Web Ink Now

IBM's terrific "Mainframe: Art of the Sale" sequels now available on YouTube!

If you've seen one of my keynotes or one-day seminars in the past year, you've seen one of my favorite viral videos: IBM's wonderful Mainframe: Art of the Sale (lesson one).

The first series of three videos was selected as one of Comedy Central's "Staff Favorites."

For all of you Mainframe: Art of the Sale fans I have good news to share that was just passed onto me by Tim Washer who has the way cool Web 2.0 title of "Manager, New Media Web Video" at IBM. There are three brand new installments of Mainframe: Art of the Sale fans available now!

If you've never seen Mainframe: Art of the Sale, you might want to start with lesson one which is right here.

You can check out the other installments in the series by visiting the Mainframe blog. The newest three are done in a "Webisode" format. Besides the classic lesson one, I really like Mainframe: Art of the Sale (lesson 5).

For more information on how to create videos of your own, check out my article from the recent Pragmatic Marketer called Viral Marketing: Let The World Tell Your Story for Free. One of the coolest things about the Web is when an idea (such as a YouTube video) takes off, it can propel a brand or company to fame and fortune. For free!

Marketing 1-2-3: 1) Find a problem to solve 2) Build a product that solves it 3) Encourage your customers to tell your story

I've been surfing for nearly 20 years: Bodyboarding, bodysurfing, and longboards mostly. This year my daughter clearly passed me in standup surfing ability (she's 14). I really enjoy the ocean and waves, it is so relaxing and fun. Because of my speaking business, I also end up at some fantastic surfing spots and try to arrive a bit early or stay late and get in some rides. On business I've been to Sydney, Australia many times, Hawaii, Bali, up and down the California coast, Miami, and other places with waves.

A few days ago we had some good rides at Easton Beach in Newport, RI and we wished that we had a camera. So today I was looking for a waterproof digital camera so my daughter and I could shoot some surf photos. I was totally expecting to get some bulky and difficult to use unit that was designed for scuba divers.

Instead I discovered a case study of a Tuned In company that follows the easy 1-2-3 steps of marketing.

1) I was thrilled to find the GoPro Digital Hero 3 camera. If you look on Amazon for waterproof digital camera as I did, you'll see that most of the others look the same. Then you come to the GoPro model. As any surfer would know, you can’t haul around a standard camera, especially in big waves. This unit fits on your wrist! Perfect. As an added benefit it shoots video too. Cool: Here is a camera for my buyer persona.

2) This product was clearly created with a market problem in mind instead of dreamed up by product designers in a vacuum. When you are tuned in to what problems people are willing to spend money to solve (in my example, someone who wants to shoot photos while surfing) and you build a product that solves that problem, you are on the road to success. The GoPro Digital Hero 3 camera is made by a Northern California-based team of inventors and athletes dedicated to making it easy to use a camera during life’s most exciting moments. Since launching the camera a month or so ago, they have gotten a lot of press.

3) The next step, as GoPro also does, is to create a site that showcases the product instead of just throwing some egotistical nonsense about mission statements and product specs. In fact, GoPro encourages customers to submit photos and video to the site and to vsocial.

The GoPro site is a bit clunky. They need many more user-contributed photos, but the product was only introduced a few weeks ago, so I’m sure that with a product like this, more will come very soon. By the way the surf photo here is absolutely not me, but it was taken with a GoPro camera.

Corporate dysfunction at its worst: The B2B tradeshow demo

Steve Johnson has an interesting take on the question: Why demo at trade shows?

For some markets, the tradeshow demo is very important. While I was in high school and summers during college, I worked in a cheese shop. Once a year, I went to New York for the Fancy Foods and Confection Show. Demos were all over the place, many involving tasty treats: Cheese, sausage, chocolate, coffee, and more.

Or imagine the people at Blendtec on a tradeshow floor at a kitchen equipment show. The demo would be only one minute and they would probably pull off something really fun and informative that would sell blenders.

OK, but what about B2B technology companies?

Yuk! Can you imagine anything more boring than a ten minute screen-by-screen demo by a product manager who knows all the leading, cutting-edge features of some mission-critical, flexible, and scalable solution that improves business process using industry-standard technology? Makes me want to scream in disgust!

Yes, I know that there are exceptions. But in my experience, the tradeshow demo is interruption marketing run amok and is often an excuse-fest for both buyers and sellers. The company uses it as an excuse for bad marketing and the attendee uses it as an excuse for lack of interest.

Nearly all B2B technology company tradeshow demos are conducted out of laziness. Here's how the dysfunctional process works and why B2B technology demos are so overused: Marketers don't understand buyers, the problems buyers face, or how their product helps solve these problems because they don't get out into the market. Instead these marketers are holed up in their own offices. Then the tuned out marketing person builds a demo script using reverse-engineered language that they think the buyer wants to hear based not on buyer input but on product features. During the demo they go through each feature in the product all the while spewing superlative-laden, jargon-sprinkled, gobbledygook-filled hype.

Um… This is not effective.

The decision for any marketing initiative should start with buyers and your buyer personas. What problems do your buyers have? How can your company solve those problems with technology? How do your buyers describe the solutions? I think that B2B technology product companies need to re-think the entire tradeshow experience, not just the demo. I’d ask a more fundamental question: Do you need to be at the tradeshow at all? And if so, do you really need a booth?

The web is a free 7x24 tradeshow. Consider a re-focus of efforts to blogging or a content-rich website or other online initiatives to reach buyers.

Announcing my new one-day seminar: The New Rules of Marketing

Based on tremendous reader feedback to my bestselling book The New Rules of Marketing & PR and audience reactions from the hundreds of keynote presentations I've delivered, I have developed a one-day seminar called the New Rules of Marketing™. The seminar is a great way for people to work with me to take a deeper dive into the new rules approach to marketing and PR. And I'm thrilled to partner in the development and delivery of the course with Pragmatic Marketing, the leader in technology product management and marketing.

The New Rules of Marketing seminar teaches marketers how to harness the power of online marketing using blogs, viral marketing, podcasts, video, search engine marketing and online thought-leadership. Participants will learn why marketing on the web is different. Rather than following the old rules of command-and-control, message-driven advertising and PR, learn to speak directly to your customers and buyers with targeted messages that help them solve problems instead of bombarding them with advertising they'll likely ignore.

Learn more about the New Rules of Marketing seminar.

In New Rules of Marketing, learn a step-by-step framework for building an online marketing strategy and a tactical, actionable plan to reach your buyers directly.

Download the brochure in PDF format.

The New Rules of Marketing seminar is taught in public settings around North America so you can attend on your own or with several colleagues. And the course will also be available for corporations and groups where I deliver onsite at your location.

See seminar locations and register to attend.
September 18, Boston, MA
October 12, San Francisco, CA
October 26, Reston, VA
November 9, Boston, MA
November 30, Atlanta, GA

I've partnered with Pragmatic Marketing because the company is famous for teaching a practical, market-driven approach to marketing and product management. My partnership allows me to focus on developing and delivering the seminar instead of worrying about the business aspects of running a seminar company. Founded in 1993, Pragmatic Marketing has trained more than 40,000 product management and marketing professionals, with more than 90% of alumni indicating the training as essential or very useful to their careers.

Here are a few reactions from early attendees to the New Rules of Marketing seminar:
> "Wonderful presenter, clear and entertaining."
> "Actionable, new information that was well presented."
> "The constant examples were a great way to demonstrate."
> "Very surprised at all the new technology we are not using. I can't wait to read the book."
> "Great! David is passionate about the topic. The real life examples are invaluable."
> "I had to pee really badly, but waited until the scheduled break because I was afraid I would miss something!"

New free ebook – The Secrets of Market-Driven Leaders: How technology company CEOs create success (and why most fail)

Alert readers of this blog know that I am a huge ebook fan. Ebooks are a great way to deliver information directly to your buyers in a format that they want to read. Ebooks also have potential to go viral when people share it with others.

For the past few months, I've been working on an ebook with my colleagues at Pragmatic Marketing. Together with Craig Stull, Pragmatic Marketing CEO and Phil Myers, Pragmatic Marketing President, I co-authored "The Secrets of Market-Driven Leaders: How technology company CEOs create success (and why most fail)."

Download a totally free copy, no registration is required.

We spoke with 30 CEOs of technology companies large and small, established and upstart for this project and learned some surprising things. We learned the secrets of market-driven leaders and also the fatal flaws that keep companies from making their goals.

"Our first product was a winner...but the rest stunk. What happened? Did our market dry up or did we just get stupid?"
-- An unnamed and currently out-of-work CEO

The Secrets of Market-Driven Leaders is about why some products and companies fail, where others succeed. Based on surveys spanning 3,000 companies, 40,000 individuals and one-on-one interviews with 30 technology CEOs, we found seven consistent success factors related to company culture, management style, and product & marketing strategies that propelled the winners. And we also learned also the seven fatal flaws that derail market laggards.

The industry standard for technology product management and marketing, Pragmatic Marketing teaches a practical, market-driven approach to creating and delivering technology products. Founded in 1993, the company has trained more than 40,000 product management and marketing professionals, with more than 90% of alumni indicating the training as essential or very useful to their careers.

Please feel free to share this permanent link with your CEO, colleagues, investors, PR agency, and anyone else who might benefit from it.

The ebook is freely available to anybody with no registration requirement.