the arguments persuasive and do use the icon, then please tell everyone you got it here.  .. and do not forget to call it exponential marketing.  It is powerful stuff.  Can you hear the buzz?

As we suggested in MRN Marketing Right Now - The Plan, having no plan at all may be hazardous.  Mark Evans expressed that sentiment in writing RIP Twitter.

Gone are the days when you could start, grow and finance a business based on the notion that if we build it, they (consumers and advertisers) will come…and then somewhere along the way we - just like Google did - will find a viable business model to make it work.

Perhaps the shareholders of Twitter are beginning to see the light.  Chris Snyder noted that Twitter to Get Down to Business in 2009, Investors Say

Major leadership changes Thursday at Twitter renewed questions about its business prospects — was the replacement of CEO Jack Dorsey by fellow co-founder Evan Williams a shuffling of deck chairs on the Titanic?

But today VC backers of the microblogging service interviewed by wired.com Friday insisted they remain bullish, and Bijan Sabet, a general partner at Twitter backer Spark Capital, revealed that new revenue models will be unveiled in the first half of next year.

Perhaps at least if Twitter had taken our suggestion to do a NUB report, they would be in better shape.  Knowing more precisely the niche they were targeting, what they offered that was special and how they would make that into a survivable bottom line might well keep even the Titanic afloat.

But perhaps there is a savior.  OMG Britney! On Twitter!

I’d like to welcome Britney Spears to our world. She (or rather her people) have launched both a Twitter account and a bloggy sort of site with near constant updates on her fascinating life.

This is solid gold for Twitter. A few more of these and it will be hard to argue that it isn’t going mainstream.

Company names are a particular interest of mine, particularly those that are not as strong as they should be. The company name is the single most important selling tool the company has. For some companies, it expresses in a few characters the essence of their brand. I was therefore most intrigued to see the following press release:

NEW YORK, NY, October 16, 2008
[x+1], www.xplusone.com, the leader in predictive marketing, today announced a more powerful version of its patented Predictive Optimization Engine(R) (POE) which will be compatible with a wide range of statistical modeling techniques such as neural networks, linear programming and multi-tree decision support to maximize the return on investment (ROI) of online marketing and advertising campaigns.

I thought at first that there had been some mistake. Perhaps [x+1] was some shorthand that had been mistakenly left in the release and not replaced by the proper company name. However it appears that it really is the company name. That might have worked in the pre-Internet era, but it brings with it all sorts of problems now.

The best advice is to have a name that you own on the Internet. That usually means avoiding any punctuation and ideally accents should be avoided too. It is not even clear what people might search for in this situation. Google ignores the square brackets, but would any potential client know quite what to do. In fact Google serves up X1 Technologies as its guess at the most relevant entry in a search for [x+1]. X1 Technologies is an operating company of Idealab and is headquartered in Pasadena, CA. It had the foresight to buy the great x1.com domain. Names that include the ‘+’ sign are just not allowed.

Related: SWOT That Company Name

Google Keyword Matching Options