Epiphanize » Uncategorized

There’s gold in ‘em hills

chadkreutz — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:19:33 +0000

Nearly every major “win” I’ve encountered at an online lead generation business has been “found” money. Win = something that will end up on the resume some day. Found = revenue generated with little to no new expense required. I’m sure there other vertical applications for this but it is especially true in lead gen where lead inventory can ebb and flow and wins can have such immediate bottom-line impact.

It has been things like bringing on big clients with big coverage and big budgets; innovation that leverages existing deal flow and existing clients to repackage products or create new ones; landing page optimization/testing; etc.

The common denominator has been utilizing what we have. I’m becoming a big believer in the power of looking for the gold nuggets that are already within reach. Rather than building a dam, diverting water to a potential gold field and panning for a few precious flakes.

I know my neighborhood pretty well and I keep finding gold in my backyard. I’m sticking close to home.

Tagged: lead generation, LinkedIn, online marketing, optimization

Oh my, meat!

chadkreutz — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:22:50 +0000

Just when I thought my friend couldn’t get any cooler, he rolls out a Web site all about meat. Meaten.com is all about why meat should be eaten. I don’t need to be told why meat should be eaten, I get it, a quarter pound at a time usually. But I still like to read about meat. The business I’ll build some day is all about barbecuing meat (that’s all you’re getting people, no free business plans).

My favorite post so far is about an article entitled “12 Ways SEO is Like Bacon.” Where else will I find multiple loves of my life?

Tagged: blogs, LinkedIn, meat, SEO

Don’t get pulled down

chadkreutz — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:10:58 +0000

Epiphany: Critics are often really just trying to pull you down to their lowly station. So if you’re working at a startup and your college buddies say you’re crazy not to take the cake job at a huge company where you won’t make a difference … or if you’re sneered at when you turn down a cocktail party so you can see your kids before they go to bed … just remember what critics are trying to do. They’re trying to pull you down. Literally.

Using online video to sell

chadkreutz — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:58:00 +0000

Prediction: YouTube will figure out how to make an obscene amount of money by monetizing video integration for e-commerce and B2B Web sites. Ok, that’s not earth-shattering…but I can’t stop thinking about online video. It still feels like the jackpot is under wraps.

Video enhances lead gen conversion paths and it also adds efficiency by doing the jobs normally done by people and paper. It’s also the best of way communicating a company’s style to it’s prospective customers. Check out Jive Software, for example. Their video section leaves no doubt as to who they are and the creativity behind their solutions.

Now, if we just had video on our sites…

Master: Guy Kawasaki. Disciple: Me

chadkreutz — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 18:11:00 +0000

I’m a disciple of Guy Kawasaki. But I’m not a click-my-heels, stand at attention kind of disciple. I read his blog 2-3 times week but I don’t own a Mac (Guy used to be the Chief Evangelist at Apple). I like that Guy focuses more on what makes sense than conventional wisdom. Cutting through the muck and uncovering what makes sense is especially refreshing in a business world saturated with get rich quick kool-aid drinkers and companies who would be happier if they didn’t have to deal with their annoying customers (most airlines; most banks; all insurance companies – except mine, USAA; and all cell phone companies).

Guy recently launched a social media site, Truemors, complete with Web 2.0 bling for only $12,107.09 (trademark, software development, design…the whole 9 yards). It’s a fully functional site that has great revenue potential.

I relearned the lesson that these all go together:

skinny budget
quick development periods (7.5 weeks from domain registration to launch of Truemors)
no business plan
no VC money

Now, I know that there’s not much of a backend for Truemors – backends are more expensive to develop and there’s a lot more room to get them wrong the first (and 58th) time. But I need to do more experimenting in the Truemors mold. If a new product launch or a new site is on a 6 month develpment timeline what does the 2 month version look like? What is the minimum needed to remarkably deliver the basic value proposition? 37Signals (the originators of the Ruby on Rails open source code) wrote a great e-book about choosing simplicity over bloat. I call it excellence in small scale – make something that’s truly remarkable (thank you Seth Godin) but realize it doesn’t have to reach it’s full potential right out of the box. Truemors is the best and easiest to use “Web 2.0, User-Generated [rumor] content, Citizen Journalism, Long-Tail, Social Media” site out there. I’m sure it’ll become much more than that over time when Guy adds new remarkable, simple features/services.

Top 5 reasons why I’m blogging

chadkreutz — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 02:20:00 +0000

Donald Trump has a blog. If he can do it…
I’m taking two weeks off to celebrate the birth of my first son Isaac. It’s a good time-passer in between diaper changes
I’ve been inspired by my colleague’s blog YourHRGuy. I figure if I start blogging I’ll become as smart as he is.
I won my 6th grade district-wide spelling bee. Since then I’ve patiently awaited the right forum to showcase my champion-level spelling to the world.
I’m passionate about Internet business. I have a lot to say about that and I love hearing what others have to say about it too.

So, I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes from here…

Mac = Democrats, PCs = Republicans

chadkreutz — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:15:00 +0000

Democrats took the House and Senate. 28 Governors’ mansions are now in Dem control. As President Bush succinctly, completely, and in his own way, eloquently, stated, “(Republicans) took a thumpin’.” I’ve heard most experts, Republican and Dem alike, attribute this feat to a cycle of political history or that the President tanked so badly on the war that Dems didn’t do much to get the win. Don’t believe it for a second. Democtrats won because A) they developed a message/platform that people liked and B) they got the word out about their “superior” message/platform.

There’s a marketing parallel here. If I told you that the reason Mac is winning is because PCs stink you would tell me that I’m out of my gord. PCs were winning for a long time. Mac did two things to start winning:
1. They developed remarkable products
2. They told consumers that their products were remarkable and that they were more remarkable than their competitors’ products (PCs)

People heard and liked the Democratic message and a lot of people who voted for their Republican congressman 2 years ago voted for the Democratic challenger this year. I don’t remember a whole lot from college but I do remember that congressional incumbents have a 98% reelection rate. The market didn’t change this year in its makeup. It saw a different product and heard a different marketing message. The market liked what it saw and heard.

This is a great lesson for anyone in this funny game called capitalism. Produce something for consumers that is remarkable and then tell them about it. Easy, huh?