Does Evangelism Work?
Jun/090
I read a post on copyblogger this morning called, “Why Preaching to the Choir is a Good Thing.” Chris made an assertion that too many marketers are like panhandlers. I understand what he was trying to say, but I think the comparison is a bit off.
Are Marketers Beggars?
“Hey man, spare some change? Check out this great offer I’ve got…”
I’ve never had a beggar offer me anything, have you? I did have one guy try to clean my shoes, but I actually wanted to give him money because he tried to better my life in some small way. He was upbeat and proud of the cleaning spray he used. Plus, he didn’t just tell me it was good, but showed me. That is good marketing.
I do think many marketers are like panhandlers because they think of themselves that way, not because they really are. Let me explain…
A panhandler wants you to give them money without giving you anything in return. Marketing is always about giving something to get something. It is about showing that your product is worth what you are asking in return. Too many marketers either don’t believe in what they are providing, or they don’t really know what they are providing.
Evangelism and Recruiting
In his post, Chris says that evangelism no longer works because we as marketers are essentially trying to, “change someone’s mind and convince them to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do.”
How do we know they wouldn’t want what we have?
Chris goes on to say that recruiting is better because you are, “opening your doors to the people who are already naturally predisposed to your message.”
How do we know who is naturally predisposed to our message, unless they have somehow heard that message through evangelism?
People aren’t opposed to evangelism if it meets their needs. People are opposed to having something crammed down their throat when they don’t want it.
Evangelism and recruitment don’t work because companies become more focused on making money than providing a quality product or service, or they don’t believe their product is worth anything.
Worthwhile Marketing
Marketing should always be about the benefits of your product. Features are meaningless if no one wants to use them. It is easy to become so caught up on marketing processes and methodology that we lose sight of our message and purpose. If you don’t know your message, what are you preaching for? If you don’t believe in your product, what makes you think someone else will believe in it?
People don’t need more information. The world has more than enough information. People want to know how to use information.
“How is this going to better my life?”
If you figure out how to answer this question, people will want you to evangelize them.
Bloated Software
Jun/090
I was speaking with a fellow co-worker today about bloated software because I’m working to take a SharePoint site and move it to Umbraco. I took a SharePoint HTML page that was over 600 lines of code and was able to drop it to about 100 lines of code in Umbraco, just by pulling out all the junk and creating valid markup.
I think SharePoint has some of the worst markup I’ve ever seen in my life. It would be a decent solution for document management and intranet sites, but I can think of a ton of better ways to spend the $20,000 they charge for an external publishing license.
With intranet sites you don’t really have to worry as much about browser compatability, or whether someone may decide to visit your site from a cell phone. You also aren’t as concerned about bandwidth because you are on a faster internal network and search engine optimization isn’t necessary… at least it shouldn’t be.
This all changes for external sites. Microsoft has done a great marketing job of diverting attention from SharePoint’s glaring shortcomings.
“Just look at all these built-in features out of the box!”
Sure, the features are there, but then you have to go and rewrite everything to get it to work right. Umbraco may not have all the bells and whistles of SharePoint, but at least I’m rewarded with a clean and valid website instead of spending a ton of money for something that I’m happy just to get halfway functional.
People are often so awed by features that they lose site of benefits, which should be the real reason to buy software. Microsoft always tries to be everything to everyone, and often they end up with a bloated mess. I hope they learn their lesson and start to rebuild some of their stuff. The Expression suite and Windows 7 are good steps in that direction, but the jury is still out.
Kayak vs Bing
Jun/090
I just read an article about how a travel search engine named Kayak believes Microsoft copied their design for Bing. I did notice some content similarities in the screenshots from the article, but from a design perspective I think it may be pushing it to suggest they copied.
Sure, the color schemes are similar, but I think Bing is a much cleaner design. The colors are a little more subtle and the layout feels less cluttered.
Aside from the screenshots, I found very little to really compare. There are millions of websites on the internet, and when you have similar content you are bound to find similarities in design. How many times do you hear a song and think it sounds familiar even though you’ve never heard it before? Similar is not the same as copying. A copied site would be where you are confused about which site you are on.
I’m sure there are some really confused people out there who somehow ended up on Bing when they really wanted to be on Kayak, but I think the majority of people won’t have this issue. I’m sure that Kayak only helped themselves by landing some free publicity with Microsoft. Maybe they’ll land a few more customers as a result.
Why Apple is on Dangerous Ground
Jun/091
Apple has really done a fantastic job of marketing themselves. They have really understood the value in communicating a message by keeping it simple and to the point, while Microsoft has always tended to overcomplicate their marketing by trying to cover everything. I recently saw a video called, “Microsoft iPod,” which I thought did an excellent job of showing the difference in marketing between the two companies.
Apple hasn’t just created products, they’ve created culture. Who hasn’t heard of Podcasting, the iPod, or the iPhone? They have done an exceptional job of creating innovative user experiences and people have gravitated to this, especially people who have become more disgruntled with Microsoft. In spite of all this, I do think that Apple has some challenging days ahead.
Why Apple could be in trouble
Apple has always been strong in user experience (UX), but has never really focused on building a developer community. Microsoft has done quite the opposite in building a solid developer community, but has often frustrated everyday users by having complicated user interfaces and cryptic documentation.
Now, Apple has decided to shake things up by creating the App Store and releasing an SDK to allow developers to create their own applications. On the flip side, Microsoft has started to focus more on UX and has finally begun to hire the designers to make it happen.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it is just as difficult to be a good designer as it is to be a good developer, but I think it is a whole lot easier to build a design community than it is a developer community. You can use a functional application that looks bad, but you can’t use a beautiful looking application that isn’t functional.
Microsoft can only improve on design, and any improvements they make will build momentum. On the other hand, Apple will have to struggle through the growing pains of building a developer community, which will at times affect UX in a negative way, which loses momentum.
Yesterday I upgrade my iPhone to the new OS and decided to make sure my Apps were updated as well. I soon found out that the server had crashed, which didn’t surprise me considering the number of people I expected to also be upgrading. What I didn’t realize was the importance of this upgrade from a security standpoint.
Apparently the latest update fixes 46 vulnerabilities. Welcome to the big-time Apple! Not too many years ago I remember a number of people gloating that there were no viruses on Macs. Last night I read through over 50 iPhone pages of terms and conditions that said over and over again how Apple should not be held liable for any Third Party software or security issues including attacks and viruses.
How many people will switch to a Mac with the false idea that it is perfectly secure and realize that they will have the same problems in a prettier, more expensive package? Granted, Apple has recently cut prices, but more people using your stuff is more people to complain about it, especially after their bubble of hope is burst.
Apple has done some incredible, innovative things in its history and they continue to raise the bar of excellence. Hopefully they can navigate the deeper, rougher waters ahead, if for no other reason than I would like to continue to enjoy the experience of using their products.
Don’t Settle
Jun/090
Seth Godin wrote about how unemployed college students can make their mark in the current economy. He received some mixed responses, but I have to say that I couldn’t agree with him more.
Several people responded to his list of things to do with excuses of why they couldn’t accomplish those things. My response is, people who say they can’t do something usually don’t.
I hate it when people tell me I can’t do something.
“It’s impossible.”
“That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
“Nobody else has ever been able to do that.”
Sound familiar? The world is full of too many people who settle for good enough.
They graduate from college and think it is good enough and so they quit learning. They get married and think that is good enough so they quit trying to impress their significant other. They find a job that they don’t like, but it pays the bills so it’s good enough.
I’m not saying that these things aren’t difficult. Sometimes it’s difficult to find time to read. Sometimes it’s difficult to love your spouse. Sometimes the job you want is hard to find. But just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it’s impossible and it shouldn’t be an excuse to settle.
The only time you should settle is when you’re dead.
Continued Desperation
Jun/090
The saga continues with the groveling web host. Yesterday I received an email from the web host I halfway signed up with offering their comfort, apologies and a 50% discount for my troubles. I was still annoyed, but I at least felt it was a more personal gesture than the outdated Javascript pop-up… or at least I felt this way until 1:11 in the morning when my phone buzzed to alert me to a new e-mail message. And then it buzzed again (2:40am) and again (3:34am).
By morning I had received a total of 9 e-mails from this company and they weren’t from different people either. In fact, they were the exact same e-mail (so much for the personal touch). So essentially this company decided that spamming me would make me want to give them my business.
At 9:30am I received another e-mail (supposedly from the Vice President of the company). He wanted to apologise (you would think the vice president of a company could use spell check to apologize) for my troubles and remind me that they had recently been voted #1 host by many independent review sites.
Maybe this is true. Maybe I’ve been too hard on them. Maybe they had to fire their marketing department because of the economy and because they needed to make up for all the 50% discounts. Maybe the sales person wasn’t sure if they sent my e-mail so they decided to click the send button every hour throughout the night just to make sure I received it. Now that’s commitment!
Somehow, I don’t think many people would be as impressed with this commitment as I am. I wonder what they have in store next? A singing telegram might be nice!
Don’t Grovel
Jun/091
I decided to look at some different web hosts for my blog last night and came across one I was seriously considering. I completed part of the signup process, but then found something in the terms and conditions that I didn’t agree with so I decided not to continue.
When I tried to exit I received a pop-up message (an old Javascript type) telling me a sales associate was prepared to give me an extra 50% off if I signed up.
I actually thought to myself, “How desperate are these people?”
Here I was looking for a reputable host who would provide the features I need at a reasonable price. This company had what I was looking for except for one thing, which they assumed was price.
As companies, we need to do everything we can to know who our customers are, but even more so, who they aren’t. If we settle for making assumptions then we risk looking like groveling beggars and sacrifice our reputation in the process.
Beginnings
Jun/092
I am constantly writing, but rarely share what I write. When I do share, it is typically verbal. I’ve decided to finally change all of that with this blog. I have long delayed this because I have so many interests that I could write about, but writing about everything can become a bit confusing (I know Seinfeld was a show about nothing and they made it work, but nothing is so much easier than everything).
Anyway, I figured I would use this blog to write about my love/hate relationship with marketing, my thoughts on apple and microsoft, and my passion for good design along with my annoyance at not-so-good design.
Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions related to these areas and I look forward to some good conversation.