Aaron Gerdes

I’ve kept this Paul Graham quote close over the past few weeks, it’s been lending me lots of inspiration each time I see it:

Here it is: I like to find (a) simple solutions (b) to overlooked problems© that actually need to be solved, and (d) deliver them as informally as possible, (e) starting with a very crude version 1, then (f) iterating rapidly.

Read the full article here.

You brand is defined by the consumer, not by you – I think everyone can agree with that. In the same breath, most marketing pundits will add the fact that you can no longer control your brand – an assertion I am not sure goes hand in hand with the first one.

You brand gets defined by the UI (User Interface) of your company, the interface through which your customers and prospects interact with your company. That interface gets determined by pre-sale activities – i.e., advertising, retail layout, retail personnel attitude, telemarketing, sales people’s knowledge of the industry, etc -, as well as immediate post-sale activities – i.e., packaging, ease of use to set up the products, available help options, etc. -, and the long term post sale activities – i.e., telephone support, return policies, warranty policies, on-site support, etc.

Francois at Emergence Marketing totally nails what I was getting at in my earlier post about how the lines are blurring between marketing, product development, and user experience (UX)!

I got tipped off that my name was recently registered in the .net domain. (There are a few other Aaron Gerdes’ out there)

I realized I never locked up the .net and .org relatives of aarongerdes.com—luckily .org was still available.

Just a friendly reminder to register all the main TLDs for your name.

If I didn’t have mine, the first few results for my name would include an anti-foreign aid essay written by a highschool student in the Midwest. Eep.

Cleaning out old starred items on Google Reader, I came across this quote from a McKinsey article in a post at Emergence Marketing:

“Once a fairly discrete department within the organization, marketing is more and more often being asked to fulfill a far more significant, strategic role with implications for the entire enterprise.”

This made me think of catching up with an old colleague recently. As we filled one another in on recent projects, I noticed a pattern—that my clients have needed solutions at the intersection of product development, marketing, and usability.

The nature of delivering products or services via the web and word-of-mouth over tight-knit communities has been making those fields difficult to separate.

_Found via The Brand Builder Blog

Today I tried calling my Senate representative, Patty Murray, to request that she support the Internet Radio Equality Act.

I was greeted with a robotic message that said “You have been forwarded to an automatic voice messaging system. The mailbox belonging to [Senator Patty Murray’s office] is full. Goodbye.”

That’s representation for you.

Maybe a blog is a better way to do my part to create support? Save internet radio.

The Internet is like this, multiplied by a million.

You know this already, but just a friendly reminder that the Internet is a two way street. It gives customers a huge audience to publicly share their experiences with you.

Treat them right!

Speaking of niche marketing, the New York Times ran an article about three weeks ago on how The Gap is struggling without a niche:

Gap has served up a steady diet of simple, unobjectionable casual clothing designed to appeal to everyone. [..] In an era of niches, when exclusion is as vital as inclusion, Gap has become an anachronism: a single chain, selling only its own brand, with one point of view, chasing shoppers from birth to death. [..] Indeed, consumers are abandoning the chain in staggering numbers. Sales at stores open at least a year, a standard measure of a retailer’s health, have fallen or remained stagnant for 28 of the last 30 months.

I found the article through Duct Tape Marketing, which has some great commentary:

Attempting, intentionally or accidentally, to appeal to all is a sure way to kill sales and buzz. Find a way to narrow your market focus to the smallest niche possible and you will no longer need to worry about competing on price.

I recently heard about a presentation given by a well-known consulting guru. The audience, a professional association of management consultants, was eager to hear how the presenter has built his business to earn over seven figures a year for two decades.

While taking questions on the subject of finding/developing new business, the attendee I know asked if one needed to have a niche to build a successful consulting practice.

“No one needs a niche,” the presenter replied brashly.

Music to the ears of the new independent consultant. Most entrepreneurs know the feeling when you’re starting out that you’d take any paying work. While getting our feet on the ground, we hesitate to target to any particular audience.

Letting that fear sit too long, it becomes a reality. And a bad one, at that. By not having a target market and clarity as to what problems you solve, you lose the ability to communicate why you’re the best choice for a client. If you can’t communicate that, you’re a commodity.

But who I am to say that someone who’s built a successful business is wrong about this? After all, it worked for him!

I doubt he’s lying, so I’d submit that to build a business as successful as his, our presenter must have a niche. The question is: does he know it?

You may have heard the phrase “You cannot not communicate.” It’s very true in a marketing context. In other words: we are all marketing ourselves, whether or not it’s on purpose. For example, when someone asks you what you do, your answer is a marketing activity. If you’ve thought about it that way or not, you are marketing.

The presenter told the audience that “nobody cares about your unique approach, only what results you create” and that “all selling is relational”. He also discussed the difference between himself and the massive consulting firms he often competes against. His says his clients enjoy that he bills by results, not focusing on hourly/time & materials systems.

Excellent. He’s targeting a segment of people who think a certain way. He’s also differentiated from large, impersonal firms in his sales approach and results-based method of delivery. And at seven figures a year for two decades, I think it’s working for him.

So do you have to have a niche? Yes, but you can call it whatever you want.

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing has just completed a book. I’ve found his website to be full of useful tactics and I’m looking forward to seeing his thoughts in print. His particular approach to low cost, small business marketing is smart and effective.

He recently relayed the story of suggesting to his publishers that blogs are an excellent way to promote his book—and getting eye rolls in response.

Let’s show ‘em they’re wrong.