"Do what they love, with what you love, and the money is sure to follow." Tom Asacker
"Scarcely anyone would have become a great actor if the public had been born without hands." Karl Kraus
"Life is a series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have been, but what we yearn to be." Jose Ortega Y Gasset
Today's image: Southern Alps around Milford Sound and Queenstown, the South Island of New Zealand by Ron Fell. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Google is your home page
The new reality. Like it or not.
The new reality. Like it or not.
Above, text from the first slide of my brief at NAB this year.
Three points from Martinizing: The Nine for 09 brief:
1. Your home page is Google. A significant game-changing strategy that needs to be deeply understood by your team. They need to stop obsessing about your home page as it's becoming increasingly irrelevant. Your assets must be digital and discoverable. Google is your home page, practically everything else related to your online strategy is subordinate to this single issue. When you can Google the name of your firm and/or the products, services, attributes you think you "own" and using I'm Feeling Lucky returns one of your pages, you win (but only in that moment - remember, it's not a static but dynamic environment). Try it. Then Google Search and carefully study the first page of results. That's the real you as the world sees it. Think landing page optimization. [Time to revisit Peter Morville - Ambient Findability - What We Find Changes Who We Become]
4. Mobile is the new black. Back to the future. Broadband wired still counts but now, it's back to wireless (again) and this time around it's the third tribe of wireless that rules. The battlefield is the third screen, the handset. The only limiting step of what's possible with mobile remains energy related, that damn battery. The first person to deliver a cost-effective solution set solving this power issue will, no doubt, get Bill Gates rich. Video becomes ubiquitous. [FD: During Q&A I was called on pushing WAP in my 1999 NAB brief. Guilty as charged, too early. My 2009 response is the iPhone represents more breakthrough OS than simple, sexy user-centric form factor innovation. Sidebar: My thought is a second or third order effect of the Jeff Bezos Kindle is a cool new form factor between the second and third screen. I want my iPhone to be the size of my Kindle.]
7. Local being redefined. Defined not by DMA or any US census def, but by exactly where the customer is NOW, in the moment, within three meters or less. Think GPS.
Three points from Martinizing: The Nine for 09 brief:
1. Your home page is Google. A significant game-changing strategy that needs to be deeply understood by your team. They need to stop obsessing about your home page as it's becoming increasingly irrelevant. Your assets must be digital and discoverable. Google is your home page, practically everything else related to your online strategy is subordinate to this single issue. When you can Google the name of your firm and/or the products, services, attributes you think you "own" and using I'm Feeling Lucky returns one of your pages, you win (but only in that moment - remember, it's not a static but dynamic environment). Try it. Then Google Search and carefully study the first page of results. That's the real you as the world sees it. Think landing page optimization. [Time to revisit Peter Morville - Ambient Findability - What We Find Changes Who We Become]
4. Mobile is the new black. Back to the future. Broadband wired still counts but now, it's back to wireless (again) and this time around it's the third tribe of wireless that rules. The battlefield is the third screen, the handset. The only limiting step of what's possible with mobile remains energy related, that damn battery. The first person to deliver a cost-effective solution set solving this power issue will, no doubt, get Bill Gates rich. Video becomes ubiquitous. [FD: During Q&A I was called on pushing WAP in my 1999 NAB brief. Guilty as charged, too early. My 2009 response is the iPhone represents more breakthrough OS than simple, sexy user-centric form factor innovation. Sidebar: My thought is a second or third order effect of the Jeff Bezos Kindle is a cool new form factor between the second and third screen. I want my iPhone to be the size of my Kindle.]
7. Local being redefined. Defined not by DMA or any US census def, but by exactly where the customer is NOW, in the moment, within three meters or less. Think GPS.
The obvious is often the hardest to see: The past, and the apparent present, does not equal the future. Exhibit A - thirty something months from a cold start to POTUS. Exhibit B - An international star is born via YouTube in less than two weeks. She's Susan Boyle, 47, and unemployed (still looking). Of course, you'll agree with exhibit B having watched the YouTube video I recommended to you last week.
Closed circuit to Google: Please share the analytics related to the record breaking Susan Boyle video. What were the drivers, the sources of significant traffic? What traffic did MS, FB, Twitter, blogs and other social media produce? What did the links by news organizations, entertainment shows and other MSM contribute to the record views? What country, what metro ranked highest in views, second highest, lowest? How about a timeline track of traffic? What about repeat views by uniques against the norm? There's a simply great case study in the making here.
Congrats & cheers: Kurt Hanson, Paul Maloney and team RAIN. Not only did they stage another killer RAIN Internet Radio Summit but they took the lead in making the first NAB Show Tweetup happen. Kudos to digital evangelist Kipper McGee who worked behind the scenes and helped to make the Tweetup a success.
Bonus: Tom Asacker, the best-selling author, renowned speaker and provocateur known for bold, fresh thinking, has written a wonderful piece that you should read and share. Do What They Love is now available via PDF here. Bravos, Tom.
P.S. The cool kids have Tom Asacker's blog in their reader. It's a must-read.
