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Hopelessly Unhip

Ipn_hand_productI was excited to puchase my first shiny new iPod yesterday, and now I find out they are going out of style. According to New York trend forecaster Zandle Group the iPod backlash has begun.

Here's what a tech-savvy 15-year-old has to say:  "Why do I need an iPod? The ageing hipsters with white headphones poking out of their ears are sad."

Ouch.

September 07, 2006 in Odds and Ends | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

In the Office and Ready to Rock!

I'm back from Maui and hard at work on client and affiliate tasks.

PineappleAirport check-in was really smooth in both directions, leaving plenty of time for a few last tropical drinks in the bar.

I think security is going faster because travelers are not carrying on as many items. For once, the overhead compartments were not filled with pineapples. Either they have gone out of style, or are simply too difficult to mess around with.

August 25, 2006 in Odds and Ends | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Guy Kawasaki's Guidelines for a Winning VC PowerPoint Pitch

I'm embarrassed to admit that I've played a role in writing and designing PowerPoint presentations that were simply too much.

Too many points, too many pages, too many complex graphics. As hard as I try to simplify the presentation, someone (frequently multiple someones), along the management chain of command feel compelled to add a few more points.

The end result is a bloated presentation that wanders around for dozens of slides before reaching the final point - long after everyone in the room has started day dreaming.

We could all have more success in our sales pitches -- for money, for partners, for new business, if we followed Guy's 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.

July 10, 2006 in Odds and Ends | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Starting a Startup

Thinking of starting a software startup or working for one now?

Paul Graham's straight talking essay How to Start a Startup is a great perspective on how to succeed.

During the dot-com era, I was fortunate to work for a startup that did it right. I have fond memories of sharing an office with two other passionate people, sitting at a desk with drawers that were dented so badly you couldn't open them, catering to angel investors, and working through a fixture fire until we were forced to evacuate.

When we upgraded to a more professional building, it just wasn't the same. Check it out....

March 25, 2005 in Odds and Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Little Business Card Business

It’s been awhile since I had to look for a business card vendor, but now that I needed business cards for Savvy it was time to shop around. Savvy’s business cards are designed with three colors, they are two-sided and the design bleeds on the front and back. Given these requirements, the lowest quote I received from a local printer was $479 for 500 cards.

So I took a chance with an online printing company, Overnight Prints, and was pleasantly surprised. The paper is professional 14-point stock and coated on both sides with a satin matte finish. The type was crisp, and my colors came out perfectly, except for the black. For some reason, it looks brown. But I can live with it considering I saved over $400.

You don’t get the fancy business card box. The cards are packaged in a brown shipping box and arrive within ten days. No hassle. No paper decisions. No press check. No negotiation. A bargain at $51.89 for 250 cards, including shipping.

January 09, 2005 in Odds and Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Recruiting Sites & 100 Resumes

Recently I have been working with a software client to hire a Director of Marketing Communications. To jump-start the search, I posted job descriptions on my two favorite recruiting websites/services; KIT List and craigslist.

KIT (Keep In Touch) List is an email job posting service where employers and recruiters advertise permanent or consulting job opportunities to over 35,000 high-quality professionals. The company charges $29 per posting.

A cross between a community site and a job board, Craigslist caters only to a handful of cities, including Chicago, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco (where it started). Craigslist charges $75 per category for jobs located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Resumes start arriving within hours, with the highest volume on the first two days.

In the last few days I have skimmed more than one hundred resumes from marketing professionals in response to these ads. Here’s what I’ve taken away from the experience so far.

1. There is a lot of marketing talent looking for interesting challenges. Of these, many respondents to craigslist postings are consultants seeking new clients. I wonder how well this technique works for them? These resumes went right in the trash.

2. Marketing people are verbose. Save the time it requires to craft a long cover letter. With the volume of resumes recruiters receive today they can’t possibly read every word. Tiny type doesn’t help either. Use bullets and as few words as possible to highlight how your qualifications match the position’s requirements.

3. A common trend is to summarize capabilities in the first few inches of copy. What once was a few sentences highlighting the applicant's experience has expanded into a redundant list of skills and qualifications. It is hard to read, and actually a little confusing. I ignore the fluff and go right to the work history.

4. Keep your format as clean as possible. Use standard fonts, readable sizes and decent line spacing. Your resume will be easier to read, get more attention, and convey professionalism.

5. Watch out for tracked changes! I received a few resumes complete with a history of revisions. Thanks to the Track Changes feature in MS Word I was able to see the strikethroughs, underlining and balloon comments that revealed the entire editing history. Too difficult to decipher, these went in the trash. I'm not totally heartless, I emailed the sender and alerted them to the problem.

If your resume, or any other document, has this frustrating tracking problem, Microsoft offers advice on how to “Get rid of tracked changes and comments, once and for all.”

6. Strategy, concepts, and vision have a place in marketing, but what I like to see is a candidate that understands marketing’s responsibility is to deliver quantifiable business results. I look for statements like these:

> Grew leads 35%
> Reduced marketing expenses by 10%
> Contributed to record revenues achieving 25% growth over prior year.
> Instituted a closed-loop lead management processes shortening sales follow-up time by two days.

If you avoid these common mistakes and have the right qualifications, your resume will be in the top 10%. And, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you made the recruiters day a bit easier.

January 08, 2005 in Odds and Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Categories

  • Business Blogs
  • Content
  • Odds and Ends
  • Public Relations
  • Search Engine Marketing
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Strategy
  • Tech Videos
  • Web 2.0
  • Web/Tech
  • Weblogs
  • What I'm Up To