Category: Uncategorized

I was just flipping thru my bookmarks and found one I had made for Barnstead International. Firefox (and IE) use the page title as the default title for the bookmark, right? Well, this bookmark was 114 words long!

Turns out that every page in the site has this same 114 word title. It might be a byproduct of the site being done in ColdFusion.

Barnstead is also trapped in the whole Thermo/Fisher merger (a merger of two major lab-supply catalog companies). It looks like a nightmare of branding confusion, which only makes all of their sites pretty confusing. Take a look at this ‘brands’ page that is supposed to clarify all this.

The Barnstead site alone accounts for fourteen different brands (look at the header) and multiple web-domains all going to the same website. What a mess.

I’ve changed my mind since I started this post. This isn’t silly, this is a nightmare.

I’ve been tinkering a bit with our website’s guestbook form. I’ve always prided myself in how simple it was–not one asterisk indicating required details! Its short enough that all the information should be obviously needed, if not required. Eight fields, total.

For the address, in particular, there is just one multi-line box. No pull-down state menu, thank you very much! No having to make the user tab-thru multiple fields. This one step makes the whole form so much easier and inviting for the user, and I would hope it would show respect for the visitor. Polite, even.

The recent tinkering hasn’t been with the form, but how visible it is–which is attracting additional guestbook submissions. Great.

But these new guests seem to be getting less polite. They aren’t filling out the form completely, skipping (or skimping) on the address and phone number.

Folks used to do that, and we would have to do a little Googling to figure out where they are from. Location is important, as in other countries other divisions need to send price quotes, and there are questions of local electric power. But the frequency is now way up.

So I added a line above the address “Please include at least your city and state”, which has had the opposite effect, I think. They have figured out that this block is optional, and are skipping it even more.

I just had one come in from a major multi-national firm that had no address or phone number. Doesn’t he realize that location could matter in getting his price quote? Don’t they run into multi-site problems all the time? Did he see my word ‘please’? And, of course, his request is for pricing “ASAP”. Ughh!

As salespeople and marketers, we need to tolerate and accommodate our prospects. But with this kind of behavior, I can understand how some guestbooks are filled with asterisks. I won’t do it. But, I will rant about it, apparently.

The Dip, by Seth Godin, does what a book from a guru should do—it points out the obvious and kicks you in the gut with the truth.

Seth is pointing out facts that we’d rather not acknowledge. He creates insecurity where there once was security and confidence. That we are likely trapped in the mediocrity of ‘the dip’. We’ve plateau’d and are not moving forward, while the world (and probably our true goals) is.

And worse, he tells us that getting past the dip will take some soul-searching and hard-work. All the work to get to the point of the dip was somewhat easy and obvious—now the real work is necessary.

And if, after evaluation, you decide that the dip isn’t worth punching-through, we should quit. Start over or start something else. Just quit and throw away all that work? Yes, says Seth. And if you are gonna go for it, you’d better quit other things so you can focus, he tells us.

The good news is that he lets us define what ‘best’ is and ‘world’ is when we decide to “be the best in the world”. Not so fast…those buying also get to decide what they think is ‘best in the world’…and if you don’t make their cut, you don’t win.

The really good news from this book is that getting past the dip is a fantastic place of reward where success becomes increasingly easy. Picking the best is the easiest choice for customers–that’s the secret of the success of the iPod, for example.

Maybe this review and earlier posts on the subject are enough for you to understand, or maybe you’ll find this ChangeThis manifesto enough, or his book-blog. But the book drives the point home like only Seth can.

“The point is that in a world of infinite choice, in a world where the best in the world is worth more every single day, the only chance you’ve got is to find a Dip and embrace it. Realize that it’s actually your best ally. The harder it is to get through, the better your chance of being the only one to get through it.

Sticking with something just so you can be mediocre at it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Being average is for losers.”

Kick in the pants rendered, Seth. Thanks for the advance copy of the book.

I was writing yesterday in a predefined template. Templates are great for organizing your information, which in my case, I considered a help. I had lots of details and data to include that would easily be broken down according to the template.

It didn’t work.

Okay, it helped me get started with my ideas and information. But soon, I found I was listing the same things twice, in different sections. I ran into a cognitive stumper, not sure where the info made sense listing, and worse, I wasn’t sure what if my message was going to get across. I was in a writing ‘dip’: I had gone down the road till I hit a cul-de-sac, and couldn’t see a way out. Exactly what Seth has written about in his book The Dip.

So I didn’t save myself any brain-work by going with the template. I still had to do hard thinking about my information and message. Then I had to act on it and clean up the mess. I ended up combining the sections, tossing some info, and make the best stuff better. Again, exactly what Seth talked about in the book about how to get out of the dip–the path often is not there, you have to make it on your own.

So when you hit a cul-de-sac, you have four choices:

• Go back to the beginning (give up)
• Park the car (and settle for good-enough)
• Drive back up the road till you find a different route
• Or make a new road (even if it means driving thru someone’s yard)

The point is that these are things we do every day. The Dip has always existed, Seth has only pointed it out. Next time, we’ll talk about the implications he raises about The Dip.

Hans De Keulenaer, at B2Bridge (a European business blogging site) interviewed me via email on the occasion of B2Blog’s 5th year. He called me a lustrum blogger. I had to Google that word, but now I understand. Thanks Hans for the opportunity to share.

Have you been reading Seth’s book-promo-blog, The Dip? As someone who feels stuck in a couple ‘dips’ (and don’t we all?), I’ve eagerly followed along. (In short, ‘the dip’ is the point between ‘good’ and ‘great’.) Heck, I’m a Seth fanboy.

Seth sent out a request for ‘quitters’, those who got out of a dip and forged a new destination of greatness. I suggested Alton Brown, whom I am also a fanboy of (currently blogging Feasting On Asphalt 2 for you other fanboys/girls). Alton quit being a cameraman/producer to go to cooking school specifically so he could make a show like Good Eats (with video sample).

Interestingly enough, AB has a diagram of ‘the dip’ in his baking book, which I just completed reading, which is what I really wanted to share with Seth. AB’s point was slightly different:

“Why take any journey? Why did the chicken cross the road? Because in moving from one place to another, we learn something about both. Maybe you’re not the kind of person who needs to know how things work, but if you have your eyeballs on this page, I’m betting you are. And people like us tinker—that’s how we find things out. For me, following the trail from pizza to brioche just shows the lay of the land. Seeing how everything is connected rather than just following directions makes me a better cook.”

That’s why they call him a ‘cooking geek’. And I think it applies 100% to becoming a ‘marketing geek’. We need to cross the ‘lake of doubt’ to arrive at the ‘plane of understanding’.

Longtime readers may recall, I’ve connected AB to Seth’s principles before, when I talked about ‘Edgecraft’ as described in Seth’s book The Free Prize. Apparently I love making these connections.

Tomorrow: A closer look at the book, The Dip (I got a preview copy for sending in AB as a quitter.)

It’s easy to be cynical about kids, especially today, with so much leisure, so much wealth, so much freedom. I worry about it with my own kids. My daughter is 12 and twin boys will be 10 soon. You wonder when (and if) they will become productive members of society.

This weekend I experienced two things that gave me the greatest hope for the next generation.

1. Our suburban city, Kentwood, held an all-school art festival. What a treat of commitment, creativity, and promise! Art that you instinctively kept you hands off because you knew it was special. And adored not just for the impact of the art, but for the kid who created it.

2. The region’s Girl Scouts held a large award ceremony yesterday. About 200 girls from 11 to 18 were honored with Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards. My daughter received her Bronze Award. This time the kids were right there in front of you. So casual about what they had done–they don’t know any different. Helping others and learning are ways of life…already…to these girls.

While I give them my adoration, I also feel humbled by my lack of idealism and effort, both for myself and the community. They’ve already surging ahead, ready to make the world a better place by their actions and their inspiration to others.

Someone posted a link to an ‘interesting’ B2B video in my comments yesterday. It was boring. It wasn’t useful. The formal staging was awkward. And it had only garnered about 40 views according to the web service hosting it.

Okay, it was an attempt at a thought-leader interview, and not true B2B content, but it got me thinking: This crap won’t fly anymore.

Video is easy now, but getting it right is hard.

I suspect that video will be the next great content for B2B marketing, but only for those who understand it and can execute it correctly.

Like blogging, video now needs to be personal, edgy, and entertaining. For companies used to staging beautiful ads, brochures, or websites, this becomes a reality check. Video will be even more attractive than blogging is to business, but I don’t know if they’ll be able to pull it off.

Study these:

• Will it blend: A great example of a product demonstration, done by the CEO of the company. He doesn’t say much, does he?
• Modern Blues Harmonica (lessons): Adam Gussow shoots his lessons at home, the office, or in his car. He limits the subject matter and watches the time. He doesn’t talk down, but he doesn’t assume too much. (And he’ll be the guy who gets me past ‘the dip’ of skill I have right now.)

They aren’t B2B, but this is what is effective. This is what people are willing to watch on the Internet. Watch them–Put your product in place of the blender. Put your thought-leader in place of Adam. Can you pull it off? I think we’ll need to figure out how.

As I was reminded earlier this week, today starts my fifth year blogging. That’s a long time! So I thought a little ‘state of the blog’ ramble was in order to mark the occasion.

I’ve been frustrated by a slower pace of posts I’ve been making the last few months. Most of the change of pace I attribute to my deepening involvement in projects and tasks that absorb my attention. I’ve found ‘flow’, which is nice, but it comes with a cost.

Flow was one of the elements I found hardest to achieve as I transitioned away from my sales responsibilities. Time was that multi-tasking was one of my greatest skills, hopping from the phone, to the computer, to harassing engineering. And blogging fit right in. Now I have to work harder at it.

One of my original goals was to discuss the impact of the internet on B2B marketing. This impact has come to maturity in many ways, limiting the number of strategic ‘what ifs’ that need to be discussed. Google rules, Thomas has ditched their green books, etc. But there are a ton of tactical applications that we could still discuss.

I love focusing on tactics, and that’s why I continue to discuss directories, salespeople, websites, and trade shows. We, as marketers, need to keep vigilant with these resources, ensuring they are what we want, and are doing what we expect.

Bloglines puts my subscriber number at 188, which I double in my head to guess at the total number of subscribers. This blog has hit a critical mass, I think, where almost every post garners at least one comment from a reader, something that was much, much rarer even a year ago. Unfortunately, Blogger and RSS don’t work to show comments to those using an RSS reader/service. I encourage you, if you like a post I wrote, to click-thru to read or post comments.

B2Blog is a vital part of my life, even when I’m not posting. While I write ‘for myself’, I’m encouraged and humbled by your readership. I’m thrilled when you email me, or post comments.

Thanks to you, all my readers.

What to do when your show/event is down in traffic and booked-space? Move? Thats a big gamble. And great place to take a gamble is in Vegas, where the Apex Show is moving, according to Circuits Assembly magazine:

“The Apex/IPC Printed Circuits Expo trade show will relocate to Las Vegas in 2008, show producer IPC said Monday. In a letter to exhibitors, IPC said the combination of a 12% drop in attendance coupled with an apparent distaste for the Los Angeles Convention Center factored heavily into the decision.”

Having been to the LACC before, I’d agree the location is not ideal for a ‘national’ show. Probably great for local shows, where on/off the freeway is more important than hotels & restaurants. Apex will be paying a $750,000 penalty for bailing on their 2008 contract, but will boost booth-space rental in Vegas by $4 a square foot to make up the cost. That’s $400 more for a 10×10 booth.

Personally, I’ve never seen a show benefit from moving, unless they are outgrowing previous sites. Now everyone is going to bitch about the high cost of booth-space instead of the location. Oh, and they might bitch about the location on top of the high cost. Apex’s news release says that shows moving to Vegas average a 21% increase in attendance, so maybe I’m wrong to be cynical.

Will the attendees follow the show? Will the exhibitors? It’s a gamble!