30 December 2005 
Update: Marketing on the Million Dollar HomePage
So you’re wondering: How’s Jack’s hundred bucks doing on The Million Dollar Homepage? From that Alex Tew brainchild Brit.
(email me if you can find my ad. I’ll have to think of a prize.)
So. Here’s where we stand:
I got 16 hits.
16. Is a small number. With great potential. I guess.
Alex got:
$918,100
That’s a big number. And,
He’s got some inventory remaining:
$81,900
All Marketers
Are Liars
by Seth GodinAll marketing should be measured. I keep telling Charmaine that my microscopic marketing campaign will launch big numbers. Soon. Real Soon. Next quarter baby, it’s coming, it’s a lock…it
…proves that Seth Godin is right?
All marketers are liars?
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Thank you (foot)notes:
The Marketing Pilgrim asks the key question.
Web Feet PR has the before and after shots.
Full Disclosure: Your Business Blogger is a marketing consultant. With a terrific track record in ad buys.
29 December 2005
Carnival of the Capitalists is Up at Multiple Mentality
Be sure to visit Josh Cohen’s Multiple Mentality and read some of the best business content in the business.
And he’s not afraid to unmask his sitemeter. (Re: Josh’s got traffic.)
Daily Dose of OptimismAnd while there check out his Editor’s Choice: Daily Dose of Optimism, How Business Journalists Could Make My Life Easier.
Where 100 words is better than 800 words.
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28 December 2005
Avoid Being Outsourced: Here’s How
Gandhi on Indian Rupee bank noteIf it’s not Core,
It’s going off-shore.
Every business has Core functions and Critical functions. It is the smart knowledge worker who knows the difference.
Start with this:
Does my job add value face to face with Benjamin’s?
If not, your job might soon be replaced with Gandhi’s.
Geek SquadFor example, I outsource all my tech needs to Geek Squad at Best Buy. An “Agent” comes to my office or home, eyeballs my pilot errors, walks around, makes recommendations, and sells me stuff. And bills me Benjamins for the service.
(Yes, Your Business Blogger once had CIO duties at a billion dollar enterprise. Which means I can really, really screw up a network.)
Anyway, if you are in a cubicle and never see a check writing customer, leave. Somewhere, someone in your company is shaking hands with a client, at this very moment. You must physically touch that customer, too.
And I don’t mean a phone call touch. I got a call center in Bangalore that does that. You must press a pound of flesh, not the pound button.
eMail me with your situation and I might use it as a case study. Or not. But you will get some Free Consulting as an Alert Reader.
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Thank you (foot)notes:
Geek Squad 24 Hour Computer Support Task Force
The Melting Thought has a first hand post on Best Buy management.
Diatribe Net has more.
Full Disclosure: Your Business Blogger has consulted with outsourcing companies in India.
27 December 2005
Christmas in Rome
In December,1223, Francis of Assisi enacted the first living nativity scene, with animals, near Greccio, Italy. So for an authentic nativity experience we traveled to Rome.
Georgia.
For Great-Grandmother Ruth’s eggnog and blog.
Following is a cross-post from Charmaine.
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
ISAIAH 9:6
My mother is the oldest of seven children and several of my aunts and uncles leave near my grandmother, so when we are able to visit for Christmas, we have a huge family gathering. The church they all attend has an annual live Nativity Scene that we love participating in. Here’s the wide shot — this year, Jack and I got to be Mary and Joseph, while the girls were angels, the Dude was a shepherd, and the Wise Men on the left include two cousins and my uncle.
The Dude was thrilled — the donkey made an aromatic contribution to the evening. . .
Baby Boo wanted to be an angel, too and kept saying, “I dressed, I dressed” . . . but as you can see, he drew the line at the halo. . .and the posing thing? Forget it!
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Thank you (foot)notes:
Cross Posted at Reasoned Audacity.
Courtesy of a Yellow Dog Democrat! He posted today his Top Ten Christmas Memories. . .
24 December 2005
Noah and Jack’s Best Marketing Blog Picks for ‘05
WinnersHere are my Marketing Post Picks for 2005. Over the next week, I will review the selection process on how these thought and opinion leaders made the cut with their content. Stay tuned for the ‘reverse fisk.’
The Winners:
Mike Smock’s Maneuver Marketing Communique has
INDRA NOOYI DAMAGES THE PEPSI BRAND?
Rob May at Business Pundit has
Lying, Marketing, and Perception
“Jane” at Lipsticking has
Jane Goes Beyond beds and baths
Evelyn Rodriguez’s Crossroads Dispatches has My Marketing Philosophy In Three Words - Or Less
Merry Christmas!
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Thank you (foot)notes:
Noah Kagan has another four Marketing Best Blogs at Okdork.com.
Free Consulting on Christmas Day for the Uniformed Services
When Your Business Blogger had the honor of wearing an Army uniform, I was not married.
I always volunteered for duty on Christmas Day. No, not because I wanted the pity of self-inflicted punishment.
(Nobody likes martyrs. That’s why we killed so many of them.)
No, I traded Christmas duty with the married guys — so that I would not have to work New Year’s Eve.
The High Holiday for the unhitched.
In my rear view mirror, all holidays were a waste before Charmaine. Here’s your FLIR, your Forward Looking InfraRed to see through the darkness, the future.
Three Free Consulting Action Recommendations for men in uniform:
1) If you are married on an unaccompanied tour:
Come Home Safe.
We will celebrate your return. And,
2) If you are unmarried, currently serving out of theater:
Get Married.
You’ve made the planet a safer place. It’s now your duty to make world a better place.
3) If you are umarried in a combat theater:
Complete Action Items #1, then #2.
That’s an order.
Working New Year’s Eve will be the result of the best decision you will ever make.
I guarantee it.
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Thank you (foot)notes:
Mudville Gazette has Call for Submissions for memorable Milblog posts for the year.
Reasoned Audacity. Merry Christmas
23 December 2005
Free Christmas Consulting and Mandatory Dog Picture
Shadrach claws at work
baby Dreamer, Charmaine,
Jack 1995If you are reading this on the Eve of Christmas Eve, you are probably a-working away.
Free Consulting:
Go Home
[sigh] I see that you are not packing up.
Maybe you can sneak out at noon.
And do something you will remember a decade later. Pictured is little Dreamer and Shadrach (The Dog Genius) and Charmaine. I don’t remember the work I skipped out on.
But I’ll have this picture.
Forever.
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Thank you (foot)notes:
Check back tomorrow for Free Consulting for the Uniformed Services.
Visit The Median Sib for a good list.
To Grandmother’s house we go.
See Brannon’s Euro-trip for adventure.
Every little girl deserves Daddy’s Roses.
Alone on a Limb has advice.
22 December 2005
Wal*Mart Protesters: Intellectual Elites Lose
Paul Johnson
Forbes MagazinePaul Johnson describes an intellectual as someone who loves all humanity; it’s people they don’t like. The latest Anti-Wal*Mart protest reveals intellectual indifference to kids.
At Christmas.
The Washington Times reports on protesters who invaded Wal*Mart, dressed as Santa Claus and his elves:
[U]nion-sponsored protesters handed out empty, gift-wrapped boxes to children and made them cry…[T]he arrests of…the protesters may have been …a …strategy designed by Big Labor-backed WakeUpWalMart.com.
WakeUpWalMart is a new class of union thugs. Intellectual elite thugs.
If your product, or service — or protest — makes kids cry, you have a questionable corporate strategy.
Merry Christmas.
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Thank you (foot)notes:
Joel Mowbray occasionally writes for The Washington Times.
See Wal Mart Insider’s Top 100 Blog Posts
Over 10,000 claimed by Wake-Up Wal*Mart.
Capitalism = Poverty for the Majority. Fight for a Socialist Future — Join the campaign for a new mass workers party says Wal*Mart is to blame for the world’s ills..
Be sure to visit JollyBlogger who has more on Paul Johnson.
21 December 2005
What’s The Fastest Way To Lose Trust In Business?
Mike Jingozian
Founder
Angel VisionStretch the truth. Mislead. Lie.
Yes, I know Truth is the most obvious way to protect a brand. Obivous to you, Gentle Reader. But not Mike Jingozian, founder of Angel Vision. We can see a truthless-clue in a simple reference check of academic achievements. Here, Mike is not concerned with the precision of his pedigree.
Mike was quick, very quick, to remind us that “he received a CAS degree in Applied Science from Harvard.” His degree was touted in the pitch and in print.
Except that Mike Jingozian does not have a degree from Harvard.
An Alert Reader, who has intimate knowledge of AV, comments, “I just read your blog posts on AngelVision Technologies - and almost fell out of my chair laughing…:
The one little tid-bit I thought I would add - just because I’ve always found it to be hilarious - is that Jingozian doesn’t actually have a “degree” from Harvard. He took some computer class there back in the mid-80s, and so he actually has just a certificate from Harvard. . .
The Alert Reader is right. Harvard says that:
candidates for the master’s degree…Note: This program is separate from the Harvard Extension School’s open admissions program leading to the Certificate of Advanced Standing in Applied Sciences (C.A.S.).
MIke Jingozian has a “certificate.” Not a “degree.”
These distinctions are important. Academic credentials are critical. Woe to the student who even confuses associate professor with assistant professor with full professor.
The Alert Reader continues:
[AV] is without a doubt one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. . .Jingozian would talk endlessly about his conversations with “The Entity” - which was some form of God that he spoke to, and I imagine, got all his business advice from….
Thanks for your post - it really cracked me up.
So how did this all get started? I would submit AV is closer to a quasi-cult than a corporation. Jeff Otis, the AV BizDev VP says,
“Our company slogan could have been “Be Like Mike” but that was already taken.”
My fear is that they all would be like Mike. A bit confused on the truth.
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Thank you (foot)notes:
Angel Vision’s site.
See Your Business Blogger’s previous posts.
Persistence vs. Knowing When to Stop
How Much is that Doggie in the Window?
20 December 2005
Making Money vs Making a Movie
Why does Hollywood continue to invest time, talent and treasure into products nobody wants?
Brokeback Mountain is receiving rave reviews. But seen in only 69 theatres in 21 cities?
Lots of ink; few viewers.
This is because the movie industry is not interested in making money. Only in making political statements. Michael Medved in his book Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values outlines this agenda.
Medved’s book with
Rush Limbaugh’s
cover blubI spoke with Medved, a PBS movie critic, some years ago. He spoke on this business; this “non-profit” motivation of showbusiness. He said that the creatures of LA want only to advance an agenda.
They do not care about money. They really don’t care about profit.
George Gilder agrees:
Hollywood is forfeiting both profits and paying customers in a crazy campaign to foist its own loony lifestyles and muddled world views on the American people.
Hollywood would rather make a point, than make money.
As for me and my house, we will be seeing Narnia. Again.
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Thank you (foot)notes:
Graph credit Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D. at Reasoned Audacity.
The book is available from Wal*Mart, of course. Where America’s families shop.
Point Five has the training aids for understanding the movie.
Basil’s Blog has great links!
Outside the Beltway has Traffic Jam.
Writing Right has analysis.