Archive for the ‘Using Technology’ Category
Video and the Future of the Web
- How-to tutorial videos. You can position yourself as an expert in your field by illustrating how to do simple things that are of value to someone in the market for your product or service. For example, if you run a painting company, you could produce a short video about how to select the right color and type of paint for a bedroom.
- Interviews. You can interview someone in a complementary business about a subject that is relevant to your potential customers. For example, if you are a real estate agent, you could interview a mortgage lender or broker on the subject of securing a home mortgage for the first time. This is advantageous because you are also helping someone else succeed in business as well.
- Product reviews. You can discuss what you like or don’t like about specific types of products. This is especially valuable for products you may use in your business. For example, if you’re a photographer, you could post video reviews about the different types of photographic equipment that you would recommend for different purposes.
- Customer testimonial videos. Do you have any raving fans? They’d probably be willing to get in front of the camera and give you a shout-out if you asked them. Video testimonials have much more credibility than written anonymous testimonials do, just because people tend to trust a moving face a lot more than they trust a bunch of words on a screen.
The Goal: Goldratt’s Often-Overlooked Business Classic
It still surprises me to see how many people have never heard of The Goal by Eli Goldratt. This book is an all-time business classic, and it’s an enjoyable read. I especially like that it’s presented in fiction form, rather than as a lecture.
This uncommon novel is set in a manufacturing plant. The protagonist of the story is given an ultimatum: turn things around in 90 days, or the plant will be closed permanently. He has no idea what to do, and he calls on his old physics professor for help. The first thing he learns is that he’s lost sight of the overall goal of the business: to make money.
This might sound like something so absurd that it would never happen in a real business, but bear with me here. Goldratt depicts a particular phenomenon in the story – specifically, making decisions based on “local optima.” Translation: measuring progress in terms of one isolated variable, rather than the performance of the business as a whole.
You might also call this failing to see the forest for the trees!
The example in the story: the plant manager boasts that his plant saw a “36% improvement in one area.” However, when the professor asks a couple of critical questions, the dialog reveals that the “36% improvement” didn’t actually result in the plant making any more money.
Where do we see this in the online world? Just about everywhere. Have you ever seen an overnight entrepreneur publicly measuring his or her “success” by number of Twitter followers amassed? Spending money to drive traffic to a web page with a low (or unknown) conversion rate?
Unfortunately, The Goal does not say much on the subject of how to generate sales when you aren’t getting enough orders. However, there are plenty of parallels that you can extrapolate to the problem of generating online sales. If you haven’t read this book, put it on your list.
I particularly recommend the audio version, because it’s read by a cast of actors. They even add nice finishing touches, such as adding factory noise during the scenes that take place on the shop floor. I found that it helped my memory retention.
CoolHaus: Building a Brand Around Social Media
Earlier this week, I visited YouTube and happened to see a sponsored video at the top of the screen. Instinctively, I was about to turn off the ad, but something caught my eye and got me just curious enough to watch the CoolHaus video.
(Note: “CoolHaus.com” takes you to a dead domain parking page. The correct URL is EatCoolHaus.com).
The video starts out with a compelling line: “CoolHaus is an architecturally-themed ice cream sandwich company.” They describe their business in one sentence that clearly shows a unique and remarkable niche. The video goes on to show some quick teaser shots of ice cream flavors like red velvet, peach cobbler, coffee crunch, and others.
Here’s what got on my radar. The video mentions the fact that CoolHaus uses social media to sell more ice cream. The ad suggests that the strategy is working, and I don’t find that hard to believe. Why? Because their product and their delivery mechanism is optimized for social media and the web.
If you’ve ever watched Social Media in Plain English(a cartoon video using ice cream as an example of social media for business), you’ll particularly appreciate what CoolHaus has done.
What do I mean by that? The company uses ice cream trucks. The CoolHaus web site allows you to request a delivery to your office with sandwiches built to order, complete with an edible wrapper with your company’s logo on it. You can also load the company’s Google Calendar to see the truck’s delivery route and schedule.
Now, imagine if they’d opened an ordinary ice cream store and done the same thing as everyone else, complete with daily Twitter posts advertising 10% off an ice cream cone. Instead, they built a business worth talking about and then made it easy to spread the word. Seth Godin would be proud.
I don’t know how well CoolHaus’s business is doing, but I like the look of it so far. Let’s put it this way – I can’t imagine any company doing what CoolHaus is doing going completely wrong. If you’re in New York, Houston, or LA and get the chance to try their ice cream sandwiches, let me know how they are! Meanwhile, I’ll be waiting until the company opens up shop in Raleigh.
