Do, or Do Not. There is no feel.
I’ve always loved Yoda’s famous line to Luke when he was intimidated by a big job… “Do, or do not. There is no try.”
Seth Godin has a great corollary to that sentiment:
I don’t feel like it. What’s it? Why do you need to feel like something in order to do the work? They call it work because it’s difficult, not because it’s something you need to feel like.
Even when it seems like an insurmountable or even unpleasant task in front of you, both contend that you approach it with the end result in mind. Looking at the next step in front of you isn’t as helpful as looking at the top of the hill and your goal. Don’t worry about how you feel at this step, just keep moving and you’ll reach your goal.
I like it. It’s my thought for the week.
Update on My Microblog
First the good news; I’ve been keeping pretty busy with some new clients, partners and projects… Unfortunately, that’s pushed my blogging here down lower on the to-do list. Apologies. 8-)
I’ve been focusing my blogging updates to my FriendFeed microblog, rather than longer form blog posts, this gives me enough time to share some of the great news and happening from around the web, but in a more concise (and faster) way.
I hope you’ll enjoy the updates there, or you can join me on FriendFeed directly here.
Building Trust Remotely
Web Worker Daily offers some good advice on building and keeping trust when you don’t work physically next to your coworkers or clients. Check out the article here.
I’ve been working with clients, partners and teammates remotely for years, and I’ve found that a focus on high-touch communication and relationship building is also a key to productive interactions.
My last core project team was spread across 3 countries in Europe, 5+ cities in at least 4 states in the U.S. We used Agile/Scrum development and had daily touchbases, but some of the most productive time was the occasionaly in-person relationship building we did while traveling to their workplace or mine. We built an understanding of each of us as people and how we communicate, or values and motivations. We were also constantly chatting, short messaging and had frequent informal communications that brought and kept us working together efficiently and enjoyably. I’m happy to say that I still stay in touch with many of the team and count them as great friends. How many of your old project teams can say that? 8-)
What have you learned when working with remote teams? What do you NOT do?
Retailers heading to iPhone apps
Internet Retailer shares that Best Buy has launched an iPhone app to share their specials and deals.
The mobile app, available through Apple Inc.’s App Store, enables iPhone and iPod Touch users to view weekly deals and mobile-only specials and find the nearest Best Buy store. However, like the Best Buy m-commerce site, located at m.BestBuy.com, it is not yet transactional. Mobile shoppers must phone Best Buy to place an order.
iTunes link to the “Best Buy Weekly Deals” app here. Looks like it’s a good start for them… but with a quick search of iTunes I found another app called the “Best Buy – Gamer’s Club” which seems to the same thing focused on gaming deals and news. Not sure why there is two.
The “Weekly Deals” app seems pretty useful, even using the GPS on my phone to find my nearest physical locations, give phone numbers and connect to my Maps application for driving directions. You can’t search for deals in the app, and the settings are a little odd to operate, but it seems like a pretty good app to start off with.
Best Buy is also promoting another app-focused site/blog in the promotional materials called Best Buy Apps. I can’t quite tell what the point is, but it also links to other apps/sites they seem to have built.
Overall, it’s a great step to see a company promote specials and give some extra service to their customers… would sure like to see if it can drive any sales. 8-)
Is there an iPhone app that can help your company work with it’s customers better?
BTW: The easiest way to get links directly to the iTunes store is via this page from Apple.
(Disclosure: I work with a company building iPhone apps now, Common Sense LLC, at GetCS.com)
Sharing the Wheat: Trust, Guidelines, Analytics & Search Tips
A few good links I’ve seen over the past few days:
10 Tips to Build Trust with Social Media
An excellent and super-simple list of tips to build trust and be authentic in corporate social media. We all know how to not be “that guy” that crosses the line at the company party (well most of us do), but we could all use the reminder of how to keep in touch online, especially when we are representatives of our companies in social media.
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Enterprise: List of 40 Social Media Staff Guidelines
A great list of links from large companies and a few interesting info graphics from the US Air Force on setting internal guidelines on social media participation. This is a great resource to bookmark or use as a research guide for setting up your own corporate guidelines.
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The Rise of the C-Tweet: Points to Consider for Twitter-Friendly CEOs and CMOs
The article helps us consider some good questions like
“And herein lies the greatest challenge of the C-Tweet: Where does the voice of the brand end and the voice of the individual begin?”
and gives a few good guidelines for leaders to consider before jumping off into a twitter account. But it doesn’t really go much into one of the best reasons for company leaders to engage with Twitter and social media: “To get better in touch with their customers and their needs.” It’s a mantra of so many business books and successful companies, maybe it’s just obvious. If you don’t have an AdAge account you can see the article here.
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Yahoo Search Marketing Blog has a good post (refresher) on choosing keywords. Good overview of choosing general/broad AND specific/narrow keywords. Example: “toyota” is general, “toyota camry” and “camry hatchback” are more specific. Make sure to have both.
There are lots of good posts on Yahoo’s Search Blog, make sure to read more.
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Social Media in Pharma and Medical fields
Here’s a great list of leaders in the pharma and medical device fields that blog and/or twitter. Some of my medical clients have been very cautious with social media because of the regulatory issues that could come up. Clearly you can engage with peers and customers as this great list shows. Good to see my pal Greg Rust on the list!
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Email and Analytics
Bronto Blog has a good post, although pretty technical, on setting up Google Analytics to measure your email campaigns. Google Analytics has a great tool called URL builder that you can compose to measure the source of the click, label different mediums and campaigns to give you full insight into where clicks are coming from. If you set up all your email links with these, you can A/B test different email or promotion versions, see trends in clicks/purchases over time or start to get insights into your customer segments and improve targeting.
Have a GREAT week!
Getting better insights from your analytics
Via a quick post on the SuperWebAnalyist Blog from Ed Wu of the Web Analytics Association and Dell’s Consumer Online team come a great post on “numbers that lie” or at least don’t really offer any insights about online behavior.
In one of my new favorite blogs to read, analytics pro Avinash Kaushik shows how Averages, Percentages, Ratios and Compound Metrics (aka Calculated Metrics) don’t show much real insight, and can often be misleading.
As an example to combat the “fluff” of averages, you should identify your most important / interesting segments for your business and report those along with the overall averages. Distributions of tiers of activity also help wade through the numbers and get to real actionable insights.
See the rest of his very good recommendations here, including how to make use of the “Better Google Analytics” Firefox plugin that offers several advantages and updates Google Analytics.
Another great post is on his recommendations on establishing strong KPI’s or Key Performance Indicators for your website. (Not sure why there are 6 recommendations but 8 rules, but hey, who’s counting? 8-) What’s a KPI?
Measures that help you understand how you are doing against your objectives.
Although to some it’s obvious, unlike several of my past clients (sorry), you do need to set objectives for your web marketing efforts (some thing a little more specific and measurable than “have a cool website” and “make more money”) and then set measures to track your efforts in attaining them. How else do you prioritize your efforts?
Some of his recommendations are pretty standard, but his explanation of WHY they are good is worth a read. I’ve overviewed them here:
- Conversion Rate, (pretty obvious) measures towards objectives
- Average Order Value cross and up-sell measures (Yes, with segmentation and distributions!)
- Days & Visits To “Purchase”, especially with relationship customers and products that are considered purchases
- Visitor Loyalty & Visitor Recency, aiding in segmenting & targeting most valuable customers
- Task Completion Rate, goes hand in making sites usable and fine tuning good content
- Share of Search to better measure against competitors. Compete.com seems like an interesting tool to help
Follow Avinash on Twitter.
Are you actively managing your site’s analytics? What are you missing in your optimization of your sites efficacy and customer experience? Are you really capturing your share of market?
Door64 Tech Fair – Matt Genovese of Door64.com
I shot some short video interviews with some of the software and service folks that attended the Door64.com Tech Fair yesterday, you’ll see several of them before this post. It was a packed event with over 900 people set up by Matt Genovese, founder of Door64, a community of over 5,000 high tech professionals. Thanks Matt!
Here’s a great AAStatesman article covering the event.
Matt has grown Door64.com’s community so quickly from the ground up, it’s a great example of how social media, personal networks and executing well to fill a need.
I had a great time chatting with so many people doing great things. I hope you enjoy the videos too.
I didn’t get video time with Nik of Turn2Live.com, Bridget or Travis of Werkadoo.com, Cari of ExSquared.com, Cesar of Common Sense or Lisa of SmartBear.com. Guys, if you’d like to send me a link or have lunch and make a 30-second video to share, I’d love to share it. They all looked like they have a great things happening, check them out.
