Idea marathon

I have an idea we could...

Image from his study where he has over 300,000 ideas in these note books.

Went to a very cool Idea Marathon yesterday.

It was presented by the Inventor of the system Mr. Takeo Higuchi.

Basically what you need to to is start putting all your ideas in a book (one book only) that you carry around with you everywhere. Wright done all your ideas and plans into this book and revisit the ideas in the book once a week as a reminder. After a while you will automatically remember all your ideas.

Anyhow keep writing in a chronological order and when the notebook is full put it in your Idea marathon shelf and start a new book. You should get a notebook that you can add pages to. At the end of the year put the book in your shelf and start a new one.

That's it. Easy and if you can stick with putting in one new idea a day for one month you will notice that the quality of your ideas and your brain are much more focused. It is a col idea that is starting to spread around the world. Be the first on your block to be an Idea marathon champion.

It's all about knowing your prouct and service

Yummy yummy yummy I've got love in my tummy...

If you have a product or service and you plan to market it then the most important thing is to know why your product or service is special.

Watch the following video and think about all the information and understanding this woman has about her simple and everyday product. After the video you will now look at your jams and preserves with a new light and understanding.

This shift of your understanding of a product is what will drive people to buy it. It's that simple.

Tucked in an anonymous building on a quiet Berkeley, CA street, June Taylor makes small batches of some of the most mouth-watering jams, preserves, syrups and marmalades. In this video, June modestly shares her artisan and old-world techniques, explaining how nature helps dictate exotic flavor combinations like Strawberry and Provençal Lavender and how she takes into consideration even the tiniest of details, such as the shape and size of the pieces of fruit. It's a window into an exceedingly rare level of art and craft.

Tips To Help Your Website Sell

All the info you will ever need...

Please go to the original post on Smashing Magazine for all the graphics the full story.

As we see more and more businesses move their services online, and even more that begin their life on the Web, a greater need arises for websites that are designed and built to sell. A great-looking website may achieve the goal of shaping and delivering a strong brand, but its good looks alone aren’t enough to sell the products or services on offer. For that, you need to introduce the element of marketing.


1. Subliminal Suggestion
Research shows that objects and images you see around you can prime you for certain behaviors. When choosing images for your website, think carefully about the message you’re trying to send. Don’t put graphics on your website for their own sake. Clichéd and overused imagery and stock photos are also dangerous because it may not send the right message in the given context, so select images that get the effect you’re after.


2. Prevent Choice Paralysis
There is a phenomenon in marketing known as “choice paralysis.” Choice paralysis happens when the user is given too many options. Choice is great, but when your customers are presented with too many options, they may be confused about where to go. Nobody wants buyer’s remorse, so many people spend more time than they should on the selection process: they become paralyzed.


3. Show The Product
When you visit a physical store, perhaps a grocery, you can look at, examine and sometimes even taste the products on sale. You make your purchasing decision based on the information you gather there. Are the tomatoes ripe enough

When you sell services or Web apps online, you should do exactly the same thing: show the product. It’s surprising how many websites that sell software don’t actually show screenshots of their applications. Sure, these are intangible goods, digital goods that you can’t touch or smell, but they’re still goods you can see.

For more great tips visit this blog.

People by Branding and Not the Contents

But I wanted apple juice...

After its package redesign, sales of the Tropicana Pure Premium line plummeted 20% between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22, costing the brand tens of millions of dollars. On Feb. 23, the company announced it would bow to consumer demand and scrap the new packaging. It had been on the market less than two months.

Understanding Social Media a Bit More

I'm using Social Marketing to get better tasting dog food on the market.

Is social media a mystery to you? What is all the big fuss over Social media? Isn't it just a bunch of teenagers using multiple internet tools to communicate with each other?

If you've been trying (like me) to figure out the ROI for all these new tools and are still scratching your head then this list should help.

I come from 30 years in this industry, and the last five have been a challenge even for me. It's hard to figure out strategy in these days of tremendous change. The way people can now communicate and develop communities is staggering and it's just going to get more interesting as this new approach to marketing matures.

Follows is a great list from Larry Brauner blog.
Thanks Larry for all you generous insights.

1. Social marketing is a logical extension of the multichannel marketing strategy of diversification. Social media sites can extend a company’s web presence far beyond the limits of its e-commerce, lead generation or information sites.
2. Social media builds awareness of products and brands by attraction rather than interruption, and by pulling rather than pushing. Consumers enjoy the discovery process and don’t feel annoyed by it.
3. Social media employs a community and list building paradigm that’s much more comprehensive, natural and intimate than conventional databases and autoresponders.
4. Social media marketers engage customers in dialog. They talk with the customer rather than at the customer as is generally the case with conventional media. Social media can also facilitate post-sale support and dissemination of valuable product tips to customers.
5. Social media used properly can build frequency less expensively than conventional media educating and informing the consumer over time.
6. Social media can help reach target markets that are too difficult or expensive to reach using conventional means.
7. Reach doesn’t determine cost, so social media can target a narrow vertical market while at the same time casting a wide net. Efficiency doesn’t really matter much in the context of social media reach.
8. Search engines like social media, and social marketing leverages free high-quality search exposure which is preferable to paying for low-quality pay-per-click or banner advertising.
9. Social media sites and your e commerce websites are available 24/7 more or less indefinitely. It’s much like having an ad run in every issue of a publication or like having a catalog or sales letter retained until the customer is ready to make a buying decision.
10. Using social networking sites it is often possible to connect directly with B2B decision makers without interference from protective gatekeepers.

Remember that social media is a brand new way of communicating and in a lot of cases is diametrically opposite to the way people have done marketing in the past.

My advice is to get into it now... just jump into this river of opportunities, learn how to swim in it and start swimming with the current and stop fighting against a current that goes faster and deeper each day. (that's a bit of poetic license from the bobster)