My industry experience includes apparel, hospitality, technology, life sciences, consumer package goods, logistics, recreation and education. I’m happy to share relevant examples and case studies.
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Dot com era VC investment revolved around dollars and access. Now, the Web services companies that are creating buzz aren't asking for money and they don't need introductions.
That has one VC thinking about a disruptive business model. One that's the right scale for a promising Web services startup. One that offers something more valuable than money. What's that? An investment of high value human capital.
ChiefMarketer.com offers some insight into why clients are frustrated with Email Service Providers, or ESPs. This is the money quote:
"Choosing between ESPs is about choosing the lesser of two evils. No matter who you go with, there's going to be some pain. That said, it's still better than broadcasting inhouse."
I've managed campaigns inhouse and through ESPs, and this is absolutely right - a good ESP makes life much easier. Inhouse broadcasting and tracking create technical and administrative burdens that are simply too great for many companies and agencies to justify (This assumes you're sending a relatively large volume of mail; if you're blasting out a few hundred emails a month this probably doesn't apply to you). A good ESP takes care of deliverability and tracking so you can focus on strategy and creative.
And yet. Finding the right ESP is a headache. Recently I went through an ESP search for a client. Sorting through services, claims and counterclaims (ESPs love to talk about the competition), pricing models, credibility, and measurement standards was for a brief period a full time project. But as the clients interviewed for the article demonstrate, you're really left to evaluate the ESPs and have a certain amount of faith that they can deliver on the basics. And that delivery isn't something to take for granted.
Fortunately my search had a happy ending. I selected an ESP that provided the right mix of services and tools, had credibility on the delivery front, and offered a comprehensible pricing model. Oh, and it didn't hurt that they weren't obsessed with selling against their competitors. We're now three months into our working relationship. Are they perfect? No, but they deliver on the fundamentals and are exceptionally responsive when I want help. Which, judging from the article, puts me a little ahead of the game.
Unfamiliar with network neutrality? Now awareness of the issue, which affects anyone and any company that touches the Internet, has hit the mainstream. Read this.
Previously.
Brendan Busch's PowerPoint blog piqued my curiousity. He's Microsoft's Group Program Manager for the product so he should have some valuable insights, right? His first blog post wasn't bad if you wanted to know just how excited he was about PowerPoint and blogging, but since then he's been a little quiet. This slide should demonstrate my point:
Does one post constitute a blog?
Film is out. Digital photography's dominance is accelerating, as Konica Minolta and Nikon announce big changes.
Apple is getting some well-deserved heat for a new feature contained in iTunes 6.0.2, and the furor contains a lesson for anyone who handles customer data. What were they thinking? We're not really collecting data. We're just momentarily using it and then discarding it. And besides, that data is for the consumer's benefit. No need to ask permission....
Someone at Apple screwed up, and to their credit they backed down and took steps to inform consumers of the data collection and allow them to opt in. But still, the horse is out of the barn. Once you're accused of creating spyware, it's hard to undo that reputation.
There's a simple lesson to be learned about not alienating customers: If you collect their information through a Website or online application, make this explicitly clear to them. Tell them what data you gather, why, and how it's used. Don't assume that they'll believe the benefits of undisclosed data gathering outweigh their individual feelings about privacy.
My latest, which advocates for authenticity in marketing communication, is available on the Triad Business Journal site. I'm not excited about the title - I didn't write it, by the way. It's much more sensational than the editorial itself.
ExactTarget responds to a note about coregistration, and agrees that it's not a good idea. Key points:
1) Open and click rates are consistently less than half those for house lists.
2) Co-reg people unsubscribe from the email programs faster.
3) Co-reg conversion rates are much lower than house lists. For one client, revenue per co-reg subscriber was ~10% revenue per house-list subscriber.
4) Co-reg programs simply have a hard time paying for themselves in an eCommerce environment at current market rates. The best performing co-reg lists we have seen to date would take 16 months to break even. Our research to date suggests that rates for Co-Reg names should be in the $0.05/name range in order for this to be a profitable investment… a ways off from going rates of $0.30 or more.
Noted without commentary.
Also, for those of you looking for my review of the Minox 35, it's here.
